<p>Fairly new to CC, bear with me if this has been discusssed.
S has been admitted to 5 schools; 4 have given him reasonable and sometimes substantial merit aid. The one other (which, of course ranks high on his list) gave him Need Aid (which I didn't think we qualified for) but no merit. When I called to inquire, I was told they'd seen a problem with FAFSA and the PROFILE reconciliation, assumed there'd been an input error (yes, DH had made a mistake on PROFILE) but they gave him aid anyway,and will need to see '05 tax return and info on our housing allowance (we're a military family).
The bottom line is, they'll probably rescind the Need Aid. When I asked about Merit Aid, the Fin. Aid office said it was handled by Admissions and Fin. Aid understood "it had all been awarded." However, she urged S to write an appeal for Merit Aid.<br>
So, do any of you have experience with this? Was your appeal successful?
Should he have mentioned that he'd gotten aid from the other 4 schools?</p>
<p>From what I have gathered, they hold all the appeals until the RD's have gone out, then they'll all be considered at once. (S. was an EA.) How could they have awarded all the Merit awards prior to RDs? Furthermore, what happens to the pool of merit money when admitted/awarded students declline? Don't they then offer it to others? The problem I can see is that we may be extremely close or even past the May 1st deadline. Is it bad form to commit to one of the other schools if this happens and then possibly cancel if the school in question acts positively on the appeal? Thanks in advance--I know you'll have lots of wisdom.</p>
<p>Our experience in this was fairly successful, jonsmom....</p>
<p>S's top choice school set out appeal process in the initial finaid info they sent.....were adamant that they would discus with the STUDENT only - no parents...S sent letter laying out his merit awards from his other admits...some schools comparable to his top choice, and a few probably not....asked nicely - no demands or threats to go elsewhere!! Top choice school came back with a nice additional $$ amount, BUT....when his finaid award came for soph yr - they gave only the original amount, so was the extra just a one-yr. tease to get him in the door?? Make sure any additional funds offered are for all 4 yrs.</p>
<p>Maybe when they said all the merit aid had been awarded, they meant it had all been earmarked for each student, even though the official offer letters had not yet been mailed.</p>
<p>Also, I think most schools offer way more aid than they plan to spend each year, counting on the fact that X% of their admits will go elsewhere...then the unspent finaid $$ go back in the pot till next year. Am sure there are actuarial formulas that go into this....but they could not afford to award every dollar offered each year.</p>
<p>The one exception I know of is those schools who invite select students on campus for essay competitions for merit awards....they have X number of several different $$ levels of awards - say 10 full tuition, 50 at 3/4 tuition, etc. If 3 people who win the top awards enroll elsewhere, they will bump up the top 3 people from the next level down....so you could conceivably get a letter the week before you leave for orientation, saying you now have a full ride....wouldn't that be a wonderful surprise??!</p>
<p>Thanks Beachy, helps to put it in perspective. I'm glad he was the one to make the appeal; hope it stikes a chord with them. Re. "Make sure any additional funds offered are for all 4 yrs", I do know that only EDs get guaranteed awards for 4 yrs. at this particular school--which is the added hook to get applicants to go ED. So, if they do give him any merit he'll have to weigh the decision very carefully. Even with merit aid, he'll graduate with about $27.5k debt. We worry about that since avg. debt upon grad. seems to be about $17k, though we realize that's a very general figure. I've been searching the archives for "debt upon graduation" discussions but haven't found any yet. His dad and I think the $17k figure is somewhat reasonable, though we have a hard time admitting that, since neither of us had more than $5k, but that was light years ago. Again, thanks for your insight.</p>
<p>Hi! I just posted something about this on another thread. I'm feeling pretty lazy ( :) ), so I have included a link. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=4786&page=3%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=4786&page=3</a>
By the way, when your son's writes his appeal letter, be sure to include a quick summary of his stats and information regarding extenuating circumstances (large family, medical bills, ect.). Another thing he may want to highlight is his involvement in school EC's. If he is really active, make sure that he emphasizes his desire to contribute to the university through the same type of activities he participated in during high school. This will make him stand out from other appeals and will let the college know that he wants to help the university if the university helps him. Good luck!</p>
<p>Forgot to mention something! To find out if scholarships are renewable check out their website. Another helpful guide would be a undergraduate bulletin from the college. Most schools are happy to send bulletins if you request them. These are incredibly helpful. They will include information on the different scholarships offered, whether or not they are renewable, AP credit, meal programs, and anything else you can think of. I have one for my top choice (Case), and it has saved me hours of "research" time on the computer.</p>
<p>S. got a reply to his appeal for merit aid; it was denied. They encouraged him to tell his parents to call the Director of Fin. Aid to help determine how to put together a package of loans and payment plans for the $42k the school costs!! I did call and talked with a very kind Director. She checked his file re. merit aid that he had been given, and agreed that if there were an error in the Profile, it would probably be rescinded. She urged us to fax our '05 tax return this weekend because she'll be in the office trying to tie up loose ends before they begin the RD award notifications next week. I'll do it as a matter of form, but I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause. Regardless of what FAFSA says, we can't come up with $42k per year. I could go into my litany of the reasons why career military families should get a mild break (mostly, it took 22 long years for my husband to finally make a reasonable amount of money and during those earlier years, it was pretty tough to save anything)...but as a friend of mine said, "Yes, but you got to shop in the Commissary all those years." Don't know how to do smileys; if there's one for a sort of sad, silly grin with shrugged shoulders and hands in the air, that would be appropriate.
The up side is, he's gotten into all the other schools he's applied to and he has some good schools and nice awards to choose among. Thanks for your comments.</p>