Hey students/parents/College Confidential community,
I’m a student who’s gone from no financial aid to a full ride, and made just about every mistake in the book along the way. I’ve worked in universities and gotten an inside look at financial aid game being played around students, and I want to share what I’ve learned about the college application and financial aid process.
I’m interested in knowing what your most pressing questions about financial aid and scholarships are. Ask and I’ll give you the best answer I can! Basically, I’ve made every mistake so you (hopefully) don’t have to.
Why don’t you post your story here? Otherwise, you’ll likely be flagged as a spammer.
Good point! Definitely don’t want them to think I’m a spammer. Just trying to explain my story and gauge what questions people have that I could help answer. CC has so many different threads it’s hard to know where to start.
@FinAidNinja
Well…so far, you haven’t explained YOUR story…at all.
If you have information to share, why not post it here. Let the readers decide if it is valuable to them…or not.
It sounds like you are soliciting PMs for this information, and personally, I have an issue with that.
If your information might be valuable to others, post it here.
Not soliciting, not spamming, just want to be helpful. Realize that might be better served answering questions people have already posted. Thanks for the clarity and advice.
@FinAidNinja
*No violation of the Terms of Service at this point. However, just to be clear, as stated by others, you are not allowed to solicit for business in any way, including via private message. But if you just want to contribute, as you say, and you have interesting information and experience, then that is part of what CC is for and welcome aboard.
You would establish some credibility if you outlined some of what led to this insight you have. You don’t have to go into great detail, just the broad points of what happened to you and what work experience you have.*
We are waiting… (tapping foot, arms crossed)…
If you want to share your personal experience, why don’t you start with your EFC and if you got need aid or merit aid or a combo.
They don’t have to post that info, I was just affirming it would be a good idea if they expect anyone to post questions. Otherwise, if the thread just dies of neglect, it won’t be the first time. A fair number of threads never get any responses. Also, some people only get on CC at certain times, rather than being on all the time. Let’s be patient.
How about this…could you post the top five things you would suggest college students and their families do to maximize their need based financial aid?
I’m assuming you are talking about need based aid…not merit aid.
Im reminded of a kid at my daughters high school who was excited that her brother got a " full ride", to Princeton.
Yes, that was great, but it also meant that their EFC was very low as Princeton does not give merit awards & that he beat the very tough odds, to be accepted.
Im also wondering what she means by " the financial aid game".
Mistakes that some people make might include:
Not having a financial safety they would attend, not filing very early ( in January), for freshman year.
Expecting that colleges will not penalize you for 2nd homes or expect noncustodial parents (& their spouses) to contribute to PROFILE.
Not realizing that those who are self employed may well have business assets taken into consideration.
Contributions to 401k of the previous year will be added back in to available income.
What else?
There is someone on Reddit who is asking about how to get funding for a private college when they have been on academic probation, so you may want to change your user name, OP.
How are people supposed to ask you anything if they haven’t the foggiest idea of what you did right or wrong?
FinAidNinja was online in the last 1.5 hours but apparently has nothing to say…those Ninjas - so secretive!
Perhaps he is communicating via PM. Hoping his advice is honest, and not solicitation
The game I am referring to is how colleges will rig their “percent receiving aid” statistics that are reported every year. Say the real price to enter a school is 30k. The school will charge 40k, and report that they are giving x% a 10k scholarship. 1) They know that there will be some who can pay the inflated price, and 2) they know that statistically this makes them look good for their “percent receiving aid.” I know I relied on that statistic when I was hunting for schools, and realized later how fallible it was. Schools know that families see that as an important number.
A more valuable number to look at is the number of students to endowment ratio. Though schools distribute their endowments differently, it will give you a much better picture of how a school will perform financial aid-wise. To use extremes, NYU has as $3.5 billion endowment, but they also have 40k students. Amherst College has $2 billion, but less than 2k students. What I have learned is to be suspicious of percentages put out by schools, and to rely more on your own comparisons of the hard numbers.
Financial Aid Ninja- your math may be fine but your conclusions are faulty.
The issue is the number of parents/families who want the bragging rights that “University of blah blah wanted little Susie so much she got a merit scholarship”. It’s cheaper to give 10 students a scholarship of 10K each than to have to fund needy students who need full freight to attend.
Their money goes further. Parents get to brag.
It’s not rigged- this is how the system works. There are numerous examples (check out GW) of colleges whose perception of quality rose when they increased their price. People are stupid- that’s not the fault of the college.
NOBODY should look at gross statistics when trying to calculate what a particular college will cost. This Ninja is posting misleading advice. Use the NPC for your OWN situation; don’t rely on the size of the endowment, percent receiving aid, or any other gross statistic that may not apply to you.
If 98% of students receive a grant at a particular college- and you can’t afford your EFC, getting that grant does you no good- that college is unaffordable TO YOU. Which is all that matters. TO YOU.
Are you still in college? How did you make ends meet or did the full ride cover personal expenses too?
This sounds flakey. There are so many sites and books that help families navigate the details of getting aid. Knowing the endowment/student ratio does nothing to explain a particular college’s official policies. Nor does it mean you can squeeze more aid out of Amherst. Or that NYU doesn’t make some great awards.
No magic.
What does post 14 have to do with knowing what to do to get better financial aid.
Everyone knows NYU does not meet full need, while Amherst guarantees to meet full need for all accepted students. You are comparing apples to oranges.
@FinAidNinja
You claim to have info on maximizing financial aid…at least that was your claim in your first post.
So…what are the top five things a student can do to maximize THEIR financial aid? Also, how did you go from no aid to a full ride? What happened to make this possible?
And please don’t tell us that a student should look at the size of the endowment vs the size of the student body. That does NOTHING in terms of helping a student maximize their chances at financial aid.