Does anyone have experience with a school “front-loading” (aiding much more first year than subsequent years)? Or experience with significant changes in aid with a small increase in income? D got a great finaid package from a particular school but I admit I’m a bit wary…I’m considering calling their finaid department and asking about different income change scenarios; ie., if income increases by $10K how much will the aid decrease, that sort of thing…
Call them and ask. There are some need based awards that have an income threshold. For example, some schools give no loan (and therefore more grant)'packages to families with incomes under a certain amount.
Call and ask what this school does in terms of changes in need based aid. They my not be able to,tell you exactly, because you do apply annually.
And if your income increases…hopefully some of that can go towards college costs.
Thanks thumper1. Our situation is very fluid because of a non-custodial bio-Dad and small business on my side. Honestly, we were very surprised with the package ~ there were 19 applications in all and this was over the top. Its a solid choice but I’d hate to have D commit only to find out that she has to transfer a year from now. Do you think the schools are pretty transparent about thresholds?
I think they are as transparent as they can be. Sometimes policies do change. For,example, I believe it was UVA that used to have a completely no loan policy. This was changed to a no loan policy for income earners below a certain amount. But this was the Direct Loan…a student loan…that was added in.
Just call, and say that your daughter is pleased and proud to be able tomattend this she’ll, but you want to inquire about the provisions of her award.
Another thing…if this is so much higher than you expected, can you bank the difference so it will be available in future years?
Absolutely, and it is a consideration. She hasn’t yet chosen her school but if she does, we will definately discuss banking an amount this year (and next year) just in case. I just don’t want to get into a situation where she chooses this school because it means debt-free when another school with merit (vs. grant) can be pretty much estimated. I guess having all the finaid be grant $$ scares me (there are two schools where all aid is grant$$, but this one is much more).
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I don’t know if I"m being clear: if a school is $60K and aid is broken up $20K merit and $10K need-based (total $30K) is that any different than $30K need-based? Is is safer to have that merit aid on the books?
You should find out from the school. It is a well known practice for some schools that they offer more aids to freshmen. Also, you need to find out the renewal criteria if there is any scholarships or grants involved.
There are no GPA requirements or anything of that sort, it is strictly need-based. I did look into how outside scholarships would affect the bottom line and they can be used for unmet need first. In this case, unmet need is more than $10K and D has applied for two scholarships (neither of which we are depending on) which total about $5K.
And neither scholarship is renewable…you must re-apply each year.
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I don’t know if I"m being clear: if a school is $60K and aid is broken up $20K merit and $10K need-based (total $30K) is that any different than $30K need-based? Is is safer to have that merit aid on the books?
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Merit won’t likely be taken away if income goes up.
as for $10k income differences…does your child now qualify for a Pell Grant? If so, then $10k in income increase could wipe most/all of that out.
@NEPatsGirl I feel your pain. We’re having the same dilemma. As I see it, the merit aid is great since it generally doesn;t change—up or down.
The need based grant is a whole 'nother animal. If my income goes away, the need based goes to 100%. If my income goes up, the need based goes away.
We’re weighing various FA opportunities. Good luck to us all.
My younger daughter’s financial aid changed from year to year, but that seemed reasonable to me, given that our family income and family circumstances changed. First two years, her older sister was also in college, so that lowered the EFC, and I’m pretty sure both daughters got Pell grants both years. Also during those first two years, our family income was relatively low ($35,000 to $40,000 AGI), because my husband had minimal employment and was no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Third year, younger daughter received less financial aid than other years, because she was the only one in college and both my and my husband’s income increased a bit. This year, we’re paying less than we did freshman year, because daughter received a $10,000 merit scholarship and the college graciously decided to stack it on top of the need-based aid rather than using to replace need-based aid.
It is really hard to predict because you are a business owner and your income fluctuates year over year. If you had a straight salaried income job, I would say go with the need based, because it is more stable and as long as your child meets satisfactory academic standards (2.0) you pretty much know what you are going to get year over year. In addition, you have a NCP, where he may fill out the forms each year, but it does not obligate him to pay (unless you have a court order and still he may not be required to pay any more than stipulated by the courts).
However with merit, there are many caveats; some schools give merit where all you have to do is maintain satisfactory academic standards and you get your money. However, if it is a set amount, say 10k a year, that amount will not increase as tuition and fees increase each year where if your child got a 1/2 tuition scholarship/full tuition scholarship, the amount would increase as tuition increases.
Others things to consider:
Is there a phase in for the GPA; 3.3 by the end of the first year of 3.3 at the end of each semester
If your child should have a bad semester, do they have until the end of the year to pull the gpa up or do you lose the aid the next semester?
Is there an appeal process, should your child lose her merit $$.
In the event that your child lose the merit money, is there any possibility that the the money could be reinstated?
If it is a school that meets 100% demonstrated need, will the loss of merit at lease be covered by a portion of need based aid (taken that you have some financial need.
Above all if the merit leaves, is the school still a financially feasible option.
As others have stated, the challenge is that you must apply for financial aid each year. The rub is if you grow your business and become more successful, it comes at the expense of the great financial aid package that you have now. This could hurt, it you grow your business, but not enough to make up for the aid that you would be losing.