How exactly does fin aid work?

Paying for College
21

<p>thumper asks a good question…</p>

<p>Of those who’ve filled out both FAFSA and CSS for several schools…AND…have sizeable unprotected assets - say in the range of $200k+ (like in savings/stocks/additional property), did you see differences in family contribution expectations from CSS schools and/or differences in what FAFSA gave as an EFC? </p>

<p>I know that some families have reported swings and others have reported similar numbers…so I wonder if the difference can be related to having a large amount of unprotected savings and how various CSS schools calculate with that info. And, I wonder if sometimes the difference can be because some CSS schools include home equity above certain thresholds. </p>

<p>I’m thinking that when people don’t have high amounts in equity (such as more than 2X income) and don’t have large amounts in unprotected savings (which many families don’t have), then FAFSA EFC and CSS profile family expectations might be similar. I think many families who have savings have the biggest chunks protected in retirement accts. Many of these families don’t also have $40k+ in unprotected savings.</p>

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<p>To OP
If you click on the second link I provided and then page down you can then click on links for each school. The devil is in the details - make sure you read ALL the info provided. Wash U will have no loans in the package to Families with income under $60k. There will be loans over $60k. Northwestern will meet the need for Families with an EFC that is equal to (or less than) 20% of COA (cost of attendance @ $54k) so if your EFC is less than or equal to $10,800 the school will meet need with grants/work study (no loans).CAVEAT - the “income” may not be a hard and fast limit - I have heard of cases where significant assets could skew the results. So if you make $60k but have more assets than the college thinks are comparable to the income they may not follow the pledge exactly.</p>

<p>FAFSA & CSS - I have filled out both. But I think every case is sort of unique so it is very hard to compare. I am divorced so I had the NC Profile impact PLUS I have prep school tuition for younger D2 (which was allocated for by all the schools D1 applied to). I did not have significant unprotected assets (retirement assets mainly). I found 8 schools (some known to be generous but not all) gave similar packages in total - the difference was loans vs. no loans. I don’t think my case would help clarify anything - D1 was in top % at each school she applied to so I found the packages pretty loan lenient (for those who included loans). Not your typical result.</p>

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<p>So many different protocols! We filed the CSS and the FAFSA also. However, we only had to do the CSS for the first year. We did the FAFSA each year. We were never asked to verify our reporting according to the FAFSA, but we did have to verify (sending tax returns, W-2 forms, other forms) to the school itself. We were very grateful (to both daughter and to school) that the school provided 100% need. It also seemingly had no relationship whatsoever to the EFC or the FAFSA’s SAR. (Lots of alphabet soup) </p>

<p>The whole thing was a huge source of anxiety for all these years. It’s important to be timely and to keep all of the paperwork in order. I am grateful that we don’t have to do this anymore! Daughter is entering final semester.</p>

24

<p>OP,</p>

<p>If you are considering Dartmouth, I would recommend that you run your numbers through their FA calculator. It has been our experience that theyhave been pretty spot on. However, remember your estimate is only going to be as good as the information you put in. If you don’t put in full and accurate information, you will not get a fairly accurate answer.</p>

<p>During my D’s cycle, she applied to 7 schools, all required the CSS profile in addition to the FAFSA. She was ultimately accepted to every school that she applied to.</p>

<p>I can only talk to how it played out in our house…</p>

<p>We received packages from amherst, dartmouth, williams, barnard, tufts, bryn mawr and Mount Holyoke.</p>

<p>We had 7 different EFCs and none was equal to the EFC on the FAFSA
Williams, Bryn Mawr and Tufts were approximately 2,000 to 3,000 LOWER than the FAFSA EFC</p>

<p>Our EFC from Barnard, Amherst, Tufts and Mount Holyoke was much higher and the loan componet was much larger than it was at the other schools.</p>

<p>In the end, Dartmouth was her first choice but Williams gave a better FA package (we used the Williams offer as the basis of a financial review to get a better offer from Dartmouth). However, the Williams package was not the overall best package, we were just looking at 2 peer schools. </p>

<p>Williams gave more grant money, less loans ($0) and this was before they instituted their no loan policy (now gone again), a smaller student contribution, smaller work study obligation, and a smaller parent contribution than Dartmouth. </p>

