When do you find out the actual cost? If my son is accepted do they include the cost when they send the acceptance? Do you provide the college your financial information after your child is accepted? Do the colleges just work from the FASFA? If they work from the FASFA does that mean I should complete it in October when my son is applying? Thanks!
BTW…I’m a little surprised by some of the colleges that didn’t offer any grants in the NPC…looking at you BC and UMich.
Michigan doesn’t promise to meet need. Unless you are a Michigan resident, why would they give you a grant ? You are not paying taxes there.
Some include at time of admission, others later.
If it’s a CSS school then FAFSA won’t matter.
BC is. Others also require IDOC. The CSS is a deeper dive into your finances. IDOC requires you to send in tax returns and other forms. BC also uses.
There’s no need based grants unless you have need. Based on what you populated, clearly they determined you can afford the school.
Schools what you to spend or as they say ‘invest.’ They are not looking to handout.
It varies. Some schools say that they will provide the financial aid package with the acceptance decision. I think only one of the schools my son applied to last year did that. 3/4 of his acceptances provided the financial aid decision later, ranging from one week to one month later. Some will provide merit aid with the acceptance decision, but provide need based aid later. Some provide both merit and need based aid later. It really does vary from school to school, and sometimes from year to year for a given school.
There are financial aid deadlines listed along with the application deadlines for most schools. Usually the financial aid deadline is the same as the application deadline or shortly after. It is a little tricky this year, however, because the (recently reworked) FAFSA is not supposed to be available to fill out until December.
What forms/documents schools require? Also varies from school to school. Some schools only require the FAFSA. Some schools require both the FAFSA and CSS Profile. Some schools require both those forms plus additional documentation to back up what you’ve reported, usually through a system called iDOC. Other schools will require that additional documentation, but not until after you have committed.
Follow the financial aid deadlines for each school, they are often due around the same time as the app. Virtually all schools require FAFSA (not available until Dec 1 this year, at the earliest because of all the coming changes). Some schools require the CSS Profile, available Oct 1 this year, as always. Get both done as soon as available.
Many schools don’t show merit awards on the NPC, only need based aid. I agree with tsbna that Michigan merit aid for OOS’ers is hard to get (they don’t give institutional need based aid for OOS’ers AFAIK). You can look at each school’s Common Data Set to see how much, on average, merit awards are.
Do you think you will qualify for need based aid? What is the budget? You don’t have to tell us, but make sure you communicate that to your student.
Regarding COA for 2024-25, some schools will have that ready for ED/EA acceptances, others won’t put that in the financial aid award letter until sometime in the spring, it just depends. Meanwhile, for most schools, increase this year’s COA by 4%-5% when you are running assumptions.
Lastly, NPCs aren’t yet updated for 2024-25 COA as you have seen, but they also aren’t updated for the coming FAFSA changes either. NPCs may not be accurate if parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary home…are any of those the case for you?
Is CSS typically completed only if/after you’re accepted or during the initial application process?
I had sticker shock after seeing Michigan only because UNC and UVA were significantly lower OOS. I’m in NY.
Thanks.
So FASFA can’t be filled out until December when many students are already receiving ED and EA results from colleges? If FASFA is required for financial aid and merit scholarships then how will the ED and EA schools sending out results in December deal with that?
Great info. Thanks. I’ll have to see which schools on his list require the CSS and I’ll fill out FASFA as soon as it comes out in December.
There are very few schools that require FAFSA (or CSS) for non need based merit aid.
Not all schools have said what they are going to do. Some have said they will estimate federal aid. CollegeBoard is supposedly going to make available a “CSS lite” for those schools that currently don’t use CSS Profile, so they can also estimate federal aid.
For us, in most cases financial aid information was included in the offer letter when our daughter was accepted. In a few cases financial aid information (particularly merit aid) came later.
Also in our experience, some NPCs included a prediction of merit aid, and some did not. As you might guess, the NPCs that did correctly predict merit aid had asked for GPA and SAT/ACT score information. In a few cases we were pleasantly surprised by merit aid that the NPC had not predicted. However, note “a few”. You cannot count on this, and many (most?) of the most highly ranked and famous schools in the US do not give merit aid.
And for many of us “sticking to budget” will restrict which schools are affordable. Lots of students will find lots of schools that they just cannot afford to attend. Hopefully most of our kids will find some schools that are a good fit and that they can afford.
UNC & UVA are the two flagships that meet need for all OOS students. UMich meets need only for low-income OOS students (I think 60k family income or less?) which evidently isn’t you.
