<p>Son recieved a merit scholarship (Carnegie Scholarship) - a nice surprise but significantly lower than what he was offered by other schools. We were not sure if the appeal process applied to merit, but we sent in three competitivie merit offers and they matched the lowest, which was a 40% increase over their initial offer.</p>
<p>We are not going to accept it as he has decided to go elsewhere, but I thought I would post to let everyone know that even if you do not get financial aid, only merit - still send in competitive offers - they may up your merit offer. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>LongPrime, are you referring to me? I got the acceptance package in the mail just last week after calling several times, but still no financial aid info, so I have no idea if I only got loans or a scholarship. I have nothing missing on the Where Am I in the Process site but it’s really strange to have not received anything by now, so I can only guess that they need some sort of documentation.</p>
<p>You will get loans, for at least your stafford/direct amount of $5500x4. How much that you will get in scholarships and grants will depend on your need and strength of your application.</p>
<p>Federal SEOG – 3,000.00
Suggested Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Ln – 1,266.00
Suggested Subsidized Federal Direct Safford Ln – 3,500.00
Estimated Federal ACG Grant – 750.00
Carnegie Mellon Undergraduate Grant – 38, 950.00
Estimated Pell Grant – 5,550.00
Federal Work-Study – 2,800.00</p>
<p>Total Award – 55, 815.00</p>
<p>So I think, since all said “creditable” except the work-study, that I’ll refuse the unsubsidized loan and replace it with my work-study cash. Also the coolest thing is that I get a “refund check” of about 900 to buy some books. This is really sweet, better than state schools even. I’m for sure going. </p>
<p>Also I was told that I could cut my deposit in half and pay 400 now and 400 later since it’s so much. All I’d have to do was send an e-mail to this advisor explaining the situation. I was gonna but then my uncle offered to pay the 800 for me so it’s like “never mind but thanks!”</p>
<p>I met others that got just as good deals, I think it has a lot to do with 0 EFC. Like “let’s handle the most needy first” in how they hand out financial aid.</p>
<p>I dunno…I also know someone with very similar financial stats, better grades and extracurriculars than me, but she received even less than I did…</p>
<p>This stuff is really weird, but I think URMs have probably huge preference.</p>
<p>Don’t dwell on it. Don’t advertise it. You’ve been given an extraordinary gift.
You will be entering a situation where you will be extremely challenged. As another CMU regular poster said, “Getting accepted is the easy part.”</p>
<p>Ugh, I still haven’t gotten my package. AND, to top it off, one of my schools corrected my FAFSA but made a mistake so they mistakenly raised my EFC. Now CMU will be recalculating my package and then when I fix it they’ll have to recalculate it again.</p>
<p>This, combined with the fact that the Social Security Administration accidentally thought I was an illegal immigrant, would only happen to me. The government should just pay for my college education for making me fix all of this stuff.</p>
<p>OK, this is pretty weird… I just took a look at the “Where Am I In the Process” site for my son, and found that they just sent him a second financial aid award letter. The first one, which they sent out two weeks ago gave him $12,900 in grants and the new letter raised that to $13,600 in grants.</p>
<p>That’s great, except that a) he’s still on the waiting list and b) we never asked for more aid (don’t want to hurt his chances of getting accepted). </p>
<p>It’s really strange that some people don’t seem to have gotten award letters at all.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon did a very good job re-evaluating my financial aid package. The only other private school I applied to was Syracuse, which offered me a better package. I was worried that Syracuse wasn’t “on par” with CMU (although their architecture program is actually ranked higher). I was surprised when I found out that CMU gave me more grant money and made their overall cost equal to Syracuse. I’m almost definitely going now! </p>
<p>btw, the people in CMU’s financial aid office have been extremely helpful and polite. The attitude at Syracuse left much to be desired. </p>
<p>I hope everyone else receives their package soon!</p>
<p>dreamupside down…YOU HAVE TO CALL AGAIN…it’s really unfair to students not to tell them until only days before deposits are due.</p>
<p>It seems like this has been a chaotic year-- and it sounds like something is wrong with the internal software b/c lots of people didn’t get a package on time and if you look at the Carnegie Admissions Fan Page on FB-- 1-3 people seem to be posting this everyday…and admissions apologies and says they will get to it… that is very weird…</p>
<p>I honestly believe it’s a sincere mistake on their part…and would hate to think this is intentional trying to discourage people from attending and encourage the full-pay crowd to come on board…I don’t think it’s that at all…</p>
<p>Have a parent call first thing in the morning-- if you’re in school. Ask to speak to an admissions counselor. In the fat package there’s a different number to patch through to an AdCon rather than the general # getting you a receptionist (who are helpful)…you need immediate answers from someone who can make things happen.</p>