<p>Quick question for all of you "veteran" parents! We have started to receive FA packages from all of D's schools, but not all are in yet. Some of them have deadlines of next week to respond to, but we still don't know exactly where she will be attending. It says you have to sign that you accept or decline the offer of FA. Is it OK to say "accept" and then it turns out that she will not be going to that school? This whole process is SO stressful, not to mention - confusing!</p>
<p>Call the schools...simply say that it is your understanding that college choices do not need to be finalized until May 1. This is absolutely true. There cannot be any requirement for accepting admission prior to that time...but I would be polite about it. We got one of those last year, and politely called and said that DD had not made up her mind about school choices yet...the school said there was no problem in waiting.</p>
<p>I agree with Thumper. We also had one school that had an early deadline for a decision but we called and got an extention until May 1, at which time my son declined the school. I thought that it was pretty sneaky.</p>
<p>My son was offered a scholarship and they asked for notice of acceptance within a week. My son called the school's admissions counselor. It turned out to really be an honest mistake in the letter. A follow-up letter correcting the date of notification to 5/1 was sent out very quickly.</p>
<p>For those families who have or do receive offers with substantial, or even some amount of unmet financial aid, you should appeal the offers! If you get caught up in negotiations near May 1, you may have to consider the strategy of multiple depositing; sending more than 1 school a non-refundable deposit, because you believe you could increase your aid package more than that amount. If you don't like that tactic, call the schools in play and ask for an extension of the May 1 deadline, most will gladly comply</p>
<p>This school has an Appeals Form that specifically says that no aid will be increased simply because another school offered more money. There are several other scenarios as well. It looks like we may have to take them off our list, because they are offering less than half of what her other top choice is offering. There simply doesn't seem to be any way around it, and I am getting some wierd "vibes" from the FA office - both over the phone and by email contact.</p>
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It looks like we may have to take them off our list, because they are offering less than half of what her other top choice is offering.
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We didn't even give a second thought to this -- if there was a big discrepancy between what one school offered and what another equivalent or better college offered.... I just told my kids that the low offering school was out of the running. I did enter the details of the low-end offers in my spreadsheet, though -- I think it really helped to keep things in perspective to be able to define the full range of offers. Or at least it made me feel better in the end about whatever it was I ended up paying to know how much more I would have paid for college X or Y.</p>
<p>"It looks like we may have to take them off our list, because they are offering less than half of what her other top choice is offering."</p>
<p>Their loss. Their yield goes down. Life goes on. Don't sweat.</p>
<p>Allie's mom - Gaak! We're in the the same position. We have one accepted admit with a "financial package".....which includes a merit scholarship and absolutely no need aid (although I think it's warranted) and a lot of loans, parental, of course, since we ARE the financial equivalent to Bill Gates.....hah.</p>
<p>And I've talked with a couple of the FA offices as well for D's schools.....one was more than helpful, even giving me advice; one was almost downright hostile....I had to fill out a "Farm Supplement" even though it's not appropriate to our situation....okay, whatever.</p>
<p>Calmom has it right. Keep a spreadsheet with all the costs. Keep merit and need based separate. </p>
<p>I even eliminated (in my mind anyway) a school that gave no merit aid, but better need-based aid than some of his merit offers. That's because I know that need based will vanish when son #1 graduates!</p>
<p>At one of the colleges where my daughter auditioned, they told us that schools are not allowed to force you to make a decision before May 1st. If they offer you a scholarship and say that you have to make the decision before May 1, then you should report them. They even included in our packet a copy of the Code of Ethics where it is stated.</p>