<p>I am the dad of a regular decision applicant. I am most anxious about the financials when it comes to U of R. My sons EFC is $18.5K based on the CSS Profile submitted. I have been following the thread on the ED responses, and was hoping the accepted applicants could share the financial packages offered, just to quell some of my fears. </p>
<p>I am trying to get a sense for how close they came to meeting the EFCs and how. Ideally, I would like to see the following amounts for the following: </p>
<ol>
<li> EFC</li>
<li> Scholarship(s)</li>
<li> Grant(s) - Rochester National or other</li>
<li> Work Study</li>
<li> Other </li>
<li> Any other factors you think affected your package (e.g. residency NY or not)</li>
</ol>
<p>Any info you share will make the wait until March more bearable. Thanks.</p>
<p>Haven’t received financial aid package yet - son was accepted ED. I know this is no information, but sometimes hearing someone reply is more ‘calming’ than no response at all. Will write back when we hear. </p>
<p>Hello. Called the F.Aid Office on Monday, and the packages for ED kids will not go out until next week.</p>
<p>In the meantime, ADKDad, if you haven’t already arranged to take your son to campus for an interview, this is a critical component of the process to demonstrate genuine interest in the institution.</p>
<p>Debhome - Thanks for the reply. It was nice to get some feedback.</p>
<p>Roliyork - Thanks for the info too. He’s already had an interview and we think it went very well. He also did an overnight visit as well. Hopefully, as info comes available in the next week or so people will post. I just want to get an idea for the kind of offers they are able to make.</p>
<p>Pepper03 - I did the CSS and U of R estimators, and they were in the same ballpark. They were $18.5K and $19.25, respectively. I haven’t looked at the FAFSA yet.</p>
<p>All FAFSA does is show whether you’ll qualify for federal grant aid. So unless you do qualify for federal grant aid, FAFSA is almost irrelevant when applying to private colleges, IMO. Private colleges take a much deeper look at a family’s finances and assets.</p>
<p>D just got her aid package, and despite a very nice merit scholarship, it does not meet our need - merit plus grant aid leaves a $20,000 gap. This gap represents nearly 40% of our total household income! </p>
<p>The only thing that is keeping us from bawling, is comparing this to what we could reasonable expect from the #2 state school. Amount of what we could reasonable expect in grant aid from the state school is far less, but amount we would have to finance is nearly identical…within $2,000. </p>
<p>So…$20,000 in loans to attend Rochester, or about $18,000 in loans to attend the #2 state school. The #1 state school does not present better f.aid options…state budgets overall are grim. </p>
<p>Other factors: we expect significant tuition increases for the next two years for our state schools (i.e., over 10%). Additionally, the state school where D would attend will be cutting programs, and re-organizing next year. Hundreds of staff were laid off this past year, with more cuts to come.</p>
<p>After a couple hours of discussion today, we are setting these concerns aside until Monday. Will be filing an appeal.</p>
<p>RoLiyork…I feel your pain. We faced a similar dilemna with my oldest daughter - between a state school and her first chioce - OOS. We felt the extra $2k/yr was worth her happiness. 2 years later and she is thriving.</p>
<p>Would you mind sharing the split in you UofR finaid - merit, grant, federal loans, etc…?</p>
<p>Best of luck with the appeal, Roliyork. I’m appealing as well, I hope this works out for both of us. Situations like ours continue to surprise me, as Rochester claims to be a full-need school. I am very curious as to how they determine “need”.</p>
<p>As mentioned in another post, I’ll see if I can find a Financial Aid Counselor to respond to some of these posts. I am not too familiar with the details of the process, and I want to be sure that you are getting accurate information.</p>