Financial Aid

<p>Anyone know when financial aid offers will be sent or listed online? I was an echols admit, but my online status still says pending, and no mention of anything to do with financial aid......</p>

<p>They'll mail something during April (probably with your acceptance package, maybe a short bit before or after). However, this is only if you submitted everything on time. If not, there's no guarentee you'll know about any packages before the reply date.</p>

<p>The schools where you applied know - call them.</p>

<p>My D's on-line portal listing her acceptance said the "offer" would be sent in the mail. The mail came today but has nothing about any financial aid "offer". They must have meant the "offer" of admission. Since UVA and the Commonwealth have yet to even set tuition and other costs for 2007-2008, when do you suppose they'll be sending out any financial aid package information? Am I correct that you can't log on to ISIS until UVA sends you login info? My D's 6-for-6 in acceptances but only one included the complete financial package (pretty good one, too). This makes it really difficult to allocate precious time from her school (and my work) to plan school visits when we have no idea if we'll be able to afford to send her to any of them. I understand the problem the schools have in putting this all together but since they've had all that information almost as long as they've had the application for admission, shouldn't they have figured it out by now? Do they have to wait to complete the FA offers until the admission offers have been completed? Again, UVA's not alone in this (5 of 6 so far are no better), but some of these schools want you to register for admitted-student weekends and open campus events like...now...and that seems a bit silly considering the importance of the financial issue for many. Any help would be appreciated. This is not a complaint!! I consider her blessed with six (so far) excellent options, and this is a kid who doesn't understand the concept of "safety". But now it's up to me, her parent, to be the one to disappoint when the reality of costs have to be considered. So much good fortune with admissions, now I just want to know the financial options and get down to dealing with the realities. :(</p>

<p>I read something last week that indicated 2007-2008 tuition, fees, and room & board costs would not be announced until 4/12.</p>

<p>I may be wrong, but my best recollection is not getting financial aid info until the end of April, if not longer, maybe even mid-May. I was ED, however, if that makes a difference.</p>

<p>
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Do they have to wait to complete the FA offers until the admission offers have been completed?

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They'll start early on students we know we'll admit, but you have to understand that with 18,000 applications and only 6,000 offers, it'd be hard for them to package everyone before we make decisions.</p>

<p>The only people who know where they are in their timeline is the Office of Financial Services. They are slammed at this time of year, so if you call, understand that you will probably wait on hold to talk to a counselor.
[QUOTE]
Am I correct that you can't log on to ISIS until UVA sends you login info?

[/QUOTE]
Yes. Similarly, ITC isn't going to grant access to 6,000 students when only about 3,100 will wind up at the University.</p>

<p>I understand and thanks, Dean J, for the explanation. No reason to call SFA if they've not made the decisions. I was just expecting something referring to aid decisions in the acceptance package and there's nothing on line that explains what to expect, either. Everyone does it differently. Three years ago it was included with the acceptances, to the best of my recollection. I just wanted to make sure they hadn't forgotten that she'd applied, or hadn't registered our application. There's no way to know.</p>

<p>With most people submitting financial aid documents around March 1st, there's no way Financial Services can package everyone in time for decisions.</p>

<p>It's a classic problem and one of the suggested solutions has been moving to the CSS Profile. The profile can be filed sooner, which would help many families make their decisions, but the downside is that the applicant pays to submit the form.</p>

<p>


You don't mean they've already sent financial offers to those they "know they will admit", do you? More of that "likely" letter confidence destroying, second-class applicant status stuff? Naah, they wouldn't do that.....would they?! ;)</p>

<p>
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You don't mean they've already sent financial offers

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No! As far as I know, nothing's been mailed. Putting together a financial aid package takes time. It is done by a human and they don't crank them out by the thousands.</p>

<p>The Profile, as I recall, wasn't done any earlier than the UVA supplement, and the information at that point is just as accurate. Most people who file the Profile do so early and estimate their current tax return information, only to change it later. Then they rely on verification which takes place when the signed returns and W2s are sent to the school or to IDOC at College Board. Profile seems very expensive for what it is especially since most of the necessary information is already on the UVA supplement to FAFSA, and no less accurate than what's sent to Profile. The college board IDOC process didn't help with one school my D applied to since they told us everything was submitted but the school still couldn't recognize one form as what they needed so they tendered no offer with the acceptance. I know it's a real bear to handle. I was just looking for something in the acceptance package that stated, "Please be patient. Your financial aid award is still being considered along with all others and a decision will be mailed to every one by XX/XX/07." Or something to that effect. Maybe something they could consider, or maybe just a simple statement on-line. Maybe I missed it but I found no reference to any financial aid decisions with respect to an expected time-line. Thanks!</p>

<p>And, Dean J, thanks for being here and for your blog. There's too much misinformation out there and hearing from you is a breath of fresh air. Thanks for taking the time to contribute, it's above and beyond the call!</p>