My D has been accepted for the fall, and she was given a scholarship/grant amount in her package, though the cost of attendance still hasn’t been established yet for next year. (Let’s get going, Virginia legislature!)
Does anyone know if packages are adjusted to cover some/all/any of the rising costs when they appear? She is in-state, and it seems like those expenses go up about $1500 a year. So it’s not a deal breaker if the scholarship isn’t adjusted to cover any of the cost increase. But it would be nice if it was!
Each year, UVa works off an estimated cost of attendance for the next year, which is published online by UVa. Your financial aid offer is based upon that estimated cost for next year. If for some reason there would be an unexpectedly large increase in tuition in the next year (such as the Legislature cutting UVa’s funding), your need-based financial aid should be adjusted to cover it. Fortunately, the Legislature has been increasing UVa’s funding - because they know UVa will not keep its promises to increase its enrollment in phases if the Legislature does not keep its promises to fund the additional in-state students. The state’s funding is only about 10% of UVa’s academic budget, but it is very important to keep in-state tuition reasonable.
@Charliesch Thanks for the response. I don’t think they’ve even posted the estimated cost for next year yet (there’s a page on their website that says they’re waiting to hear about those numbers later in April). But from what you’re saying, it may be that they’ve made their guess on what those numbers will be, and will only change their packages if the actual increase is some significant amount higher than they thought. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess.
I just looked and you are correct that an estimate for next year is not currently posted. In past years, they did post an estimate and it was reasonably accurate, except in one year in-state tuition was lower than expected because the Legislature provided more money than had been forecast. The U. would need to have an in-house estimate that they are using, which would be the staff’s recommendation to the Board. Although the Board of Visitors could change the tuition and housing costs from the estimate, I don’t think the U would substantially shortchange someone on their expected family contribution.
Here’s the numbers for the academic year that is now ending:
http://sfs.virginia.edu/cost/16-17