HI, I got accepted ED to my dream school, a top 20 school. I already know professors there, alumni, and current students. Plus, I already told everyone I’d go there. However, they only offered me half of around a 60k tuition in grants. Part of it is loans and work study. I am required to pay about 28k a year when my family makes around 78k a year. The schools says they will allow an appeal in april, but I’d have to pay the deposit by Jan 1st. This is strange because I have no assets and this school promises to meet 100% need.
I was also accepted to school B. They gave enough aid for my family but I know I would be less happy at this school. The school does not “fit” me as well and it’s not as prestigious as i’d like.
If you can’t make the FA offer work and they have done all they can with an appeal for review now, I would say you have to turn them down and continue with your other apps.
Did your parents have a big dip in income in 2015 from 2014? Or did something else happen to your finances in 2015 that make you think you will get a different result when 2015 tax forms are provided? How does the offer they gave you match with the net price calculator on their website? Have you double checked that you entered everything right on the FA forms (didn’t put parent info in kid’s field, only included the assets specifically asked for, etc)?
I wanted to do that, but I heard that with ED, the ED school informs other schools that you broke the agreement and this prevents you from getting into other schools.
And yes, there was about n 11,000 difference in earnings from 2014 to 2015, with 2015 being the year we earned less. Also, the noncustodial parent’s info might be affecting things. The other parent will not contribute at all, but the waiver was denied even with divorce papers and unpaid child support forms and a letter from the guidance counselor. @intparent
They also assume your non-custodial parent will pay – doesn’t matter if they will or not if they turned down your waiver request. My guess is that is some of your problem, and it won’t be resolved in March. Your ED agreement clearly states that if you can’t make the school work financially, you can turn down an ED offer. It is the only reason you can turn it down. Can you get them to give you a review if you assume your custodial parent has an $11,000 drop in income this year?
Do you understand what meeting 100% of need means? This means that they apply their own formula and calculate what they consider your need to be. They will meet the rest of need but student direct loan and work/study are part of meeting need most colleges. You mean your parent has no asset, right? Because it isn’t based on only child asset, it is based on parents too. Any NPC that did not include the noncustodial parent is irrelevant because they did not grant the waiver. The question is, is the NPC different when using both parent income or not? One parent makes 75k but you didn’t say how much the other makes. Usually if one parent does not want to pay, they will not give waiver based on that. You custodial parent should move to get back in court to collect the support and ask the judge for some for college. If she doesn’t want to at least she should go to the DA and get the wages attached for the arrears now.
So you can’t afford the school, time to process that and move on. Your should not ask your parent to sign such big loans and use this emotional blackmail of saying you won’t be happy. It is horrible some kids are that selfish and thoughtless. You can choose to be happy or unhappy at another, your call, waaaa waaa.
So you already told people you are going? Maybe in future you will learn to have more discretion. You don’t go into massive debt to save face. “It was unaffordable in the end” is as good a story as any.
Sorry to harsh on you but this doesn’t seem to be getting through despite the facts.
Sorry,but no school is a “dream” if the right aid doesn’t come through. (And you have to consider the four year costs, what happens as you re-apply for aid, each year.)
Agree, you need to try to see why the NPC is so off.
'I heard that with ED, the ED school informs other schools that you broke the agreement and this prevents you from getting into other schools."
No.
If I am reading right, the NPC was off because the noncustodial income wasn’t included. That means the NPC he ran is garbage. Garbage in garbage out.
And you are allowed to decline the ED offer if you can’t afford it. If you accept the offer and pay the deposit an continue to apply to other colleges and perhaps accept one this is indeed a problem. See if the school will allow that while you appeal. But really you shouldn’t likely bother and just decline it and get to your other options.
You really can’t afford your dream school. I’m sorry you don’t want to hear that, but its true.
Your parent may not EVEN qualify for the loans you need to attend. And, how will you repay this amount of money? Some loans require repayment while you are in school! Some loans begin 6 months after graduation. $28K per year plus interest is not cheap! Having to repay a minimum of $112K won’t look good for your credit. You won’t be able to get certain things for a long time (new car, clothes, restaurant expenses, etc.)
Meeting need means the university gives you what they think you need and that includes all of the loans and work-study. (Oh, and work study jobs are not really guaranteed because some schools may not be able to offer much in the way of positions and hours)
Their definition of need is not your definition of need. If you can’t afford it, it’s not our dream school. And so what if you told people you’d go there. That’s a non issue. It’s hard to make tough, grown up decisions. Rice is a fabulous school. I am biased as I had a kid go there. Fabulous! But don’t leave college saddled with debt, or assume your parents will take out loans they cannot afford.
Your dream school should not be a financial nightmare; if you cannot make it work financially, withdraw now and celebrate the affordable school.
Some of the challenges are as follows:
There is an expectation that your parents are first in line to pay for your education. You will not receive additional aid because you have a non-custodial parent or even a custodial parent who does not want to pay. This is not an unusual situation or any different from in-tact families where there is a disconnect between parent and child when it comes down to how much they are willing to pay for college.
Unfortunately, again, the net price calculator will not be correct in the case of divorced parents, non-custodial parents, step parents, self-employed parents or business owners
I agree with inparent, that this issue will not be resolved in March. Barring your custodial parent hitting the lottery or coming in to a great amount of money, you still have a situation where your non-custodial parent is expected to pay, and either can’t afford to or refuses to pay. The college is not going to turn a blind eye to that.
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wanted to do that, but I heard that with ED, the ED school informs other schools that you broke the agreement and this prevents you from getting into other schools.
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Not only is that not true. You should have been able to figure out that your ED school wouldn’t know where else you’re applying.
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The net price calculator provided about 18,00 more in aid than the actual package when we only included our information
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Garbage In, Garbage Out
You didn’t put in accurate info for a school that requires info from both households.
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Plus, I already told everyone I’d go there
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^^ this seems to be a rather common problem. If students aren’t savvy enough to wait to see if a school is affordable, then their parents need to advise them to keep their mouths shut until all the facts are known.
@xDragonFlyx Is it just between these 2 schools? Are you prepared to submit other apps to schools that could turn out to be your dream schools in March? Your dream school is not affordable, but it doesn’t need to be black or white. School B with the scholarship is a bad fit? Find a school (in the next 5 days) to apply to that could be a great fit, both financially and academically. What are your other options?
You will NOT get blacklisted by your dream school by cancelling your ED because of financial reasons. Don’t tell your friends what you are doing- that is a big mistake. You won’t even be talking to most of these people after June so don’t worry about what they think.