Help with George Washington Aid

Paying for College
1

I am happy yet have mixed feelings about the email I got from George Washington University yesterday. I just finished my freshman year of college and I was looking to enter GWU as a sophomore in the fall of 2018. I was accepted into the college, but only sort of. I was told that there was no room in the Fall of 2018 class but that they wanted me to attend regardless so that they would give me 100% guaranteed admission for the Spring 2019 semester.

I was so delighted to hear this news because it is truly an honor that they went out of their way to make room for me even before applications for Spring 2019 opened up. On the other hand, came the poison pill. I would not be allowed to look at my financial aid package until December when I was “officially accepted.”

This might not bother the average person, but it poses a serious problem for me. I am an American student who has done his education in the United States, but his parents live abroad, hence I am the only member of my entire family who lives in the United States. I didn’t want to live in Latin America so I decided to make my life work up here all by myself. However, the problem I face is the following:

My rent contract is set to expire on August 9th of this year. This means that if I was to take GW’s offer I would have to find a place to stay for another 6 months before the spring semester started. However, I am not rich to say it kindly. I have an EFC of 0 on my FAFSA and the assets that we have might as well be $0 as we don’t really own anything. The only things that my family owns are a small house in South America, an old used car and that is it really. Not to mention that they only help that they could possible give me is a few hundred dollars a month simply because inflation in South America is so terrible when you covert it to dollars. So, for all practical purposes I am left to pay for anything I need by myself of through loans. However, after having read other posts here as well as checking their estimate calculator, I am afraid that even with an EFC of 0, if I have to go there I will still need to borrow tens of thousands of dollars a year. Not to mention that I will had to move out of my place and completely restructure my life for six months in terms of scheduling and work for something that I might not even be able to afford and hence not be able to do.

On the other hand, if I simply chose to go to UCLA (I live in California) after another year at my college I could get my entire tuition taken care of at no cost because of my EFC of 0 and a CalGrant would cover most of the rest of the costs for the two years that I would be there, meaning I would incur little to no debt going to college. However, as a student studying politics, DC is clearly a better option in terms of future careers.

My question to you all is, would you risk it? Would you risk taking the risk and waiting for GW and then taking it no matter what they offer you in terms of aid, or you would focus on attending UCLA? I spoke with a UCLA rep at my school as well as my counselor. Thanks to the honors classes I am taking and my major not really being one that people are killing to apply for, my chances of getting into the the college go WAY up to around 79% which is basically guaranteed acceptance to one of the best schools in the world. I simply do not know what to do. One is the center of world politics and the other one saves me (potentially) tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

What would you do guys? Thank you so much for any advice that you give. I didn’t know who to ask or where to ask so I just assumed that someone here might be able to help me. Thank you.

2

UCLA. If GW won’t even show you the financial aid package, it is too much of a risk financially.

3

Is this really a question? Seriously?
UCLA!
And you are darn lucky that somehow you’re being considered instate and getting Cal grants when your parents don’t live in Calif.

4

Since your family is modest income, They wouldn’t be able to cosign that debt so you wouldn’t get those big loans anyway.

Transfers usually get lousy aid pkgs anyway…

5

UCLA is a fantastic school and one that is ranked much higher than GW. Either way, you will be completely fine.

When do you have to decide on GW? Also, have you tried to use GW’s financial aid calculator to get an estimate on what you would have to pay? Two people I know with your EFC was given a financial aid package from GW at 10k/year, so I assume you would have a similar one.

6

Hello.

Yes, I did use their financial aid calculator. I was given about $48,000 in that estimate and was expected to pay the remaining $20,000 which does not really sit well with me. I do not know why they would do such a thing when my family makes the equivalent of $15,000 in USD. They go out of their way to say that the calculator is just an estimate, but I feel as though that is their legal department trying to save themselves when they stiff you of cash.

7

UCLA…it’s the only choice for you.

8

GW doesn’t meet full need for its students. The NPC is TELLING you that at best, BEST, you’ll pay $20k per year above your grants and loans. They don’t really care that your family only makes $15k, but the cost of the school, to you, will be $20k per year. I’m sure there are a lot of other things you can’t afford either, but stores aren’t going to give them to you just because you want a car or food or clothing. It is not the legal dept. They have no legal obligation to give you an education for free. The NPC is a requirement of the department of Education, not the legal department at GW. It is an estimate and often not correct. As a transfer student and a mid year transfer, you might get a good deal less. Please take note that most NPC are only set up for freshmen and not transfer students.

