My daughter just received a similar package which we were happy about until I read Fordham’s brochure “Financing Your Fordham Education” that was linked in the email and saw that direct fees of tuition, room and board increased almost $10,000 for 23/24 to $84,300.
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quite upset about the cost. even with merit aid, it looks like I won’t be able to attend. it’s just far too expensive to still keep on my list anymore
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What exactly increased by $10k? The sum of all the costs together compared to the prior year? I’m confused.
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My D got her package and it was similar to your son’s in terms of merit and aid. She came downstairs all excited b/c she thought it brought it somewhat into range (still more than we’d like but a lot better than we expected). She was showing me the COA page from Fordham’s website saying the cost would be around $40K but then after letting me look, I realized the COA page she was looking at was for 2022 and what her package actually showed would bring her cost to $50K plus.
Yeah, not cool.
I haven’t had a chance to really look in depth, but that was basically what it was looking like to me - big jump in cost from COA last year.
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Yes, I have a spreadsheet of the direct costs of each school my daughter applied to, merit and financial aid package received, and each school’s net cost to us. When I went to update Fordham to enter her scholarships, the cost this year of $84,300 was $10k more than what I had entered. I confirmed the tuition increased $4,000, so that’s about an 8% increase, and I’m not sure of the exact increase in room and board.
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I had room and board listed as $21,000 and it’s $23,250 now. Yikes. Buffalo State College gave my son merit for honors and it’s sitting at $20K for tuition, room & board. UB will probably come in close to that too. And some smaller, lesser known LAC’s are coming in the low 20’s. So glad we have good options! I realize Fordham has a lot to offer and is very prestigious, but just not at all in our ball park.
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It’s crazy how expensive college is now. My EFC is $0 and they only gave me $17k worth of need-based grant. I got about 15k worth of federal grants as well. Even with both grants, it still doesn’t even cover half the tuition.
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So that’s a 10% increase. This is our only child so we haven’t been through this before. Now we know we need to budget serious increases in the later years. Since she is only qualifying for merit aid, the scholarships are a set amount for the four years, unlike financial aid which theoretically could increase each year.
My daughter has applied to film schools, so unfortunately the only serious SUNY option is Purchase. She did get accepted to schools with lesser programs like Buffalo State, Cortland and Fredonia, and with scholarships, the costs are all like $18k.
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Hi All,
Do any of you have a kiddo who applied TE to Fordham? My D23 got her electronic financial award package, and it listed two Fordham scholarships (together combining for 20k) AND it listed the tuition exchange scholarship (41k), saying at the bottom that her total award package was 61k.
D23 was floored, since Fordham is her dream school. Not only did she get TE, but it stacked with the in-house Fordham awards, making Fordham instantly affordable. Dream come true.
…and then it struck me that it was odd to hear from Fordham on TE so early, and I remembered a post in the Tuition Exchange 2022 thread (on College Confidential) that said their kiddo got a financial aid letter that listed TE same way I just saw it, but when the parent called, they said they had no made TE decisions yet (later the parent updated to say their kid was denied TE), and was told that the letter was really a “this is how things would look financially IF you got TE”. The parent in that thread was very angry, and I see why now. My D23 was so excited she was crying, and when I read it - and I have a PhD and I’ve worked in admissions and with financial aid at my college - it looks clearly like an actual award letter. It does not read in any way like a “we’ll see” award letter.
We’ll call in the morning to check on this, but if it’s not an actual TE award, this is most deceptive award letter I’ve ever seen and Fordham should seriously revisit how they write these. Kids don’t deserve to have their hopes ratcheted up like this.
It says (next to the TE mention): “Estimated Tuition Exchange Scholarship…41k”. Maybe it’s just me, but you use “estimated” not as a synonym for “possible” or “potential” but rather as a word to suggest that you’re not sure what the exact amount of the scholarship is.
Anyway - a very (understandably) emotional night here at Chez D23. So I’m wondering if anyone else has also received this same financial aid verbiage from Fordham regarding TE. Hopefully in the morning it works out for the best, but I’m not optimistic.
