<p>Does anyone know how Bucknell is about Financial Aid? I know that they don’t give out any Merit Scholarships which is a bummer.</p>
<p>according to princeton review they're a 97(out of 100 i think), and should you get in that's very good. dickinson college is a 92 and they gave me significantly more than i expected.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if the financial statement will come the same day as the decision letter or does it take a week or so for it to come afterwards?</p>
<p>Last year my son's financial aid came about a week after the acceptance. It was quite generous. While Bucknell has very little merit aid--there was a pilot program but they may have discontinued it--they are very generous with financial aid. They say they meet 100% of your need. In our case, they met more than 100% (at least according to the FAFSA estimate) and there was only one small student loan. 99% was grant. Whether you agree on "need" is another issue. In our case, we were very happy.</p>
<p>My son, now a senior at Bucknell, has had excellent financial aid. The first year, they put together a package that met about 120% of what FAFSA said was our financial need -- which was great, since I am a single mother of two teenagers and their father contributes nothing to college costs, so FAFSA's Expected Family Contribution, while relatively modest, was still out of our reach.</p>
<p>His original aid offer was what they called a Preferential Award (this is common jargon, I think -- colleges put together aid packages that give the most desired students the best deals). The letter explained that this type of award includes substantial grant money and minimal loan components, plus a guarantee that Bucknell would adjust the award each year so that the family contribution would never rise regardless of tuition hikes. The letter also explained that Bucknell offers Preferential Awards to students who have (1) high academic promise, (2) clearly demonstrated financial need, and (3) "the potential to enhance the cultural diversity of the Bucknell campus." (My son is a white male from the Philadelphia suburbs, so I can only conclude that the "diversity" part was that he's Jewish -- which should tell you VOLUMES about how thoroughly white bread the Bucknell campus really is. As it turns out, he DOES enhance their cultural diversity!)</p>
<p>Bucknell has more than kept their promise of not raising our contribution amount. During my son's sophomore year, I became unemployed and stayed that way, more or less, for nearly a year. I wrote a letter to the Financial Aid office explaining my situation, saying we greatly appreciated their generosity so far and would be most grateful if they would take my current circustances into consideration when calculating the next year's package. They responded by adding $4,000 in grant money, plus another small loan. The following year, I wrote another letter to say that I was now working as a contractor at my previous salary level (good news) but didn't know how long the contract would last (uncertain news), and that child support for my younger child was about to end (bad news). Overall, my letter disclosed cautiously good news, and yet Bucknell made NO CHANGE in his aid package: They kept his senior-year package at the same, ramped-up level as when I was totally unemployed. </p>
<p>I'll give you all the stats related to this case, so you can compare it with your own situation. In terms of academic promise, he finished high school with a 3.53 unweighted GPA, plus 790 Math, 740 Verbal. His SATII scores were: Writing 790; Math IIC 770, American History 770; and Chemistry 720. His AP scores were: Calculus AB - 5; Physics IB - 4; Physics IIB - 4; European History - 4; American History - 4; Comparative International Politics - 5. He also was an editor on his school paper and had won journalism and Latin awards. </p>
<p>He now has a 3.41 GPA at Bucknell and has made the Dean's List four times. (Freshman year grades still drag down his GPA -- he was one of those engineering students who came to his senses and switched majors, and now he really loves his studies.) So his academic promise has remained intact, which I'm sure has had a LOT to do with how generous Bucknell has been with their aid adjustments. He also is active on campus, and he works on the school paper -- and I think this in itself could help, since his byline makes his name familiar as someone who is a consistent contributor to the campus community.</p>
<p>So....I know people are saying that Bucknell doesn't give merit scholarships, but I would argue, based on my son's experience, that they do. I guess the key here is that he also has acute financial need, so it's not purely a merit scholarship. Maybe you could call it merit aid.</p>
<p>As for the financial stats -- I know this is personal info, but it may help for you to see the numbers. When he entered Bucknell, I had just voluntarily left a corporate job paying $55k/year and was starting a job in the nonprofit sector at $38k. His original aid package -- which Bucknell kindly calculated based on my anticipated drop to the $38k level -- included about $23,000 in grants, plus loans, leaving us with a bill of $7,700 for freshman year. My income level then dropped to the low $20s in his sophomore year (when I became unemployed), and so for the junior year package, Bucknell raised the grant amount to about $27,000 and added another loan. Since his junior year (last year), I've been making around $37k, and I am still a contractor with temporary job status. My total bill for his senior year has been under $3,000. This would have been a great deal for the room and board alone.</p>
<p>Next month he'll graduate with an excellent education and a debt of around $32,000 -- which, by today's standards, is manageable.</p>
<p>We never bargained for his financial aid, so I don't know if this kind of generosity is a matter of negotiation or just good fortune. Based on our experience, my bottom-line recommendations are: (1) Be up-front with Bucknell about the details of your financial situation, because they do take them into consideration. (2) Be honorable about it -- that is, tell the whole truth, including the good news, and trust them to play fair, because it's a good idea in general and also I think they really appreciate your trust in their fairness. (3) Show appreciation; if you are grateful, let them know it. (4) After you get the aid and have begun school, get the most you can out of your classes, and find ways to make the campus community a better place -- because it does seem that good scholarship and good citizenship are taken into consideration when your aid is reviewed for renewal.</p>
<p>What a lucky situation! It's almost like getting a $30,000 bonus every year. Unfortunately, it seems to be families in the $75,000 and up range that are getting no help. For some they can still come up with the money, for others, they can't. I've been frankly surprised at how little money came my child's way (in spite of excellent stats for the schools he applied to). But I know I'm not alone on that one!</p>
<p>We came in with an EFC around 24K and Bucknell paid for more than half. As mom in PA points out, he did have good stats, and I guess being from Texas where there are about 20 kids total from that region at Bucknell helped. I think it his diversity lay in his "why I am a punk rock enthusiast essay" relating John Locke to the lead singer of Bad Religion. :) Someone has to run Young Democrats! He is also on Dean's list and contributes through debate, YD, and is in the process of becoming an Open Mic night regular. (some might argue that the latter is not a contribution ;) ) Our second son will enter school this fall, and Bucknell has promised to maintain the level of grant for the first, and will increase it if they are able to do so, depending on what funding is accepted by the freshmen class. </p>
<p>FWIW our second son has received very good aid packages with the exception of one school, and it doesn't claim to meet 100% need. It did in fact match the "need" but with heavy loans and work study. This school, surprisingly enough, was where he was above average stats. He fared better at the schools where he was "average." I think it is a hit or miss deal, and everyone has in their mind what they think the college is worth. Our state school increased tuition twice last year for over a 16% increase, and they will increase it again this year. Add in a fifth year due to overcrowding and the inability to get all of your classes, and now the private education is cheaper.</p>