Take into account income (maybe plus inheritance) over the last 10 years, # of children, # of children in college but tone the weighting of wealth way back.
I see what you are saying, but I think we need to be careful to not also punish kids from “less responsible” families.
Does anyone know if MIchigan unofficially gives “merit-need” aid"? In other words, give better need-based aid packages to students who they are vying for, even if it is not called merit aid?
@yikesyikesyikes Actually, I think that that is exactly is what is happening now to more responsible families, which is not at all reasonable.
Here’s the thing though- the middle class is screwed in almost any financial aid process; we can’t blame Michigan but the system itself. Times ranked UofM objectively the second best college for its value: an Ivy League education and phenomenal reputation for a great price. That’s all we should worry about
Alright @TooOld4School ,
I am still trying to understand what you exactly you want to change about the FA system. You said you do not want “responsible” middle class families to be penalized - alright that sounds good, but how do we that? An overall increase in FA for the middle class? Free public college for all?
@brantly I actually received an email a while ago for something called the “LSA Fall/Winter Scholarship.” Description: “If you will be a full-time (12 credits or more) LSA Student and receive any type of financial aid from the Office of Financial Aid in the 2016-17 academic year, you are eligible to apply.”
It seems to be a kind of unofficial need-based aid to add on top of your current need-based aid. I think funds come from donations to LSA. You have to fill out a form to apply, and there you put some info like an essay explaining why you need this aid, your past three jobs, three extracurriculars, your gpa, and a couple of other things. I don’t really know how they judge how much to award you, though (if it’s entirely need-based, or partially merit-based; if it’s partially merit-based, to what extent; etc.).
Here’s the page for it:
https://www.lsa.umich.edu/students/scholarships/currentstudents/currentstudentscholarship
@eyo777 Interesting. Thanks. That’s a transparent merit/need award. I was also wondering if, during the initial awarding of FA, they tweak the amounts based on merit. Is this an unspoken/unofficial part of the awarding of FA?
The freshmen scholarship is typically managed by the admission office while the need based aids are from the Financial Office. You may be surprised that how little communication between the offices from the inconsistency between award letter and FA summary. They do, however, adjust the amount of need based aids after additional merit aids are reported. The departmental scholarships usually do not show up until the second or third revision of the FA award notice. The LSA scholarship mentioned above is just like the departmental scholarships that required demonstrated needs.
@brantly I wouldn’t think merit plays any role in the official need-based aid award. But I’m also not an authority on this or anything.