Interesting article about appealing financial aid

Paying for College
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<p>When</a> Families Ask Colleges for More Money - Admissions & Student Aid - The Chronicle of Higher Education</p>

<p>I hope I'm posting this link correctly, and that this hasn't been post before. I applaud Occidental for being so open with their process in this article. I just can't decide if this makes me feel better about the system or not after reading the article. :) </p>

<p>I guess now we know the proper term for the folks who make too much money for financial aid, but still can't send their kids to LACS: tweeners. </p>

<p>From the article: "Ms. McRae recommends no changes be made for one student from a "tweener" family, one that is neither financially needy, nor really able to pay the college's cost."</p>

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<p>I read that one, too. What amazed me was that half of those awarded aid asked for reconsideration. Given so many requests, I wonder how much aid they hold back in reserve each year for the appeal process.</p>

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<p>Oh, I hadn’t thought about that, ordinarylives. I wonder how much is held in reserves? And clearly, in many more cases than I would have expected, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. </p>

<p>Despite the claims to the contrary, it is more like buying an car than one would think. If you know how the game is played or have a parent who can really advocate for you, it definitely helps.</p>

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<p>Kind of unpleasant to watch the FA committee laughing at some of those poor fools who are just trying to find a way to make college work at some rational cost.</p>

<p>Good job, Occidental.</p>

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<p>Interesting article. Had read an item in the NY TImes about BU and the aid offices.
Institutional method varies from school to school…so there is not wonder parents and students have to compare options. Won;'t be surprised to see more schools turning to Profile/IDOC so they get the tax returns etc</p>

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<p>One of my potential enrollees wanted me to pay the deposit at an Accepted Students Day so she could get the T-Shirt. I commented that we still had an appeal in the process and if we deposited that day, there would be no incentive on the school’s part to improve the FA package. We waited & several days before May 1st, the package was revised, we sent in the deposit and child got that same T-Shirt.</p>

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<p>My husband spoke in person to a financial aid staff member at one college. We had appealed in writing for more aid and were given a bit more but not enough to make a significant decision. The employee denied our request for more and said, among other things, that the school was concerned about having enough money to go around this year, because of the economy. I hope that more schools will be acknowledging that this is a factor.</p>

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<p>I wonder what appealing is like for already admitted, returning students. My circumstances have changed, and although I have less ability to pay than the prior year, I am expected to pay more…</p>

<p>My FAFSA EFC for this year is 11.3k, but my college gave me an estimate of 22k-26k. Last year, my FAFSA EFC was 25k and my college expected 16k. Backwards, no?</p>

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<p>*What amazed me was that half of those awarded aid asked for reconsideration. *</p>

<p>If this is typical at many/most schools, it makes you think that a person really does need to have a really good appeal situation and probably not need much more money.</p>

<p>I totally understand that these appeal boards are simply going to deny a request when it’s obvious that even if the school gives a bit more, the family still isn’t going to be able to afford the school.</p>

<p>And, it’s likely that some appeals that deal with siblings in grad school or younger siblings in private schools are going to really fall on deaf ears.</p>

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<p>So, do you think that financial aid will be more likely to offer aid to students who are having a particularly rough year?</p>

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<p>That’s a good link up top.
It has to be tough on the admissions side, but it is tough on us on the other side as well. Do they really give much thought as to where you live, the inflated home prices and overpriced mortgages, property insurance and other things? My salary may make me look like we have $, but my bills (the necessary ones) make things pretty slim month after month. I guess my S is a “tweener”.
My S got a great offer from a LAC (#1) and a decent one from another LAC (#2). I felt shy asking any school for more, but I was told by several different sources that you had to ask for more. I was almost ashamed to ask #1 for additional monies because their offer seemed very generous, but we appealed #2 in person and through an official appeal and they offered a little more and closed the gap to where some might say it is negligible (3.5K), but still higher than #1. So we did ask #1 for more and were denied. S liked #2, but was somewhat conscious of the $ and he’d visited twice overnight at #1 and after much confusion chose #1, yesterday. After depositing, #2 coach contacts and says admissions says there’s a good chance that there might be some more $ available and if he can wait until next week, I guess until after May 1, but he can’t guarantee. I wish the admissions from #2 had been clearer and quicker.</p>

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<p>ArtsyLover, we had documentation so the FA package was improved by about 5k in grant money. Very high medical expenses, a bonus that was not going to be received in the next year & paying state & local incomes taxes in two states, not one state. </p>

<p>Certainly if you have proof of your circumstances having vastly changed financially then it makes sense to appeal. </p>

<p>But if you are a high income family driving luxury vehicles, paying for private school for applicant’s siblings etc. then whining about your EFC might not yield anything. They are using the term “tweeners” in this article. Maybe that is why some CSS PROFILE schools ask about what vehicles you own, the FA office is looking for those life style choices.</p>

