Financial Aid Trouble

<p>Come on, what is the difference between yesterday and May 1st?! You know what you are doing in regard to selection and Im sure you wouldn’t be on the Amherst thread if your decision was to go to another school. I don’t feel sorry for you and additionally, I don’t feel sorry for anyone who is ‘troubled’ with these ‘financial’ decisions. Either you want to go or you don’t. If you were smart enough to get in you must realize the ramifications of saying yes or no. It just isn’t that difficult. Are you hoping to hit Lotto between today and May 1? PS for everyone who will now chime in to say I’M insensitive please understand I am referring only to this case where someone has bellyached about how Amherst is so bad… because her ‘middle class family has private school tuition’, etc… Tell your parents to pay up, aid is for those without means not for those in middle class paying for private school. I’m middle class and my family has said if you get in, we will pay. Regardless of other issues, which by the way everyone has.</p>

<p>Dear iarisso : Reading through your opening paragraph, some thoughts follow.</p>

<p>I just got my acceptance letter to Amherst in the mail a couple of days ago. I was so excited–it’s my number one school. But…the financial aid letter came with it also. Bad news. My family is middle class, 4 children, 2 parents. I’m the oldest and we all go to private schools, the youngest being in 3rd grade. On paper, it may look like my family can afford to send me to Amherst, but in reality that’s not the case. How can anyone truly afford a $50,000+ every year? Apparently the aid office didn’t see that.</p>

<p>You have a four child family, all in private schools. For number’s sake, let’s say that each has a private school tuition of $10,000 per year plus associated costs for about $12,000 in total per year. (Again, this is just a guess, apologies if the numbers are off.) This is optional, discretionary spend by your family in Amherst’s view and they will not make up that cost in a financial aid package. So - short answer - have everyone attend public schooling.</p>

<p>In order to achieve that private tuition number, a reasonable guess would be that you have an annual family income well above $150,000, a reasonable home likely owned and valued in the $400,000 range or more, and savings of some six figures. Is this a generalization, perhaps? An institutional calculation, as opposed to the federal edition, will include your home assets in the equation.</p>

<p>Some time back, I used the Princeton on-line calculator to see where the financial aid fulcrum was … the dividing line between “getting” and “not getting” aid. At $120,000 or more with $100,000 in cash based assets, you were pretty much assured of being outside the limits.</p>

<p>In terms of your family’s planning, now is the time to evaluate what will happen with the second and third students, if attending in parallel with you, to understand the full college costs.</p>

<p>Dear iarisso : Having reviewed your five posts on the subject, there is just one thing that was never discussed which is admittedly not for public consumption - your EFC, effective family contribution. This figure would have to be in excess of $40,000 or so in order for your admission’s counselor and financial aid representative to dismiss your application for aid. Your appeal would need to focus on how that number was calculated. Very clearly, there is a major mismatch between Amherst’s calculations and what you believe you can pay.</p>

<p>^
I suppose it’s all relative, but people where I’m from who can afford to send four kids to private schools are not considered “middle class”.</p>

<p>In my family’s case, going to public school would not really be an option (personal, family reasons that I’d rather not get into details about on a public forum…private stuff). If it sounded like I was complaining about Amherst, I didn’t really want it to come across as that way. And I understand that other people (especially in these times) need more money than I do…and I hope I didn’t offend anyone or make them think that they didn’t deserve the aid they got or that I should have THEIR aid, or anything like that. </p>

<p>But…I was disappointed when I got the letter, I’ll be honest. And as much as I would LOVE to win the lottery, that’s not what I’m waiting for. I have a school visit left and other things I need to get done before I make my decision, if you really wanted to know. </p>

<p>And batgirl…great for your family who’s willing to shell out the money. But like you said everyone’s situations are different, and in my case I really don’t think I’m “bellyaching” but rather just saying that I really want to go to this school and as of right now…things are difficult. </p>

<p>That’s what I have to say.</p>

<p>Oh, and by “private school” I guess I could define it as being parochial. The schools are DEFIANTLY not “upper-class” or that expensive by any means, if that adds anything to the argument. Also, I believe that Amherst decided not to give me any aid because they looked at the college savings my family has as being just for ME, not taking into account that we have to share the money between 4 kids. This was mentioned in the appeal and the school didn’t change its mind based on this fact. </p>

<p>Again…not complaining. Just trying to explain the situation a little better and defend myself…cuz it seems like people are starting to attack me!</p>

<p>Dear iarisso : Thank you for stepping up and responding to all of our posts. Please note that financial award assessments are done with a “point in time” approach. When you declare your family’s cash assets, there is no consideration given for “future” children … the awards which your siblings might see in the future will be gauged against the financial assets available at that time. Amherst will not factor a “divide by N children” approach to the collegiate assets available right now.</p>

<p>yeah, I understand that schools do it that way, which I guess is my main problem with not just Amherst but a lot of colleges. I feel that at times the system of giving aid is a little out of whack and there could be some improved methods of handling individual family situations. I get that they obviously can’t hand out full-rides (or anything close to that) to everyone, but I was just disappointed in the way it worked out for me.</p>