<p>I’ve dreamt of going to BC for a while, and, all financial matters aside, it’s my number 1 choice. I was accepted to CSOM (#6 business school in the country!), and I can really see myself fitting in well here. Unfortunately, I’m in a crux-- my family makes too much money for financial aid, but not enough to pay $60,000 a year for my education. With my 2 younger siblings both entering college in the next 4 years, my parents and I simply can’t afford BC’s pricy tuition, and the thought of taking out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans is frightening. BC offered me $1600 a year of need-based aid plus some irrelevant loans/work studies (how generous…). At some of the other schools I was accepted to, my parents called the financial aid office and convinced them to review my financial aid packet again. Will this work at BC? I might also file for appeal, as my dad made extra money last year in a side job, and this is substantial extra income that my family won’t ever see again.</p>
<p>Anyone have any suggestions? I’d hate to give up my dream because of financial issues after having worked so hard to be accepted to a great school like BC.</p>
<p>yes, you can appeal. But even one-time income is factored into the equation. If that income goes away this year, you will recieve more grant money next year.</p>
<p>btw: when your sibs start college, your aid can/will increase. In general, colleges split your Expected Family Contribution in half (well closer to 60%, but for simple math).</p>
<p>For example, assume that your EFC is. $55k with one child in college. It will not change with two in college. But what happens is that the college divides that number in half (or takes 60% of it), and awards grants to cover the difference.</p>
<p>When you appeal, ask BC what would happen next year when your sib goes to college, and if your family income remains the same.</p>
<p>my award is still conditional because my dad just sent in the updated taxes so that means its subject to change right? but im worried that they won’t update my award in time to make a decision… do they update awards before may 1st? im freaking out</p>
<p>yes, your award is conditional. If all the numbers check out, i.e…, your family’s tax return is really close to the estimates that you sent in previously, the numbers wont change much. If your dad’s actual income (based on Form 1040) is much higher than your original estimate, however, the award will go down. </p>
<p>Of course, the converse is also true: if your actual income is lower than estimated, the award can increase.</p>
<p>It probably won’t matter much anyways considering I only got $1600 in scholarship form so even if it increases it most likely won’t be substantial enough for me to consider BC an option. There goes my hopes and dreams, oh well</p>
<p>sadly you are in a bad position. You may not get the dream school , I think a lot of kids are finding that out. You need a need blind/merit based school thats generous. And it doesnt sound like that is BC. There are plenty of good schools around that will be more generous…maybe you need to look for more of a “big fish in a small pond” school.</p>
<p>It just surprises me that BC doesn’t give out more financial aid-- don’t they have a huge endowment? And even if my family makes $150,000 a year, do they really expect my family and I to be able to spend almost half of their income on my college education? It doesn’t make much sense to me that they can only spare a couple thousand dollars a year…</p>
<p>Quite a few things go into the financial aid decision. Schools in general, including BC, do assume parents will make substantial sacrifices to send children to college. Income is a big part of the decision but so are the parents’ assets. Money in a 529 plan, savings and checking accounts, brokerage account balances, value of the family home(s) all figure in. Your parents aren’t expected to send nearly half their income - it’s expected that they’ll have saved some money for you and that was disclosed on the financial aid paperwork (including the FAFSA). That said, it’s hard for a family making 150k to get much aid.</p>
<p>BC has a fairly large endowment. The school also has a considerable amount of long-term debt. It’s frustrating. Money kept me from my first college choice and at the time, it really hurt. I landed on my feet and even if you aren’t able to go to BC, you will land on yours. Good luck.</p>
<p>My parents called and BC said they’d call back and see what they could do. What are the chances that they would up my aid? I’m not banking on anything, but is there a possibility that they could add on a grant or something?</p>
<p>Dear money11 : While I have made similar posts in the financial aid discussions about Boston College previously, your material requires some additional input. Families with annual incomes of $150,000, cash assets of $100,000, and their own home are typically outside the range of financial aid. The $50,000/year price tag requires a savings discipline that started a decade back in order to properly handle the cash expenditures needed.</p>
<p>The Boston College endowment stands at approximately $1.6B. Suppose the total aid pool available in any given year to all four undergraduate classes was $180M. (This happens to be very close to the actual total.) Sounds like an incredible number with the contributions of alumni, fund-raising and more.</p>
<p>Now, take that number and divide it by 9,000 undergraduates. What number do you calculate? My number is $20,000. This implies that the average student is discounted by 40%.</p>
<p>However, you know that those with substantially less income will attract significantly more of the aid pool to cover their $50,000/year tab. That is, after all, what need-blind admissions truly means.</p>
<p>There is serious discussion at Boston College about the double-bubble : high salary families can afford to pay and low income families are taking a larger portion of the financial aid pool leaving the middle income group without the resources needed to meet the Boston College tab. Unfortunately, I do not have an answer (snarky or otherwise) to address this fundamental problem.</p>
<p>Yes if there truly is a mistake or a change in living, BC will reconsider their award.
