<p>I was recently accepted REA to Stanford. Before applying and again after viewing my estimated aid award letter, I typed all of my family's financial information into the net price calculator online. Unfortunately, the award letter estimated my family's expected contribution close to $11,000 more than the aid calculator. All of the CSS Profile information was correct, and all of the information I typed into the aid calculator was the same. Does anyone else have experience handling similar situations? </p>
<p>I really want to attend Stanford, but my family can't afford to pay $11,000 more than the net price calculator estimated. </p>
<p>By the way, my family has almost no assets, no investments, and does not own a home, so there should not have been anything to complicate the aid decision.</p>
<p>The official aid you will receive from Stanford could be completely different to your estimate, as it is based on your FAFSA and 2012 tax forms. Therefore your aid could still increase.
If it doesn’t, I believe you can appeal the offer of financial aid (not entirely sure but my friends have done so to other prestigious colleges and had huge increases in aid)</p>
<p>But just in case, I would advise you to continue with your RD apps and hopefully it should all work out for you.</p>
<p>Stanford likes to say that they don’t want cost to be a prohibitive factor in attending their institution, so if your family actually cannot afford the expected contribution, if you appeal it, I believe Stanford will do everything possible to make sure it is lowered to a contribution that can be afforded.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that I don’t have firsthand experience; I’m just interpreting something I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Stanford will make you pay what they believe your family can afford to pay. It’s fairly rare for them to change your EFC simply because your family feels that they cannot pay it. Appealing is most successful when there is new information that Stanford had not previously considered. It’s always worth a shot, though, and I would definitely recommend appealing if the final aid package is less than the calculator and/or what the family will pay. </p>
<p>Like LuckyMatrim said, wait for the FAFSA to be considered and for your official aid package. In the mean time, apply to schools where you have a good chance at getting merit aid so that you have other options if Stanford doesn’t come through.</p>
<p>I am just disappointed because the financial aid calculator online led me to believe I would be receiving a lot more aid. </p>
<p>I can’t help feeling that there was something misleading about the net price calculator. I typed my family’s financial information into ten online net price calculators from 100% need-met schools. All of the calculators seem to suggest aid awards similar to the Stanford aid calculator, but wildly different from the actual Stanford award letter. Without being too specific, we have almost no assets, investments, home, etc, and a total annual income that is between $125,000-$138,000 per year for an average sized family. The EFC is about $30,000. Should I just assume that the aid award letter may be wrong, or should I be more suspicious of net price calculators?</p>
<p>You need to talk to Stanford U and go over this with them. Yes, you should be suspicious of NPCs in general. They can be waaaaaay off on schools that have a lot of merit awards and/or do not guarantee to meet full need. However, if you used Stanford’s own NPC and used the exact same info on the requested PROFILE, something is not right here. Stanford is a school that should come out very close with the estimate, and you should find out what the issue is here.</p>
<p>The other issue could be that there are things on the PROFILE that will affect your need that are just not asked on the NPC. Things such as assets in siblings’ accounts. Look at the PROFILE info and again at what that NPC is asking, and see if something is not being asked for in the NPC that is showing up on the PROFILE. Stanford is one of the most generous schools with regard to financial aid so if the NPCs are coming out about the same in all of your other schools, and this estimate from Stanford is so off, something is not adding up. Either there is a mistake–on Stanford’s part or yours, or there is a gap in the NPC regarding an asset or situation that is popping up on the PROFILE. If it is the last situation it is going to be the same story at all of those other schools. So do ask for a conference and for a financial aid director to go over the numbers with you. This is important because it can affect all of your other applications for aid too if you are missing something.</p>
<p>I agree with cptofthehouse, you need to talk to someone in the financial aid office. But I would warn that $30,000 seems about right as an EFC for your given family income. They protect around $50,000 of income, and then want about half of what’s left. You have more than $60,000 left, so your EFC of $30,000 seems about right.</p>
<p>I will call the financial aid office after the holiday break. I am quite determined to attend Stanford one way or another. It has always been my dream school.</p>
<p>Exactly as what others already said, definitely call them. It could be that Stanford is counting in your family’s assets (business, residence, etc) or projecting your parents’ income as higher than it really is. </p>
<p>If you live close, see if you can schedule an one-on-one meeting with a FA officer along with your parents so that you can kindly ask the person to explain how your aid was determined. Be polite and patient but persistent. If you don’t live close to the school, make sure you attend the admitted student weekend- there are usually time slots then for talking to the FA department.</p>
<p>In the meantime, try applying to schools with merit scholarships or and other schools with general financial aid. Hope it all works out!</p>