How to pay for this?

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
21

<p>Sorry you are going through this tough time. But lesson to all. ED acceptance is binding. I recommend applying ED only for people who meet all three criteria below.</p>

<ol>
<li>You and your student are POSITIVE that this is THE school for you.</li>
<li>You are BORDERLINE in terms of meeting the school’s acceptance criteria.</li>
<li>You CAN AFFORD the school without any aid being given.</li>
</ol>

<p>If you don’t meet ALL three criteria, you will likely find yourself in a very uncomfortable decision as Island Dreaming has learned.</p>

22

<p>AU uses the Common Application. Here is the ED financial aid rule:

</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So you say thanks but no thanks, and apply elsewhere RD (or ED II).</p>

<p>Imagine that a school somehow coerced a student with limited finances into attending, and then had to expel the student when the bill couldn’t be paid. Now imagine why we don’t hear of this happening. :)</p>

<p>Reneging when not applying for financial aid is a totally different story.</p>

23

<p>Remember too, that your D is limited to the Stafford loan limits (which many think is all that a student should carry) on her own. Any other loans require cosigners or are loans for the parents. Don’t forget that cosigning also dings your credit score and there have been cases of parents cosigning for years one or two then getting denied for subsequent years because the credit score has dipped as the loan balance has grown. There are loan repayment calculators that help one see what the loan repayment would look like and the salary required to carry that loan. If your D is clear eyed and level headed, you may want to play around with some of the scenarios and use some sites with average salaries for her field to compare. One often recommended site is:
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid)</p>

<p>If you head to the financial aid forum on this site, you can peruse some threads about loans or post your situation there as well.<br>
Good luck!</p>

24

<p>Island Dreaming - since the other school which has a accepted your daughter is Hofstra, I believe you live in NY. Has your daughter applied to any of the state schools which have very affordable tuition for iinstate students. Going to school upstate will allow her to be a way from home and still have a solid, affordable education.</p>

25

<p>Hey, so I appealed my financial aid package, and I did not pay my deposit yet. I know I will be attending whether I get more aid or not. But I was wondering will it matter if I pay the deposit before they make a decision on the appeal, because they may be worried that I won’t attend, or will it not matter to them?</p>

26

<p>Collegescol - what date is the deposit due? I would not want to miss the deadline. If the date has not yet passed, I would wait.</p>

27

<p>March 1st…</p>

28

<p>Call them and ask how it works when an aid package is being appealed. Schools really will answer such questions!</p>

29

<p>Just an update, we did send off the appeal a few weeks ago, but no word yet. DD is sending another email. We’ll see! Today is the Admitted Student Reception - it’ll feel weird going knowing she probably will not go to AU … :/</p>

30

<p>^Same here, Island.</p>

<p>I had to send some extra stuff to AU this week before I got an FA award (obviously not processed this fast), so I’m going to the reception today without knowing how it will compare financially.</p>

31

<p>To close the loop - we did submit an appeal. It took a couple of weeks, but they did get back to us. The final answer was: your financial situation did not change, therefore our aid package does not change either. DD did a lot of work on the appeal, contacts, etc.</p>

<p>From an adult perspective - it seemed a lot like good cop-bad cop. The good cop are the admissions people and the other faces of AU - ‘let me help you’, ‘contact this person’, ‘we really want you’ and then the bad cops are finaid - ‘no change’, ‘sorry, we can’t do anything’.</p>

<p>She’s headed off to a State U. I don’t mind, I liked the dean and professors there - met them in an open house. The dean insisted on everyone using his first name and not address him as Dr. Interesting guy :)</p>

<p>Good luck everyone! Hope this thread helps!</p>

32

<p>Congrats, and good luck and best wishes for a great four years!</p>

33

<p>do you think over $40,000 worth of loans are worth it for American?</p>

34

<p>That’s not a question anyone can answer for you. Assuming you mean $40,000 for all four years ($40,000 in loans each year would be absurd), determining what a school is worth depends on how suited it is to your intended course of study, how satisfactory your alternatives are, what kind of salary you could make after graduating to handle repayment of debt, etc. For example, if you want to study public policy and have the opportunity to intern in DC, AU might be worth the debt. If you want to major in English and can attend your state school debt free, AU wouldn’t make a lot of sense.</p>