Hello! I am wondering if the amount given through need-based scholarships increase as the cost of attendance increases? Over the past few years the tuition/housing/etc has increased approximated 3.5% per year, will my need-based scholarship reflect this over my four years or will the cost of attendance for me increase each year? (assuming EFC is approximately the same all four years). If anyone has experience with this or knows please respond.Thank you so much!
Financial aid does increase as cost of attendance increases each year. If it doesn’t, then you can talk to ur financial aid officer and he/she will almost certainly raise ur aid. My scholarship was the same as last year, and when I talked to my officer about it, she gave me 2K more.
You can also freeze your tuition/room/board for all 4 years.
Hello, have you found Wash U to be fair with meeting demonstrated need? My D applied ED, and I feel I have been as thorough as possible about this area before she applied. Wondering what your experience has been?
@Winky1 Sorry this is so late, I haven’t checked on here for a while. But in my experience, Wash U has been very good with financial aid if you have demonstrated need! If you run the net price calculator it will give you a good estimate of what you can expect to receive from them (if not a little bit more)!
hi @specialsnowflake , thanks for the response! When I called, I was told the npc result would be on the high end, and to explain our specific circumstances on their form. which I did. do you think having need could work against a candidate since wash u is need aware? this is my biggest fear for my D, but it’s one of those factors you can’t control.
@Winky1 I don’t think having need would work against you especially since you applied ED. I don’t work for admissions or anything, so I don’t have a guaranteed answer, but Wash U has been trying to increase its amount of low-income students, so it is possible that if your D is well-qualified for the school it could be a boosting factor. Ultimately, I think Wash U looks at the applicant’s qualifications and fit for the school before the applicant’s financial need. I know a good amount of ED students who have high need who were accepted (including me), so when it comes down to it, acceptance or rejection is most likely about your D’s stats/fit for the school, not financial need.
Thank you so much for your perspective @specialsnowflake. I appreciate your outlook.
I remember reading somewhere that the need-aware aspect of WashU only applies when pulling names off the waitlist. I don’t have a source for this, though.
that’s good to know. thanks @JemmaSimmons
What amazes me is that you do not have to be destitute to have demonstrated need. The number of family members, assets or lack of, and cash on hand or lack thereof all play such factors. I am finding the process very interesting.