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<p>Was the derision towards the one appealing family that apparently didn’t know or understand the process so well as to understand the magic formula for unlocking their generosity, particularly with respect to not understanding the differences between the FAFSA and IM calculations. They hold all the cards and their calculation is hidden.</p>

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<p>I thought the last part of the article was particularly interesting. It described my family’s apparently very fortunate experiences with college financial aid over the years. I never really knew that it was an intentional “method,” per se.</p>

<p>Each year that one of my kids has applied to colleges, a handful of their choices either call us, write us, or simply up their awards without any appeal from us at all. The increases are unsolicited! This has been very intriguing to me.</p>

<p>We are kind of “tweeners,” by the article’s definition. We cannot afford a private education unless there are massive merit awards. There’s no way I could pull off $48-54K a year (or even much less). But we are not financially “needy” either. Our EFC is not really high, but it’s not really low. My kids HAVE had really high stats and/or other unique or desirable things they could bring to the party, and they’ve always garnered sizeable merit and/or talent awards from these schools BEFORE the financial aid offices ultimately raise their awards. So I guess the schools are actually sitting around discussing this without our knowledge to find a way for my kids to attend! They’re already aware, I guess, of the unlikelihood of my kids attending, despite our lack of appeals. Hmmm. How do they know?</p>

<p>I’ve wondered … if these schools can afford to raise my kids’ FA awards after a brief period of time, without appeal, then why not just offer that amount of aid in the first place? As each offer rolls in, when my kids see that they can’t afford that school, they set their sights on a different school on their list. Wouldn’t it be easier to just come across as “affordable” on the first offer? Or are they maybe banking on the “personal attention,” or perhaps “flattery,” that subsequent offers provide? Or are they simply waiting for more money to be freed up before they can increase their offers?</p>

<p>Though my current college applicant has had this same experience with several of his schools, this is the first year that it just didn’t work out for us, in terms of private school attendance. Possibly because of the economy? Even though a handful of schools voluntarily increased this son’s aid rather significantly, none of the private schools offered full tuition, which is what would have kept most of these $50K-ish schools within our budget.</p>

<p>As an aside, we also noticed this year, for the first time, schools didn’t increase only merit aid. Some schools also handed out significantly more need-based aid without appeal. One school gave my son $50K in need-based aid, which is well above our EFC! We were shocked. But we were also too afraid to use it … what might happen in future years? So that school was out, too.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for sharing a very interesting article, nicekidsmom! It’s always an interesting ride!</p>

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<p>^^^^ Or are these schools holding back a bit with the initial award because they EXPECT families to ask for more? Sounds a bit too much like negotiating to purchase a car. Ugh!</p>

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<p>Simplelife, every college has “enrollment managers” and their job is to get applicants to enroll for the least amount of financial aid. They would like you to take the first offer! Remember, colleges are a business after all. Do an internet search on enrollment managers in higher education and see what you come up with! </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.scannellkurz.com/FinancialAid.asp[/url]”>http://www.scannellkurz.com/FinancialAid.asp&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Here is a consulting firm whose clients are colleges and universities.</p>

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<p>^Wow. Interesting, RiversChoice! I have never heard of “enrollment managers.” What a crazy business.</p>

<p>That DOES make sense, memama, of course … they’re hoping an applicant takes “the bait” on the first offer or asks for the increased award, if necessary. But still … what makes it intriguing is they must already know, without further communication from us, that the offer is not quite enough for attendance. Otherwise, they wouldn’t increase it, unsolicited. It’s SUCH an interesting business to me!</p>

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<p>I don’t see it as bait or lowballing. I do, however believe it is affected by, “Do we want her at our college?” (I’d rephrase that to, “Do we really wants to knock ourselves out for this kid or is there another we should put our energy into?”)</p>

<p>IME, when schools proactively offer more, it’s a matter of encouraging that particular kid. To me, it makes sense this extra offer would come after the initial award, as the school sees how its yield is evolving. (This, in respect to its insititutional goals- all the components of a successful mix, incl variety of potential majors, geog diversity, enough “super smart” or super desirable kids, a balance of their potential campus activities, etc.) This mix is taken into account in admissions, but yield can’t be perfectly controlled beforehand. It’s not fully known before May 1, but they can watch its progress.</p>

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<p>Most people I know who have appealed aid get very little more and usually in the form of loans. Still, one should appeal if there is a basis. Also, if though the article makes it look unseemly for someone to ask for more merit money, I’ve seen that done successfully. Enrollment managers like those who are pretty much full pay and a few grand more of merit money will satisfy the family, and “buy” a student who is going to be able to afford the school. Some of those kids with competing offers are good admissions catches too. I see more of them getting a bit more than folks getting more aid, unless a real mistake was made.</p>

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<p>Simplelife, I speak with no authority, but from what I see and hear the school has a certain amount of $$ to work with and as it gets closer to May 1 $$ is freed up as kids bow out of the race more money is available.</p>