<p>Ok I originally started this post.</p>
<p>We are out of state and self employed. Our income in 2009 will drop considerably b/c of the economic downturn and my largest client is a bank. I talked to FAFSA and they told me to still base my FAFSA application on 2008 figures, but contact GA Tech direct about the income drop. I did that and our FA advisor told me how to proceed: to draft a letter stating the situation. Spent a lot of time getting our 2008 taxes done early and drafting the information in a logical way. Got a letter from director of GA Tech financial aid that said "Thank you for your letter explaining the special circumstances that your family is currently experiencing. The letter cites a significant drop in income from clients not able to retain their agreements because of financial hardships. … we are unable to make changes to financial aid eligibility based on these circumstances.</p>
<p>Any idea what that’s all about? I don’t see how they can make that call. We followed FAFSA’s instructions, their instructions, all of their printed materials state this process.</p>
<p>What should we do?</p>
<p>Another question I have is why does Georgia Tech charge so much more for out of state vs in state. I haven’t seen another college that is even close in the spread between in vs out of state.</p>
<p>I was reading about Freshman Orientation and cost of $160 for students and $80 for guests. Does any one know if this is included in the $37,000 plus out of state cost of attendance? If not…it should be. With tuition at $25,000 plus you’d think orientation would be included.</p>
<p>I found this figure online:</p>
<p>It depends on the school, but plan to plop down around twice as much or more than the schools instate cost.</p>
<p>Although most schools claim they will reevaluate your aid package if there is a change in your situation, I think most of the additional “aid” offered will be loans. </p>
<p>I have to say that I don’t see how they can arbitrarily figure what you will make and adjust your aid. (I don’t mean you personally) Lots of people may be having a tough time but still end up making a decent amount of money by the end of 2009. Plus, the loss of income, if there is a loss, will be reflected on the next year’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>The only way they can help and be fair is to increase the loan aid.</p>
<p>And I feel your pain as an accepted GT OOS student who can’t afford to attend and who has two unemployed parents.</p>
<p>Well actually we had a verifiable drop. And again, they do make adjustments according to FAFSA and according to them. I’m just not sure why they chose not to in our situation…the letter didn’t specify that at all. We’re going to call and try to get an answer so we feel better about the decision. Our income fluctuates every year and it just so happened we had best year ever last year. That was very unordinary. I even sent them the adjusted gross income figures for last 10 years and it clearly shows it.</p>
<p>Any idea why they charge so much more for oos vs instate?</p>
<p>FYI, even after $37,000 plus, Fall Freshman Orientation cost an additional $160 per student and $80 per parent!! That sort of really got to me.</p>
<p>Sorry you can’t go. We made the decision that our son could go…but had really hoped for more aid based on our situation. So he is going to take our the max $5,500 in student loans each year to help.</p>
<p>Because of the HOPE scholarship there is a lot of pressure on the Board of Regents to keep in state tuition low. If tuition continues to rise, the HOPE will be threatened as a funding vehicle. This would not be good for the politicians.</p>
<p>JP, I am curious what your instate options are. Is the land-grand university where you are not considered good? GT is a good school, but so are many other places.</p>
<p>My son is in Alabama so Auburn was his second choice. And University of Alabama at Birmingham third. His heart was set on Georgia Tech…but both of these other options could have been great.</p>