<p>My D got into UDEL with very good stats and all they gave her was 8K merit aid. I have a very high EFC and will probably not get any additional funds from the school. Has anyone ever appealed the amount of merit aid they received and gotten more. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>From your post, I assume that you are not residents of Delaware. UDel is a state school; its primary financial resources are reserved for in-state students. It is unlikely that they would increase her merit award, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>8K for an out of state resident is a very good award.</p>
<p>You can ask for more. If your D is accepted to a college that is highly selective and is thinking of going to Del instead that would be something to mention. Or if she got more money at another school.</p>
<p>You got a good offer, how much more do you want???</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> | admissions.udel.edu](<a href=“http://admissions.udel.edu/finance#merit]Scholarships”>http://admissions.udel.edu/finance#merit)</p>
<p><<Freshman applicants who are outstanding academically may be eligible for academic scholarships awarded solely on the basis of merit without regard to financial need. All freshman applicants whose applications for Fall admission are complete by December 1, 2008 will be automatically reviewed for academic scholarships. A complete application includes the UD Application for Admission (or the Common Application and Supplement, which we also gladly accept), an official high school transcript and Secondary School Report, a letter of recommendation, and officially reported SAT-Reasoning or ACT scores with Writing. Unless requested, you do not need to send us additional information or a separate application.</p>
<p>The University of Delaware offers an unusually larger number of academic scholarships. For the Class of 2010, roughly one-quarter of the students who were offered freshman admission were also offered an academic scholarship that was based solely on academic merit without regard to financial need. Amounts ranged from $1,000 per year for four years all the way up to full scholarships (known as the Eugene DuPont Memorial Distinguished Scholar Awards, 10-12 full scholarships, including tuition, room & board, and books). Most scholarships awarded were in the range of $2,000 to $4,000 per year.</p>
<p>I think we would have been happy with 12K. That is what UCONN and Northeastern have given her. Still waiting to hear from three more schools. I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but my attitude has been that this is her job. Do well in HS and you will be rewarded. She held up her part of the bargain. She has been #2 in a highly competitive HS in northern NJ for all four years of HS. She has a 4.69 w GPA. She has only taken honors and AP classes in HS. So after all this hard work and commitment, you expect a little bit more from the school as recognition for the effort. It’s that what merit stands for?</p>
<p>MK, Congrats to you and your D on her achievements. However, that doesn’t entitle her to attend any school she wishes, especially when asking for $. She could have attended an in-state school for significantly less. Most OOS publics offer little merit or need based aid at all since their primary funding comes from state taxes. She could also have targeted some lower tier private schools where she might have received a higher percentage of tuition. Based on her choices, I think her hard work is paying off.</p>
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<p>Well…last I heard, Northeastern was much more costly than OOS UDel…and UConn was more costly for OOS students than OOS for UDel.</p>
<p>If these schools gave you better financial aid options and your child applied there…are you considering these schools?</p>
<p>Every day on this forum there is a post from someone, student or parent, who has hit the brick wall of realization that, after all their very hard work and accomplishment, college costs that they imagined would be workable…aren’t.</p>
<p>These people deserve to be able to rant and complain for a little. Then is the time to pick themselves up and start examining Plan B, or Plan C.</p>
<p>I think the OP mentions on another thread that their EFC was 47K</p>
<p>Ain’t got no sympathy from me! :eek:</p>
<p>Why no sympathy??? I live in one of the most expensive parts of the country, northern NJ. my state and property taxes are through the roof, almost enough to pay for tuition at UDEL. I commute 1.5 hour each way to work in NYC. My commute not counting wear and tear on the car costs close to 5K a year. The EFC calculations do not take any of this into account. If I was making my salary and living in the Midwest I would be rich. But in this part of the country I am merely middle class. No one takes into account the sacrifices we as a family make. I suppose live would be easier living in a small town in the Midwest and not dealing with the commute and stress of NYC, but then the opportunities would not be there either. I’m not asking for any need based aid, but this is supposed to be merit. This is what the child has earned through her accomplishments and not my hard earned EFC. And after all that is why all the kids are going to college to get to a high EFC, no?</p>
<p>your child could live at Rutgers for about 20K. Would you have a problem paying about 15K and letting the kid take out about 5500 in stafford loans.</p>
<p>Did your child apply to a NJ state school? A merit scholarship there could bring the cost down further.</p>
<p>UDEL for OOS is still ‘only’ about 32K. You got 8K in scholarship and kid can borrow 5500 in stafford loans, means ‘all’ you have to pay is 18,500. That is less than half your EFC.</p>
<p>My daughter received the same merit aid offer last year from Uof Del and we were very happY with that. It brought the COA down lower that our state school. Our EFC was 28,000. She did not end up going to U of Del. But it was more than we were hoping for.
