<p>@smwhtslghtlydzed, mada34, parent: Would any of you mind specifying EFC’s/general financial situation + GU aid? </p>
<p>@wizkid: congrats to you! is the JC scholarship very competitive? were you admitted to lots of other really top schools? </p>
<p>To the newer posts:
I’m in the same boat. SFS EA admit and no login info to MyAccess. I sent an email awhile back asking for the info and they said to call the registrar’s office. Will do so on Monday when the office opens. </p>
<p>Are any of you visiting this weekend? I just got back from the first day of GAAP and absolutely fell in love with SFS more than I was before. It is such an incredible school so I REALLY hope I get aid. </p>
<p>Other schools I’m looking at: Wellesley (gave lots of grant money, 11K), UVA (15K), Emory (34K), W&M (TBA), and waitlists at Yale, Columbia, Duke. Do any of you have advice/suggestions as to where I should be leaning towards, should GU not give aid?</p>
<p>This thread has given me hope of receiving some aid from Georgetown after receiving not a penny from UVa. My FAFSA EFC was in the mid 60Ks. What the heck? There is no way I can afford that. Is it possible that I will get some aid from Georgetown since they also use the CSS Profile and not just the FAFSA like UVa. Georgetown is my dream school and after being accepted today I want to make it happen!</p>
<p>GT states they pay %100 of demonstrated financial need. But, since they base this need on your EFC which is NOT a calculation of your need, the statement is pure BS. The EFC is a measure of your families financial strength that the government uses to award aid.</p>
<p>@inacrappymood: GU also uses the CSS Profile to determine your financial need. My financial aid package is very generous. My family contribution is less than my FAFSA EFC. GU’s statement of meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need is not “BS”. I am able to attend my dream school because of their generosity!</p>
<p>@hotpinkalicia: I will tell you why GT’s FA is pure BS. GT’s website states “The University works to provide eligible students 100 percent of their demonstrated financial need through scholarships, loans and other forms of assistance.” In order for my D to attend, GT expects our family to borrow $30K each year. Putting us into $120K of debt after 4 years is a weird interpretation of the above statement.</p>
<p>@inacrappymood: I agree with you 100 percent. Georgetown is saying I have to come up with $31K per year for my son to attend. That’s pretty unmanageable, making his dream of going to Georgetown almost unattainable unless I want to go into debt as well.</p>
<p>What income bracket are you in, if you don’t object to disclosing? Having to borrow that much seems uncharacteristic, unless you have special financial expenditures in spite of a robust income.</p>
<p>I find it really hard to believe that GU expects you to take out 31k in loans; if your EFC is 31k, there’s a reason. Obviously your family income is pretty high to have an EFC that high…did your family not save any for college? My financial aid package was spot on because we saved a reasonable amount and didn’t spend excessively on a house/cars/vacation. We will be able to meet our EFC from savings, my summer job, and our family income…that’s how GU expects you to meet your EFC.</p>
<p>Just received my financial aid today. I’m happy to announce that mine contained not a dollar in loans, with the John Carroll, GU Scholarship and Work Study covering the full tuition and for the most part only needing me to pay housing.</p>
<p>@hotpinkalicia - I didn’t say I have to take out $31K in loans each year, but it’s a lot more than we had expected, so I’d probably have to borrow a decent amount, which is making the decision difficult.</p>
<p>@wizkid94: Our income after taxes is under $100K.</p>
<p>@hotpinkalicia: I save $25K per year per child. We have two cars, both bought used and both 12 years old. Like your we family we don’t spend excessively.</p>
<p>So Georgetown is expecting you to pay $56K a year? Given your stated income there could be a few reasons for this. The money for your children’s education is in an UGMA and considered their money for college. You have other assets that are causing you EFC to be higher, a second with a fair amount of equity or a business could cause this.</p>
<h1>letort: No UGMA. I found the EFC formula on the web and the calculation has two parts: 1) assets, and 2) income. The assets part looks almost reasonable in my case. It’s the income part that is unfair. Somehow it calculates that we have $20K in excess income. I guess I could partially get to $20K if I stopped contributing to my 401k. It does seem the general attitude these days that saving for retirement is somewhat of a luxury. I mean that both sarcastically and seriously.</h1>
<p>Unlike assets already in a 401k or retirement plan, a portion of current contributions to such plans a treated as “available for college expenses” in the federal EFC calculation. This keeps people from gaming the system by dramatically increasing their 401k contributions to “hide” income while their children are in college.</p>