<p>“If the same students had done the reverse, gone locally for 2 years and then transfer, they’d have the diplomas from their chosen schools. Just a thought.”</p>
<p>Except they still probably wouldn’t have been able to afford their dream school. As transfers, they’d have gotten either no aid or even less financial aid than they were offered as freshmen. Their loans would have been even higher.</p>
<p>That would be true if the students had been offered institutional aid as an incoming freshman, but what this is talking about is kids who aren’t offered institutional aid, just fed aid (admit/denyP. They’d get that fed aid as incoming freshman or as transfers.</p>
<p>There’s a student on CC that’s in that boat…no institutional aid as a freshman, just Pell and Stafford, parents took out a Plus loan for balance. Now the student is transferring. </p>
<p>This often happens to kids who apply to OOS publics. They get no aid except whatever fed aid they’d qualify for. They borrow a LOT for that first year or two, then “wise up” (or can’t borrow anymore) and go locally. If done in reverse, they’d have their diploma from their OOS school.</p>
<p>Thanks Quant. What I think this thread shows is that if something does’nt seem right, there is no harm in asking for someone to look into your situation. I know a few posters here felt I should’nt push forward since Case was not number 1 for my DD. I think it is early in the game and too soon to know what will happen as time goes by. Just recently my DD learned she didnt make the cut for a big scholarship at her number 1 :(. So now her list has changed somewhat. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.</p>
<p>Congrats on the great news. FWIW, we did try to get merit award increased for S when he was an incoming freshman. We told the school he really wanted to attend that unfortunately we did have to think of expenses and out-of-pocket costs & pointed out that another school was offering a merit aid with just a bit more. The school said they didn’t compete but they DID increase S’s merit award to be the same as the other school & S gladly accepted (& turned down the other school). </p>
<p>I’ve heard of others who have also had some success, particularly if your child is one the U really wants and the schools are competing for the same students. It does vary but it is best done sooner than later (while there is still merit funding available).</p>
<p>We do not qualify for need-based aid & have never completed a FAFSA. The U has agreed that no FAFSA would help our kids anyway since we don’t qualify for need-based aid.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D!</p>
<p>m2ck - wow! what an article. It left me shocked! It scares me that they use these sophisticated models to predict what we are willing to pay. You mention they use Equifax. Is that used for statistical populations, or can they get the data on each family?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>The article mentions Equifax, not me…</p>
<p>*Using the logic of the Saturday-night stay and the fourteen-day advance purchase, advanced financial-aid leveraging goes beyond general categories to forecast how much each student is willing to pay, and guarantee the best class at the lowest price. Schools and consultants combine test scores, grades, and class rankings from the testing services and students’ high schools with demographic and financial data purchased from a credit-reporting agency such as Equifax. All this information is eventually reduced to the seven or eight variables that best predict a student’s responsiveness to price.
*</p>
<p>It looks like they use Equifax to get the demographics of various kids’ areas. That may be how they can pretend to be “need blind” without really being need blind. They already know which zip codes have money and which ones don’t. That’s one of my “takes” on that part.</p>