<p>Dartmouth met Williams’ EFC, removed the loans, and met the grant aid. Though out her 4 years at Dartmouth, her financial aid remained pretty consistent to the point that she graduated with ~ 3k in loans (which she took out Jr. Year when she studied abroad in Europe).</p>

<p>Had my D applied ED to Dartmouth and received the exact package that she received RD, she would have graduated with ~ 20k in loans as she would have received loans in her FA package each of the 4 years.</p>

<p>There was a total of $12,256 between the Barnard package and the final offer we got from Dartmouth</p>

<p>The Dartmouth EFC was 2221 lower than barnard
student contribution 585 higher than barnard)
Dartmouth Grant money 7720 higher than barnard
loans 2600 less than barnard
work study 300 less than barnard
total 12256</p>

<p>The difference between Williams Financial aid package and the Amherst Financial aid package</p>

<p>parent contribution (EFC) was 2251 higher at Amherst
student contribution(EFC) 975 higher at Amherst
grant money 4906 lower at Amherst
loans 3500 higher at Amherst
Workstudy 100 higher at Amherst
11732 If all things would have remained consistent over her 4 years we would have had to come up with an extra $46,928 </p>

<p>Like Franglish, while we filed the FAFSA each year, we had to file the CSS only once, we did have to send all of our information through the IDOC (College board) each year she was in school.</p>

<p>Just when we thought we were finished with the FAFSA, D applied to law school and we were sucked back into it again.</p>

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<p>For our first kid, we did fill out FAFSA and Profile. One school was Profile only. It gave him the best merit and aid. The range was from 11K- 18K for our expected payments (not our son’s). We had no assets above the benchmark, just income, depreciation, housing allowance, and overseas allowance. With our daughter, we are still up in the air whether we will fill out anything. None of her colleges require us to fill things out to get merit aid. I know we don’t qualify for federal aid. WE may be using a GI bill to pay the way but we have been mulling that over since it may make more sense to save it if she goes to one of the schools she has received a lot of merit aid.</p>

26

<p>Sorry to bump this back up, just was wondering, when do most colleges send you their financial aid package offers for you. And do these packages contain all the money they are offering you for need, merit, etc.? Or are they sent separately (is need given or stated before applying or while applying, or is it still after acceptance)? I know many compare what aid they’re getting from all the colleges they were accepted to, I was just wondering what month this is and when all the packages come in.</p>

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<p>For my d, most of the seven colleges she has been admitted to so far sent merit aid awards either along with the acceptance or soon after (like within 2 to three weeks). Two have stated that they do merit awards later (one in Feb, one in March). Even though she put down no to financial need, we still got letters urging us to apply for financial aid. I think we will be doing that since the changes to the post9/11 GI bill and some things I didn’t realize about it (housing is paid month by month after each month and won’t be paid for any school breaks no matter how short), I think she may need a loan to pay the housing bill first and then just use the allowance to pay back the loan. So now we will fill out financial aid.</p>

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<p>When people talk about loans being part of the fa package, are they generally speaking about Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized and Perkin’s loans or do schools package private loans in as well? I am speaking only of the selective and highly selective LAC’s.</p>

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<p>It’s hard to say…</p>

<p>Some schools only put fed student loans in packages…some also include a Parent Plus loan…some include a small loan from the school itself. I can’t remember which schools are the ones who actually put Plus loans in packages to cover “need” (not just to cover EFC). </p>

<p>Generally speaking, many schools will only put fed student loans in packages. However, that doesn’t mean that some won’t “gap” you.</p>

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<p>As we are just at the start of hearing from the schools D has applied to, I have a question that sybbie719’s detailed FA information (thank you for it!) raises—Do all the colleges inform you of their EFC when detailing their FA offers? My D has gotten a tentative package from Northeastern and it had no details about how the numbers were determined.</p>

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<p>You will NOT get info regarding HOW your family contribution was determined. You will get a financial aid package for your child. Total up what the school is offering you and subtract it from the Cost of attendance at that school. That is what you will be expected to pay at that school. Do this for each school as this bottom line will vary from place to place.</p>