<p>Hi! So I have a couple questions regarding Fin. Aid. Backstory:</p>
<p>Basically what Tulane is missing in my Non-Custodial Parent's stuff, which has been waived by every other institution I've applied to (minus one who wouldn't give me the waiver). For some reason it slipped my mind to ask for it. They are also missing my tax returns which are non existent. EDIT: I should probably mention that while my father is alive and kicking, I have little to no contact with him, he is both unwilling AND unable to pay for college, and even though I have been asking nicely, passively agressively, and outright rudely for the CSS profile since January he hasn't filled it out so I doubt he will</p>
<p>So seeing as Tulane's tuition with room, board, books, and travel would be almost all of my mom's income (single parent), normally I would be panicking and calling the office, and crying tears of blood. However... I am a Paul Tulane scholar. That means full tuition, which puts the rest of the cost juuust underneath my mom's FAFSA efc.</p>
<p>So my questions would be as follows: 1) Am I even eligible for need-based aid? I emailed the aid office twice, and I have a feeling they're swamped so I don't want to push them if I'm not eligible. 2) Does Tulane have a Non-Custodial Waiver? 3) Why can't I find the student waiver? Am I blind?</p>
<p>That's it, thanks a lot!</p>
<p>This is out of my knowledge zone, except to say that you should apply for need based aid anyway, even if you think nothing will come of it. All they can say is no.</p>
<p>Congrats on the Paul Tulane! That makes for a nice financial aid package, doesn’t it.</p>
<p>It definitely does, and it rocketed Tulane way up my list. Being close to family might not be the curse I’ve pegged it out to be.</p>
<p>I guess to clarify I <em>have</em> applied for aid. I am just missing Non-Custodial information, which honestly isn’t going to come. Oh well… I’ll wait until Thursday for my councilor to email me back, then I’ll try calling again.</p>
<p>I’m surprised you haven’t heard back from Financial Aid. Although I’m really disappointed in the package my son got they have always written back right away when I’ve had questions.</p>
<p>Try looking here for those forms:</p>
<p>[Tulane</a> University - Financial Aid Forms](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/steps/forms.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/steps/forms.cfm)</p>
<p>Did you also check the financial aid section of your Gibson account? Or maybe your tulane.edu email? There might be a link to any specific documents you need to complete and submit.</p>
<p>It seems Tulane’s financial office is very busy now. I emailed, but got no response, so I kept calling and got lucky. I tried calling back 2 min. later with a follow-up question, but had to leave a message for the assigned fin aid counselor. Did you email/ask for your assigned counselor and not just the main office? You can find your particular counselor’s name here: [Tulane</a> University - Counselors](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/contact/counselors.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/contact/counselors.cfm)</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I emailed my assigned councilor about two days ago, but I started out with just the office.</p>
<p>I know exactly what I’m missing (I figured out the tax things with some deeper searching haha), the problem is it’s not going to come. Hooray for non-involved parents!</p>
<p>I have in the past gotten relatively quick responses, but I guess with admissions and aid packages coming out they’re just swamped. I think that being in college admissions has to be really hard, especially if people are pestering you about money on top of it.</p>
<p>I’m in pretty much the same situation! They do not have a waiver, but they told me to mail them any court documents, police reports, etc., and they would consider waiving his income. But if your cost left after the Paul Tulane is less than the efc I don’t think it will make a difference. The way they do it is your merit scholarships are part of your financial aid package. So what your efc is will be what you pay, regardless. At least that has been my understanding thus far and that’s how they awarded my financial aid package. Good luck though! Let me know if you hear anything different from them.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! I figured that I wouldn’t get aid, not that I’m complaining since the merit aid is good but it would be nice 
If I hear anything different I’ll be sure to update!</p>
<p>No problem I’m glad I could hopefully help a little bit! Is Tulane for sure where you’re going?</p>
<p>It’s not. I’m a little worried about the “party school” reputation, and obviously if I get better financial aid elsewhere I will have to consider other schools. Right now it’s a close number 2 with Wellesley (so different, I know). In case you were wondering I go an email back.</p>
<p>She basically said if I have the Paul Tulane Award I can’t get need based aid. However I don’t know if that’s flat out or just with what she has of mine. However she also told me to send in my mom’s taxes and my dad’s stuff. So I may just not “apply” for aid.</p>
<p>So with the remaining housing, food, fees, books, transportation, etc. you are looking at about another $20K, right? It does seem that if your EFC is less than that, you should still be eligible for some aid. Just curious, are you a NMF? If so, that is another $2,000 a year at Tulane.</p>
<p>I totally understand that. Tulane is my dream school but I have a full ride right now at Chapel Hill and I’m waiting to hear back from other schools. Unless Tulane will do the same thing, that’s going to be pretty hard to say no to. I guess you should be thrilled that all of your tuition is paid for, but $20,000 seems like a lot to have left over and not be eligible for any aid at all. I’m sure you’ll find the perfect place to go! I’m not a partier at all either, but I did absolutely love New Orleans and I figure I can’t be the only student there who doesn’t care about getting drunk.</p>