The federal govt will give you a Pell grant of about $6100. That’s it, all you are entitled to. Often there are other funds like subsidized loans and even a little more in SEOG and often $0 EFC students get work study. That’s it.

The rest of that (48k - 6.1k - $5500= $36.4k) is a gift from GW. A GIFT. They have no obligation to give you anything.

Take your Pell and Cal grant and stay in California.

9

It is a myth that you have to go to DC to work in government/establish a career in government/policy/advocacy.

First of all, California in and of itself is one of the biggest economies in the world. State, local, county- virtually every governmental issue known to man eventually shows up in California.

Second, UCLA is one of the best regarded universities in the world.

Third- you can’t afford GW so this is hardly a decision you need to labor over.

Take your Pell and Cal and have a glorious experience at UCLA! And get an internship next semester working for the mayor (a big league politician if there ever was one) and impress the heck out of everyone you meet.

10

I would stay in-state CA and aim for UCLA but since you have another year before transferring, you do not have that acceptance to UCLA yet? You are not picking UCLA over GW, you are selecting not to attend GW. Best of luck and make sure you apply to several UC’s besides UCLA.

11

Yes. Of course I plan to apply to more than one school. My college has a partnership with UCI, UCSB, and UCD so I can get guaranteed acceptance to one of those as long as I do the classes that they ask me to and pass them (which I have) and I would pick UCI as my top pick of those three. But my counselor and the UCLA rep at my school sat down with me and told me that with my good grades and my major that is not as wanted by others (political science) put my chances much higher. Looking at historical data they said my chances of acceptance are at about 79% so it is a really good shot which is why I am comparing UCLA and GWU. I will be applying to UCLA and UCSD when the time comes to apply for schools. With guaranteed admission to UCI there is no reason to apply to other UC schools I think, unless you think I am wrong for some reason. I do not think that there is any need to apply to others given that I could chose any of the mid-tier UCs to guarantee a transfer to so there really is no point given that I will get my first pick of the mid-tiers by default. UCI is a great school and the university as well as the city are beautiful

12

So by doing TAG to either UCI/UCD or UCSB and maintaining the required GPA and taking the required classes, then yes you have a guaranteed admission.

Your post stated that you would stay another year and then transfer to UCLA, but the rest of the responses to your post seemed to lean towards the idea that you were selecting GW over UCLA which is not the case or I am reading too much into the other posters comments? Just trying to give and/or get clarification.

13

Yes. Through the TAG I would get accepted to UCI which is close by to me and it is a great school. Not a big fan of Davis because it is up north and 1. I can’t handle that climate all too well (too cold) and 2. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I like Santa Barbara and it is a great school and a BEAUTIFUL city. But I am simply much more fond of and much more familiar with Orange County and would rather stay here than travel north to SB.

Yes. I am planning on staying in California for another year and applying to UCLA and other schools most definitely. I would never pass on a chance to go to such an amazing school such as UCLA. I was just trying to get a sense of if anyone thought that maybe GW was worth the price because of location. Maybe an alumni or student there had a similar choice and they could tell me their experience. I think that people interpreted my question the wrong way and were a little to quick to judge a decision that I had not yet made nor was jumping on the edge of making. I just kind of wanted a perspective of the financial aid package others got and their experiences. If I got a substantial aid package and could afford GW I would likely go there, but if it is as expensive as people here have led me to believe I would definitely prefer UCLA given that it is a major university with world wide recognition inside one of the most powerful cities in the world. I would never pass up such an opportunity, especially if the price is so much cheaper.

14

If you think Davis is cold, try DC in January.

15

Best of luck and you cannot go wrong with any of the UC’s.

16

Yeah, it has nothing to do with their legal department because as someone mentioned, they have zero obligation to aid to students. They can essentially do whatever they want, but they obviously want students to attend their school, which happens through financial aid packages. Note the median family income at GW is $170,000, which can be attributed to poor financial aid packages for low-income students.

You mentioned wanting some GW student or alumni perspectives and I am actually a GW student. Yes, the school and location has allowed me to have amazing internship opportunities and such, but UCLA is known around the world as a great school. It will not harm you going to UCLA. There are so many people every year who move to DC after they graduate elsewhere that is not in DC.

If you want more GW perspectives, which I truly believe will agree with everyone else on this feed, I would suggest posting this to the GW “category” on these forums.