<p>As far as the scholarship package stands, she only has to maintain a 2.0 to recieve the total 108,000 after 4 years, but that is if she decides not to do engineering.</p>
<p>And one last thing, we did say no before the deadline DADII.</p>
<p>Okay. I’m going to ask a (possibly) dumb question here, because I read through pages 1-9 here and didn’t see it, and I don’t see it on this one either. I’ve never been through the ED process. Do actual financial aid awards come out for ED applicants in December? </p>
<p>Isn’t it impossible to file the FAFSA for this academic year until after 1/1? So . . . could that disappointing $4K offer have been just initial merit aid from a pot that might’ve been sweetened later on? (If this has been asked & answered already - feel free 2 pm me and/or just move along. Thnx)</p>
<p>Oh, & another thing: Labelness? I read a bit further & saw where you’ve moved on from Rice ED, but for the record: Former Owl here – STILL repaying Rice loans. almost 3 decades later. 
Regrets. Regrets. Regrets!</p>
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<p>Yes they do. ED schools either use the Profile or a school generated from which is usually required to be submitted by the middle of November at the latest. These forms ask a lot of financial information of the family…some that is included on the FAFSA and some that isn’t. The schools then generate an estimated financial aid award based on what you provide to them by this priority deadline. It is VERY wise to use your best possible estimates. </p>
<p>The Profile is usually up and ready to be completed by the beginning of October. Same with school generated forms.</p>
<p>Labelness, I hope your D is very successful wherever she ends up! Southwestern sounds like a great deal.</p>
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<p>Simply not true. When our son received his FA offers, they ranged from realistic EFCs (Pomona and Dartmouth) through ludicrous (U of C, U of Rochester), with others in between. The latter two had us contributing, IIRC, MORE than our annual income at the time. Why? Because, as I’ve explained before, my H owns 1/3 of a piece of real estate that he cannot sell (not even his share, he’s tried) or borrow against (tried that too) and which produces no income (after paying the property taxes and fees associated with renting it). We appealed at the U of C, which said “tough luck.” We appealed the original award at D, and they adjusted it to match Pomona and changed the configuration to something more realistic.</p>
<p>This year, I am happy to say, H finally got a well-paying job in his field. He immediately called D to tell them. They said that our FA award was based on last year’s income, not to worry. We expect to be socked for the next year, but I’d rather have the income than not.</p>
<p>Modadunn, we only travel for family weddings and deaths, and then usually by car. We haven’t taken any vacations in a decade, beyond camping or staying with relatives. We don’t have cable. We don’t have flat screen TVs or I-phones. I had a dvd player because it was a gift. Almost the only new clothes I had for a decade were when my parents gave me a gift certificate. This year, right after H got the job, we had to suck it up and replace a 15-year-old car when it couldn’t pass inspection due to rust, because he needs one for visiting clients. We paid for catastrophic-only health insurance with a $15K deductible per person–so I didn’t go to the doctor or dentist or fill prescriptions unless the situation was dire–and finally had to give that up due to annual increases so we were for the last year uninsured. We didn’t give our S any spending money: he subsisted on birthday/Christmas/graduation gifts from others and what he could earn.</p>
<p>Trust me, many of us whose kids are receiving big FA really need the money. (And BTW, we had put aside money for his education before financial disaster struck, but were unable to add to it through the crucial years, so please don’t tell me we should have “saved” more.) We were tremendously lucky that our S was able to get into a college that truly met need, and we remain profoundly grateful for their generosity. Trust me, we will be contributing to the D Parents and Grandparents fund every year forever.</p>