My family personally called the office and I was rewarded 10,000 more (an increase by 7000 grant and 3000 loans). While I realize that I am extremely fortunate for this change and that it is conditional for everyone, it does not help to try. BC was surprisingly gracious with their financial aid for me (the most out of all of my schools). </p>
<p>Also—I personally wouldn’t call you poor. I’m not trying to offend anyone here but my family makes a little under 100K after taxes and I have siblings as well. I feel like after a certain income bracket, BC really just stops giving that much aid. If you want more exact numbers about how much financial aid I got (for reference), message me and I will gladly tell you.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to classify myself as poor, or offend anyone actually living below the poverty line. I know that I’m lucky to live comfortably with a 3 figure income. My problem with FAFSA and financial aid is that my parents and I were punished for working hard, building credit, and saving money. My dad spoke with my fin aid advisor and she said it all comes down to finances. It almost seems like if my parents had been less responsible with their money and if we had susbstantily more debt, I could have received more aid from BC or any college for that matter. It’s no ones fault, it just bothers me immensely.</p>
<p>The fin aid office said to file for appeal and provide evidence that my dad worked on an extra side project for the last 2 years that he no longer is working on, which brought in something like 30-40000$ extra in 2011 an 2012. We’re bringing the paperwork in Sunday, barring that BC and the city of Boston are even running in the midst of this chaos. I’m trying to be patient, and I understand if things don’t work out, but at the same time, I have to start to come to terms with leaving my dream behind. If only BC could see how devasted I am.</p>
<p>Oops I meant that it was an extra $13-14000 that my dad earned. So the appeal process probably won’t help much, seeing as it wasn’t that much extra income, relatively speaking.</p>
<p>Just wanted to give my two cents. I also applied for financial aid and consider my family to be middle income bracket. My parents were directly hit by the economic collapse, so I cannot expect any help from them, whatsoever. Problem is, my father owns a business so much of his losses were probably added back in. I was initially awarded a fairly reasonable package, but kept correspondence with my aid counselor and made it perfectly clear how badly I wanted to go to BC. I turned in the final documents that BC required and my package was bumped up $7000 more in grants the next week! This was an amazing surprise and I believe it had to do with my persistence, as the new documents I sent in did NOT help my financial cause. I also plan on making an official appeal, as I have not done so yet! Don’t give up hope, and I wish you the best luck!</p>
<p>What other schools are you considering? What makes BC your dream school?</p>
<p>I ask these questions because even as an alum of BC, I wouldn’t recommend loading up on loans. BC is a great school, CSOM is great, but there are other schools that have similar merits. As you appeal the financial aid, I hope you start to consider other options.</p>
<p>I’m glad that you realized classifying your family as poor isn’t accurate and could be offensive. You might also want to reconsider your statement about what you might have been able to get if your family had been less responsible with money or had more debt. If you had been raised in a family of poor decision makers, it’s very likely you wouldn’t be in the position to even be admitted into BC or other schools. It’s likely you would be angry at the world for “punishing” you with such poor parents. As you said, you have lived a comfortable life. That doesn’t seem like much of a punishment.</p>
<p>I’m also glad that you know what an endowment is. You should also know that you are not entitled to it. As scottj said, it’s imperative that families save for college education early especially as the cost of attendance continues to rise. BC doesn’t owe you or any other admitted student money. BC isn’t in the business of making everyone’s dreams come true. You applied to BC knowing the cost. I know there has been irresponsible guidance counseling about the ubiquity of scholarships, but that’s just not true. BC is a business. They can’t give substantial aid to everyone and they aren’t secretive about the costs.</p>