I’m sorry, but you have just realized what many of us did when the offers were coming in. No one prepared us for what we thought we might receive in aid.</p>
<p>*Why no sympathy??? I live in one of the most expensive parts of the country, *</p>
<p>Here too.
However- since neither H or I had attended a 4 yr college and our families did not expect our kids to either, we had no expectations regarding a knight in shining armor stepping forward to pay for their tuition.</p>
<p>We expected that college expenses were our shared responsibility and kept our sights reasonable. No looking at colleges on opposite coast, no SAT prep courses or elaborate trips for essay material. She even limited her applications, because $40-$50 a piece is a lot of money. </p>
<p>*I commute 1.5 hour each way to work in NYC. My commute not counting wear and tear on the car costs close to 5K a year.</p>
<p>If I was making my salary and living in the Midwest I would be rich.*</p>
<p>It takes me 30 min to get to school, I can walk or bus to work.
You should try it, sitting in traffic will shorten your life.</p>
<p>I really do not understand these families who are convinced that a fairy godmother is going to appear to pay for higher education.
Did Rumplestiltskin pay for the prom?
Did they find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow just time to move out of the " starter house"?
</p>
<p>Its a shame when parents don’t identify how much they have saved/can borrow/earn to contribute to their childrens college education, and how much their child will be contributing through work/loans/savings so that they can all be on the same page when that time comes around.</p>
<p>but sorry no sympathy here.
Merit aid is for prized students a college wants to entice.
One school may already have their left handed pitcher. Shop around.
Aid at public schools encourages its residents to stay in state.
Honors college at your own state university is often a good deal, some colleges do offer meet 100% of need, but little or no merit, because they have a gazillion applicants without it.</p>
<p>It blows my mind that someone who was able to present their child with a wealth of opportunities, was disingenuous enough to think that they didnt have to cover college</p>
<p>
[quote]
Why no sympathy??? I live in one of the most expensive parts of the country, northern NJ. my state and property taxes are through the roof, almost enough to pay for tuition at UDEL. I commute 1.5 hour each way to work in NYC. My commute not counting wear and tear on the car costs close to 5K a year.
[quote]
All choices you made. If your taxes are that high, that means your income is too. You could have given some of those luxuries up over the years and made education a priority instead. Why do you now expect others to support your daughter’s education when you weren’t willing to?</p>
<p>It’s likely appropriate that FAFSA doesn’t take cost of living (geographically) into account because in my experience, the salaries offered are to some degree commiserate with the cost of living in a particular area. For example, I live in the midwest, in a beautiful city known to be one of the most affordable. Many people in my profession here earn substantially less than they would in Chicago or New York, and in fact our billables reflect that. In a former life, I was offered a plumb job in Toronto, also one of North America’s most expensive cities. The financial package offered was almost 2.5 times my earnings in my home city at that time. After running an analysis, I determined that I would not be further ahead in Toronoto, and chose to stay in a smaller city.
At the end of the day, it’s the choices you make.</p>
<p>Apart from her disappointment, OP should consider that although her NJ taxes are high, that many students from NJ fare especially well in the admissions process at out of state universities because of the pre–college education those taxes buy. There are some states who don’t quite get it in terms of the value of funding their respective institutions well or equitably. So it could be argued that NJ kids already get a break if they chose to USE their well-funded education, at least from an OOS admissions standpoint. So while it may be expensive to live in NJ, there are some distinct benefits.
Cheers,
K</p>
<p>Merit aid is an enticement for an affluent student with excellent stats to attend a college where they will have a significant beneficial impact on the college’s stats. It is justifiable because it enhances the value of the degree for all students there.</p>
<p>Merit aid opportunities diminish as you move up the academic ladder until they vanish at many top schools.</p>
<p>Want a full free ride? Go to a lower ranked school.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that $8K from a state U is insulting considering most of the students there would receive no merit aid at all. I think the OP is upset because UDel does not publish or use an “across the board” approach. Unlike most schools where certain gpa/class rank/test scores = $X merit, they seem to use the merit pool to target certain applicants they wish to attract. It’s not clear if this is based on geography, URM/1st gen, athletics, or even if it’s consistent from year to year. Regardles, it’s their money and their choice of how to distribute it. My D realized this when doing her research early on and chose not to apply due to the likelihood that UDel would not favor her with much merit aid, which she would have needed to attend. Others took a different view and are now unhappy with them. Not sure what prevented them from doing a bit more research and going in with their eyes open!</p>