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Yes, my daughter had a very specific music program she wanted to pursue (popular/commercial music/singer-songwriter/music industry) so we didn’t have much luck with SUNY’s for her. City College had a minor and did have a great jazz program which she excels at-but really had to focus on lesser known LAC’s that were generous with merit and had the major she wanted. She ended up at Loyola New Orleans-super artsy and a perfect city for her-with great merit. Think they have a great film program too! But I’m sure you’ve looked into all your options and are moving on to the decision phase. Good luck!
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Please keep us posted. That would just be cruel! I don’t know how TE decisions are made but I know they are very competitive so they should just put “TBA if selected” in that section if it’s not a true award yet. Your poor daughter! Must have been an emotional roller coaster for her. Sending hugs! Hopefully, even if it’s not confirmed now, she will be awarded this 
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Update: D23 called, and she did not get it because they have not yet done TE process. They even rushed her off the phone, with no apology or anything. Said “estimated” means “you could get this scholarship”. Estimated does NOT mean “possible”. It means “we’re not sure what the exact amount will be”. There is no universe in which estimated would appropriately be used in that context.
If it’s only possible you’ll get the scholarship you say “potential TE scholarship” or “possible TE” or “If TE awarded”. D23 very upset, for completely legitimate reasons. I’m really floored at how sloppy and callous Fordham handled this. You don’t send a financial aid letter saying “Your Scholarships” and list TE + the other Fordham scholarships, total the amount and then say “oh, that’s IF you get TE”. It’s mind-blowing how utterly misleading the letter is. D23 is emotionally crushed. And for what? There’s literally no reason for Fordham to write the letter that way. None at all. This has certainly altered my view of Fordham - I know it has altered D23’s.
Very shameful.
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Very sad. You should email them after all this is over, and give your feedback the way you explained here. Really fed up of colleges not being sensitive at all to the pressure these kids have. For example sending a letter mailed in about a rejection and other things that colleges are insenstitive about in their communication. My kid was rejected over winter holidys break from a prestigious selective summer porgram and they sent her a letter around Christimas to let her know that she was rejected. I was furious and emailed the program coordinator immediately, as to why would they mail a letter rejecting a candidate instead of just sending over an email, and that too during Christmas.
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This must be beyond crushing. You mentioned this has been a complaint from parents before so I’m guessing parents have brought this up and it’s easy to change. Really no excuse for this. This process is stressful enough, colleges should be sensitive about misleading students.
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@Pre-college - that’s my plan. After it’s all over, I’ll email them and cc it to a number of people there. D23 will be over it, but this shouldn’t happen in the future to others. @AmyIzzy - yeah, she took it hard. I’ve uploaded the screenshot of the online financial aid awards letter to show just how misleading it is.
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Now topping more than $84,000?! Wow-just wow.
Does anyone know if Fordham offers some kind of guarantee not to increase tuition during the time they attend? Otherwise, at this rate, it could increase to 100k by their last year!
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No they don’t offer tution freeze guarantee and not many universities do and Fordham is no exception. They had frozen tuition during COVID for 2 years and are catching up per communication to the college community. We know college tuitions are crazy. But inflation in the general economy last year was 7-8%. So using that number even if tuition just keeps up with CPI and if tuition inflation moderates to 4-5%, COA should hit 100k in 3-4 years to your point. It is getting ridiculous but Fordham might be no exception and keeping inline with big city univs like BU/NYU.
Thanks for the info. My son graduated from W&M a few years back and they offered the tuition promise guarantee, never raising tuition while he was there. Made budgeting so much easier. Didn’t realize most schools don’t offer this—and now really appreciate W&M’s gesture:)
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It seems impossible that just four or so years ago kids were attending with enough merit to get the cost to @ $40k-ish. Well, here goes another one off my son’s list.
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Fordham has this plan if someone has lots of money in liquid assets. I am assuming one has to pay a lumpsum up front, which might not be that helpful unless one has few hundred grand just lying around.
Fordham Tuition Stabilization Plan
In your college financial planning, you need to consider that the cost of college
increases from year to year. By taking advantage of the Fordham Tuition Stabilization
Plan, you eliminate future tuition increases for two, three, and up to four years by
prepaying the tuition for future terms at the current tuition rate. For more information
on how to stabilize your tuition cost, please contact Fordham directly at 718-817-4900.
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