<p>However, I do understand your frustration. I felt similar when I realized how much grad school costs. I eventually got over it and I’m sure you will too, you seem bright and wise. Even a school like Harvard, which has the largest endowment, cannot fully fund its admitted students. There are Harvard admits in your same predicament. I personally know some people who got into Harvard and couldn’t attend. At the end of the day, these schools aren’t responsible for funding our life choices. We are responsible. They don’t even have to provide scholarships for low-income students. They choose to do that.</p>
<p>Think about it, would you be steaming mad if you went to your local BMW dealership to get the car of your dreams, but they wouldn’t let you have the car because you couldn’t afford it? No. There is always some negotiation you can do to lower the price of the car, but you still have to pay. Would you say that you were being punished by the dealership? Do you think the dealership would care if you were devastated? Probably not. I would be thinking, “Darn, I need to save more or choose a car in my price range.”</p>
<p>I really appreciate everyone’s input. Thank you! My final four are BC, BU, Bentley, and Umass amherst (in decreasing order of cost). I got about $20,000 at BU and Bentley, and a tuition waiver plus $2000 at Umass. I’m in the honors program at all of them except at BC. BC has the best business program, while Umass probably has the worst of the four, and BU and Bentley are comparable in terms of prestige of their business programs, from what I gather. Now it’s time to decide where I want to be in terms of location. I’m leaning towards BU because I love the idea of being right in Boston, and I get to live in a suite in the honors dorm, which is a huge plus. Then again, if I go to Umass, my family can pay for my education in its entirety, so I’d be coming out of college debt free. I’m not afraid to take out loans (around $50,000 in loans would be reasonable), but it wouldbe nice to start with a clean slate. </p>
<p>It won’t be an easy decision, and I’ll fight for BC till the bitter end, but I’m a rational person, and I would never sacrifice my financial future and the next 20 years of my life for a four year experience at a young age.</p>
<p>With two siblings at home, your concern about the tuition costs and all, why don’t you appeal your fin aid? If it doesn’t work, and the tuition is an issue and heavy burden, maybe you should pass on BC. Would you really enjoy your college experience weighted down by so much financial concerns? Also, you might want to go on later to grad school.</p>
<p>Wherever you choose, I’m sure you will be happy even if it does not turn out to be your top choice. And all are great schools, so you’ll be successful no matter what :)</p>
<p>" if my parents had been less responsible with their money and if we had susbstantily more debt, I could have received more aid from BC or any college for that matter. It’s no ones fault, it just bothers me immensely."</p>
<p>That is not the case. Neither PROFILE nor FAFSA take debt into account other than if you owe on your house, in which case your primary home equity value would be correspondingly less for PROFILE which is what BC uses. The main thing that drives the financial aid is INCOME. If your parents make over $150K, getting much financial aid from anywhere is not going to happen. Merit money, yes, fin aid nope. </p>
<p>If your family has saved a lot of money as you say, then, they can draw on it to pay for college. Your post seems to indicate they don’t have it to pay. College is supposed to be paid for from past, present and future income. So some savings, some out of current earnings and some loans from your parents and YOU. </p>
<p>So please don’t think that if your parents had been less responsible, you’d be in a better place for going to a pricey school. Since they were responsible, and are responsible, they should have savings, can draw on current income at the level they earn and borrow to pay for BC. The school does have to draw lines as to who they decide can pay, and it appears like your family makes enough money to do so. The only irresponsibility that would have really helped is if they didn’t have jobs that paid much. That would really put you into a great financial aid category, But they can do that with next year’s salary–pay what FAFSA expects them to do and live at that level that would get it as aid. I think you’ll realize that the money that your family is earning is going into a very nice standard of living which is expensive. Why should the school subsidize that?</p>