Hi everyone, I was recently deferred at UMich and UW-Madison. Both schools were already reaches for me, but I will continue to be persistent in hopes of gaining admission later. That being said, will the deferral hurt my chances of getting financial aid? We have a 0 EFC. I know that these schools tend not be extremely generous, but I figured I should wait in case by some miracle either of them give me enough but will the deferral make them give me less? This might be a dumb question, but my mother and I have been arguing over whether we think it will hurt me in the financial aid pool or not.
Thanks for any help!
You should still get aid if you end up being accepted. Did you submit your FAFSA to both schools? Typically, schools like UM and UW package all students who apply to the school and submit a FAFSA. If you file the FAFSA by the priority date, you will get a financial aid package that should still be good if you are ultimately accepted.
UMich in-state is very generous (meeting need) but I see from another thread you are OOS. Are you in-state for UW-M? They don’t have the same pockets as UMich and you will probably just get federal aid if you are OOS there.
It’s difficult to answer one way or the other since schools have their own financial aid policies and procedures. Look at what the deadlines and priority dates are and file the FAFSA/PROFILE as soon as you can, so there is no delay that way. There really is no way to answer the question as to whether your deferral specifically affected the amount of fin aid or whether you will get aid at all. You are still in the regular decision group, and I don’t think those accepted EA got any estimated financial aid packages–EA doesn’t tend to come up with those numbers the way ED would since no commitment is made to the school until the spring. So it’s entirely possible that there is no effect.
Be aware that neither school guarantees to meet full need for you as you are OOS for UMich. Have you run NPCs for both schools and do they ask for instate status? What are they giving you as fin aid estimates?
To specifically answer your question…if you get accepted, your aid probably won’t be any different than if you had been accepted outright.
BUT
You are from Ohio, and your CR is 670 and your math 710 for a 1380 total.
You picked a bunch of out of state public universities that do not guarantee to meet full need. They just don’t.
Your chances of acceptance at some of these is good (not Michigan which is highly competitive).
But how will you pay for any of these schools?
Kentucky might give you decent merit aid. But I’m not sure all of your costs will be covered.
Do you have a safety school…one where you will get accepted, and can afford to attend…and would do so if accepted?
Can you commute to Cleveland State? I believe your tuition costs could be covered by the full Pell Grant of $5730 plus the $5500 Direct loan. I know that’s not your first choice, but it might be an affordable one.
Any chance you applied to any other public universities in Ohio where you could receive Merit aid plus your Pell and Direct Loan? Bowling Green, or Kent, perhaps?
Thumper is bringing up some valid points, essential issues for you to consider. No school guarantees to meet need as defined by EFC. You are only guaranteed to get full PELL of about $5700 and direct loans of $5500 from the federal government. The gap between that and any OOS public or any schools where you have to board is enormous. How much can you and your family pay? I ask, because the chances that ALL of those schools on the list are going to gap you are very high. And I mean gap you badly. Do you have any financial safety school in mind? Have you gotten anything from any local schools? Do look for some affordable options to which you can commute.
I am financially fine at Ohio State with scholarships I’ve earned on my own and from the school itself after getting admitted. I’m well aware these are all very high financial reaches - I simply was just wondering if getting a deferral would lower chances of getting money at all - not full cost of tuition or anything like that. I’ve been admitted to and have gotten scholarships to all of my schools except Wisconsin and Michigan - both deferrals. With a 0 EFC, I have the Pell Grant and the Stafford loan already. I’m obviously dreaming big, but I am covered at OSU for all wondering.
I have not run NPC’s at the schools since my parents don’t readily give me their financial forms and they’re both very busy. Neither them nor I really understand the logistics of how it all works yet - I’m sure we will soon. Thanks for any input.
Well…just make sure you submit your FAFSA form ON TIME. Your parents can use good estimates now, filing with a “will file” status. Submit to your schools, and then get the taxes done ASAP. Go back into the FAFSA and update the fields that are from the 2014 taxes. Change the status to “taxes completed”, link to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, and resubmit.
Get that FAFSA done NOW.
U of Michigan also requires the CSS Profile. Submit that also for that school. Just in case you get accepted.
Don’t miss the deadlines…the sooner the better for that FAFSA.
There are some forms of federally funded aid that have limited funding per campus and are awarded on a first come, first served bases. These include Federal Work Study, SEOG, and Perkins Loans. You don t want to miss out on these because you submit too late and funds run out.
Thank you for letting us all know you are all set with Ohio State. It’s a great school!
We are all set with the FAFSA - I made sure they did that on January 1st at 10 AM! Thanks for the reminder about the CSS Profile, though. I kept reminding my mom about that but then it slipped my mind for the past several weeks.
All you need to run the NPC for UW-Madison is the FAFSA EFC. A nonresident with a zero EFC gets $8530 in federal and institutional aid. You need to find the remaining $33000 elsewhere. Wisconsin taxpayers are not going to pay for you to attend UW-Madison.
A postponed decision has no effect.
Are you an URM?