<p>This article uses AU as an example. I recently talked with someone in their FA office, with questions for possibilities for next year. It was difficult to get any specifics, but we were told that FA given the freshman year would remain the same each year, as long as our income remained about the same. Has this been your experience?<br>
In this article, it says that if your income goes down, AU will not increase your FA. Is that true? Is that typical? That is rather frightening, since you never know what might happen with your job during the course of a student’s time in college.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that that article is making the rounds for prospective AU students/parents, especially since it was written by an AU student. I am of the opinion that many AU students over exaggerate the financial aid situation at AU. Prospective students/parents should realize that financial aid is a 4-year long, year-by-year process that CAN change no matter what university you attend. There is no financial guarantee. I think your questions are valid, but I think you should realize that no financial aid office at any university will give you specifics about a student’s potential financial aid because the aid you receive depends on a number of factors that can’t be somehow predicted.</p>
<p>In my experience, my financial aid has remained the same (my parent’s income remained the same as well). In my opinion, this has been the experience of most of my peers. Also, it’s not simply about AU increasing or decreasing your FA because it probably depends on your initial FA package. Hell, any university might “increase” your FA package but they might just give you a lot of loans if you didn’t have too many loans in the first place. It depends! Even though AU runs on need-based financial aid, you should probably not count on AU to increase your AU grant over time. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it would be financially irresponsible to not budget for unforeseen costs.</p>
<p>Of course, there’s also the nationwide trend of rising tuitions at colleges across the United States so you should take this into consideration as well before entering ANY college. The good news is that AU’s Board of Trustees only raised tuition by 1.5% last year, much less than most universities across the U.S.</p>
<p>My experience with FA was not great. My D received no aid beginning her freshman year. After her first semester I was laid off from my job and my wife fell ill. After many calls, forms, letters and appeals we were told that AU would still not offer any aid only loans (which we declined, choosing to spend through savings instead). Several of my D’s friends have seen their aid cut after freshman year. As a parent, I have nothing but good things to say about AU as a whole. The education, experiences and opportunities available there are world class. But if you are not receiving merit aid, it is extremely expensive. </p>
<p>My d is a recent AU grad. We had a very satisfactory experience with FA, starting with her initial package. When our 2nd child started college in D’s senior year, AU increased her AU grant significantly. The only complaint that we had was in communication. AU did not notify us that they were increasing her grant. In the meantime, we had arranged an extra loan for D to cover her shortfall. Without telling us anything, AU sent the loan money back to the originator, as it was an “overpayment.” We were very confused and it took a couple phone calls to the FA office to figure out what had happened. Of course, this is anecdotal. Every experience is different.</p>
<p>My S is in his second year and we got a tiny bit more this year than last. Both years we have gotten a “verification request” in May, which has been stressful. More questions, copies of tax returns, etc. I thought we had made some mistake and they were going to take money away, but it seemed to be a routine luck-of-the-draw event.</p>
Beware. At a small, elite liberal arts college in the south that touts its financial aid, our child has experienced front loading. The end result is that his college education will cost nearly 25k more than expected during his last two years. Financial aid formulas at private schools are shrouded.If your income goes up, even slightly, often these schools will adjust next year’s pkg so they can confiscate those earnings, or it certainly appears that way. If you are willing to gamble a bit, and have avenues of resource in your home equity, etc, these schools and their need based pkgs may work. However, for middle class families, the aid pkgs can vary significantly, and result in hardship. Enter into need based financial aid with these elite private schools with your eyes wide open and try not to increase your income a cent during the time your child is in college.