A few things…
The FAFSA won’t be available for completion this year until some time in December.
Check your colleges to see if they require the CSS Profile or any college specific form.
File ALL of the required financial aid application materials ON TIME. Actually do this a little early. Check the deadlines for every college…and make sure you meet those deadlines. Also, some schools have a priority deadline for students applying early action or early decision.
The FAFSA (and Profile when required) is not usually required for merit aid scholarships. But there are some merit awards that also consider need. So…get them done in the deadline time.
If your kiddo is accepted early decision AND you submitted all of the required financial aid application materials on time, the kid should receive their financial aid award with or shortly after the acceptance. Do not accept an enrollment until you have seen the financial aid award. You will need to respond within a short window of time.
Make sure your kid checks their spam folder. Very often emails get diverted there…and are missed.
The vast majority of colleges do not meet full financial need. So…you need to establish your annual budget and make sure your student knows what that is.
There are net price calculators on each college website. If you aren’t divorced, don’t own real estate in addition to your primary residence, aren’t business owners or self employed…the NPCs will give you a decent estimate of your net costs. The caveat this year is they won’t be updated until all of the FAFSA changes have been made. So use with caution if you do them now.
NO. Your financial aid application materials will need to be submitted by the school deadline. This is usually at or hear the application deadline…but you absolutely need to check these deadline and don’t miss them.
So the first thing is you need a budget.
When you look at BC - $85K
U Michigan - $72K.
UCLA - $71K. On the other hand, similarly ranked if that’s what you’re looking at UF is $45,400 and FSU $39,600 (not ranked as high but high and an OOS waiver is very possible there). UF is ranked one spot below UMich and tied with UNC - so there’s your better value if that’s what you seek.
You mentioned UNC $57,370 and UVA $76K. The difference between them and Michigan - UNC is lower sticker wise and It doesn’t sound like this will help you but they are the only two publics that guarantee to meet need for all students, even OOS. But again, if you don’t have need.
So we know nothing about your student or situation - but when one choses an elite name, it’s expensive. That’s why many kids seek out merit safeties - even the elite kids. It’s why an Alabama has more national merit scholars than anyone or a U Tulsa is now 20%+ NMSF (on free rides).
So instead of a BC, maybe it’s a Providence at $75K - before merit aid that won’t happen at BC. Or a Loyola MD at $72K before merit.
Instead of a MIchigan, how about a Minnesota at $54K before merit. Or an Ohio State at $57.4K before merit or Purdue at $41,614 (let’s say merit not likely here). Delaware $57K before merit. Maine - a NY flagship match and you have the low cost and outstanding SUNYs.
Don’t know the major of interest or stats - but smart kids - eat up the auto merit at schools like Alabama and Arizona and take advantage of the lower cost/big merit at schools like South Carolina and Miami of Ohio and more.
But if you’re going to have sticker shock (I would have but I put a hard budget in and both my kids chose safeties with big merit so I only hit half) - there’s lot of full pay families with kids that get into top schools (mine did) - but still end up going to places that pay them to go - and do just fine.
We don’t know much but that choice is yours. If you’re chasing a name, expect to pay for it. Only you can decide if it’s worth it.
Linked below are the CSS and IDOC schools. Each college on the financial page would give you a timeline for date requirements.
CSS Profile Participating Institutions and Programs (collegeboard.org)
Please please check deadlines on each college website. Do not rely on any other site to give you these deadlines. They might be correct on that Profile link and they might not be. Sometimes schools change things, and these other sites don’t keep up with the changes.
The deadlines for all things at each college are on that college website. That’s where you should get your deadline dates.
Yes that’s what I said - each colleges specific financial (aid) page.
This is the list from college board to let you know the current schools using which service.
And what I’m saying…use the college websites…not the college board info. The college board can’t even keep up with who is using their service and who isn’t (I’m talking about the Profile).
When I doubt about college info, the definitive source is…the college website.
Understand but OP asked earlier who uses from their list. Looking at the college is best but this is a shortcut to have an idea. It will also show IDOC.
In every situation, it’s always best to check with the college itself but it’s fine to use the college board website (they who run the css/idoc programs) for a quick, 2 second understanding.
It’s very early so that’s all they need for now.
And OP may decide, as he learns, given the sticker shock, to look at alternatives to reduce the impact
Great info. Thanks.
Thanks. After running every school on his college list through the NPC I definitely have placed them in a new order of preference.
Several of his schools are on the CSS list. Can I fill the CSS out once or do I need to fill it out for each school?