My son’s financial aid package from freshman year was completely taken away his sophomore year. We had no change in our FAFSA. I called and they said they simply did not get as much money this year as they did last year. Did anyone have this problem?? My son was accepted to SUNY Binghampton, but we chose UCONN because they offered us a good package. I’m so upset. Did anyone else have the same problem?? I feel like I’ve been “bait and switched”!!!
Are you eligible for a Pell grant? Did your son receive merit aid or just FA?
No, it was a 9K University Grant. I feel like we have been bait and switched. I am out of state (although I live five miles from the connecticut border). We are not eligible for a Pell Grant. I don’t think UConn is a good enough school to pay almost 50K. My son got into Purdue, and Binghampton. We chose Uconn because of the package they gave us.
Uconn does not guarantee to meet full need, which I suppose means that they can do this if they want ( or if they have to). Most OOS public schools do not guarantee to meet full need; only a few do. I agree that $50,000 is too much money. I would call the school again and talk to them. If they will not budge then you will have to decide whether it’s worth it to stay.
Are you supposed to submit FAFSA every year? Atleast that’s how it goes for loans. I’m not sure if you did resubmit FAFSA, but if you didn’t that may be the issue.
If you did though then I would take it up with the school. Sounds unfair and unjust.
I submitted FAFSA and our need was exactly the same as last year. When I called UCONN, they even said that. They simply said they did not have the money this year. I am going to call the school again and fight it. It was a significant amount of money. I am also looking for transfer options. It is so upsetting. My son had so many options; he got in almost every where he applied. I really feel like we have been duped, and I hate that feeling.
Same thing happened to us last year! Freshman year we got a little over 8k grant and then sophomore year, nothing!! Our EFC went up by about 1K and UCONN went up 3k so our need actually went up by 2k. They didn’t even lower the amount, just took it away completely. Yes, bait and switch, get the kids there and invested so they won’t want to transfer. They told us the same thing, ran out of money before they got to our EFC amount.
We managed to bumble through sophomore year and now we have 2 in college so our EFC is alot lower so we got enough this year to make it work for junior year next year. Hoping it doesn’t happen again for senior year.
I guess we will have to bumble through as well. So frustrating. My daughter is at Boston University, and we never ha a problem.
I am sorry to hear the bad news @mgsmichaud
Typically, the only thing that is guaranteed for all four years is scholarship money. Grants are free money that the University gives to you for whatever reason and the amount may fluctuate or be taken away.
I was fortunate enough to not have any problems with my grants for my four years at UConn. The actually usually increased the grant amount each year as tuition increased (my EFC was the same through out the process).
What school/major is your son in at UConn? There are many departmental and college scholarships that he could apply to help offset the cost of lost grants.
My son is in the engineering program.
The school of engineering has a decent amount of scholarships for current undergraduate students. Just search up UConn engineering scholarships; you won’t be able to apply for them until the spring semester though. So definitely look into those but you may want to consider transferring to your son’s instate school if money is an issue.
From my own experience(as an OOS student), many of the OOS students that I knew had significant scholarship money to come to UConn. It is quite a hefty price to pay full OOS tuition at UConn.