<p>ncbug - First, there are a lot (!!!) of students at Tulane that do not care about getting drunk. In fact, I would wager quite a lot that it is more than half the students, or put another way it is a loud minority that actually party to that level on a consistent basis.</p>
<p>Second, you are completely right that a full ride is a huge factor in choosing a school, and when it is as good a school as UNC-CH, it’s hard to go wrong. Congrats! Tulane pretty much only goes up to full tuition, at least as far as merit scholarships go. The odds of them covering the whole cost is extremely remote.</p>
<p>I am fairly convinced, though, that if one has an EFC of, oh let’s say $10K for example, that person is eligible for the remaining $10K in FA. I think emmy either misunderstood, was given incorrect info, or has an EFC equal to or greater than the remaining costs.</p>
<p>I was sure that was the case, and I am so glad to hear that! It doesn’t bother me, just not really my thing. Although the whole Mardi Gras aspect is something I’d be very excited for if I end up at Tulane. Do you happen to know how the swim team is at Tulane? Or if they have one for that matter? </p>
<p>Thank you so much! I was so excited when I found out. Chapel Hill is an amazing school, but my heart is still set on Tulane if I can find a way to make it work. </p>
<p>Do you know if Tulane will meet 100% of estimated need? If they end up waiving my dad’s income then my EFC should be zero.</p>
<p>I don’t see why not, but they may include some loans.</p>
<p>My EFC is about 16,500. So with full tuition the cost is juuussst underneath with their book estimates, personal expenses (why can’t I ever spell that word?). It’s so expensive to get to New Orleans all the time for some reason (same problem when we try to fly and visit family).</p>
<p>And I’m not a National Merit Finalist, I was an Achievement Finalist though.</p>
<p>Are you not applying for aid at all then? Full tuition is still huge at least, hopefully you’ll still be able to do it. </p>
<p>Yeah it does seem to cost a lot. Do you have family around there? I guess one plus side for me is that I fly for free but I do have to fly standby.</p>
<p>I have family in a little town about an hour away, and a LOT of “family” as in people we can count on but aren’t blood related. My mom’s side is from Louisiana.</p>
<p>I don’t think I am. I just don’t know if work study is an option if you don’t apply for need based aid, which I think is important and useful at the same time. I’m sure I could get a job otherwise, but I don’t have a resume which makes it rather difficult. Working on one though! </p>
<p>Full-tuition is certainly helpful, and honestly that’s the reason I’m visiting. I’m going for the Honors Weekend coming up so I can make as informed of a decision about school I can. Any luck on your end with the waiver and aid?</p>
<p>ncbug - Tulane definitely has a competitive swimming/diving team. They aren’t up there with some of the top schools, but definitely competitive with many meets and nice facilities. They had a coach that was really moving them up, but she left for family reasons from what I understand, to be back in Texas. They have an interim coach, and I think they are doing a search for a permanent (so to speak) replacement now.</p>
<p>It is possible they will meet 100% of your need, although they don’t guarantee it like some schools do. But if you have an EFC of zero, you should get something that will allow you to attend without having huge loan obligations in the end. It would probably involve some work-study. My advice, since you really like Tulane better than UNC, is that if you can come out of the process so that it looks like you will have minimal debt after 4 years, then go for it. However, if it instead looks like you might come out with $25K or more in debt (that’s just my cut-off number and yours might be lower but I would really think hard before going higher), I would really give UNC-CH very serious consideration.</p>
<p>emmymillions - I am 99% sure you have to have applied for FA to get work-study, because I think those are Federal funds. However, like you said a job off campus would certainly be possible, and there is an advising center on campus that can help you create a really good resume. They did a great job for my D when she was going for internships.</p>
<p>Emmymillions: Are you in Louisiana or somewhere else? That’s got to be really nice to have so many people you can count on nearby if you were to go to Tulane. What other schools are you looking at? You must be crazy smart if you got the Paul Tulane. I’m sure you can get a job even if it isn’t officially called"work study". There are tons of jobs open for students on any college campus. No word yet on whether or not they will waive it but it is showing up on my Gibson account as received and pending. Duke and Davidson have both already waived it though so I don’t know why Tulane wouldn’t do the same. </p>
<p>Fallenchemist: Thats really great to hear. I don’t mind at all that they aren’t a top swimming school, but its nice to know that I would definitely have the opportunity to swim. I know when I visited last summer one of my favorite parts of campus was that Olympic sized pool. </p>
<p>I thought I had read somewhere that if your income was under $60,000, you were guaranteed no loans. Do you know if that is true? I’m sure I will have work study, and that’s totally fine since I’m planning on working either way. As far as Chapel Hill goes, I totally agree with you. My mom has always taught me to look at college like an investment so there would be no way for me to justify Tulane if it meant a ton of loans. I’m also still waiting to hear back from a few more schools though, so I guess I’ll just have to see what kind of aid I am offered if I am accepted.</p>