I was accepted at NYU and Boston University, which is great. However, neither school gave me enough money in grants/scholarships for it to be possible for me to go, which isn’t great. My family’s EFC according to FAFSA is ~$34,000, so we need around $32k for BU to be around that price and $37k for NYU. BU gave me $0, which is alarming, and NYU gave me a $5,850/year scholarship. Taking out $120,000+ in loans is not reasonable at all, so right now, it isn’t possible for me to go to either school.
I’m thinking about appealing at both schools, but I’m not really sure where to start. I know that it is unlikely that I’d receive enough money in grants/scholarships after the appeal, but I want to at least try. BU gave me nothing to begin with, and I’m not sure I’d go there even if they did give me enough money, so I’m not sure if it’s worth it to appeal there. NYU has been one of my top choices since I visited back in October though, and I would go there if it was financially possible, so I’m definitely appealing there. I know that NYU’s financial aid is based off of a combination of academic merit and financial need, so I think I’m gonna include a copy of my third quarter grades. I’m not sure what else to put in the appeal though.
One of the things that might be relevant is that my dad cashed out his unused vacation time last year because he was retiring towards the end of December, which raised his income significantly (from $160,000 to like $210,000) and also pushed us into a higher tax bracket. One of the things that he was worried about was that colleges would think that this is his normal annual income. Would mentioning that help with the appeal at all or would the schools already have considered that?
I do have other affordable options that I would be ok with attending if the appeals don’t work out.
So yeah basically I’m appealing financial aid decisions at two schools that are known for giving terrible aid and I’m not sure how to go about that at all. Any help/advice is appreciated.
Yes you can mention the cash out and retirement but those schools you either get the big aid or it is unaffordable and seems like this is not news to you. Don’t count on anything, if you get anything it will be a couple grand. If you must there is a thread in the first few pages here with an article about appealing aid. I didn’t read it but might be useful. I honestly do not think it is worth it to try, it just strings you along and they are not going to get anywhere close to that gap. FAFSA EFC means nothing to them. Forget BU at least.
Oh I just say your last answer. Forget it, make your choices from your acceptances.
For goodness sakes, yes - appeal to NYU if you want to. There’s absolutely no reason not to. (And, as you’ve indicated, you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t try!) Set up a meeting with a financial aid counselor, explain your father’s situation . . . and beg. It’s unlikely they’d increase their award enough to make it affordable . . . but it’s only impossible if you don’t ask.
And since they consider both academic merit and finances, you may want to set up telephone meetings with both financial aid and admissions, just to cover all your bases.
It makes sense to explain them the unusual increase in income, and I hope they will listen to your story. Best luck to you. btw UCSD and UCI are such excellent schools. And it seems to make much more sense to attend one of these especially if you are instate. I like UCSD way more than NYU, but it is my personal opinion.
NYU and BU do NOT meet full student need for all. Sure, you can ask for more, but I seriously doubt that either school is going to pony up more money in the $30,000 plus range. Remember, they will not give you need based aid to pay your family contribution.
Even with a $160,000 income, these schools would likely not be affordable. Your EFC with a $160,000 income would be in the $40,000 a year range. I’m surprised your FAFSA EFC was $32,000 with a $210,000 income. That seems low to me.
What have your parents told you they can pay per year? Add the $5500 Direct Loan to that plus any summer earnings or current job earnings you have. Is that enough to afford the other schools on your list?
I called the financial aid office at both BU and NYU today. NYU said that they don’t allow appeals, but they do allow updates to the CSS profile if I mail them in or fax them. My dad is certain that he didn’t fill out the CSS profile correctly so we will try to use that option. The fact that we can’t appeal sucks though because I don’t think there’s a way to tell NYU what we need to tell them about the inflated income last year through an update to the CSS profile (which I honestly don’t know how to do – the man I talked to on the phone from NYU told me that you get a form through Collegeboard but I couldn’t find one when I looked it up).
I know I said I probably wasn’t going to appeal at BU, but they actually do allow formal letters of appeals and I still really want to go to the east coast for school so I’m going to appeal and explain the change in income and the retirement (I’m not sure how helpful the fact that my dad retired actually is though because his pension is around $160k/year from now on, which would make our EFC higher, I think, but idk).
@BrownParent yeah, I know that it’s really unlikely, especially to get how much we need (the man at BU’s financial aid office said that successful appeals usually get like $5k at most), so I’ve been focusing on deciding between the colleges that are affordable for me ever since I got the decisions. I do still want to try though because I would choose NYU over any of the schools I’ve gotten into in a heartbeat if it was affordable (and I guess I would probably choose BU if they came through and NYU didn’t but idk).
@dodgersmom What do you mean by financial aid counselor? Are there financial counselors at the schools I applied to or are you talking about a private one? And I’m thinking it would be fruitless to call NYU admissions at this point because they don’t allow letters of appeal, but I know nothing about this process at all so let me know if I’m wrong, lol.
@sidsta Thanks, and yeah I’m happy with the UCs and USF (I’ve kinda ruled out Drexel) and would be fine with attending any of them. I really wanted strong academics + big city though, so I’ve been stuck deciding between the options that are financially possible for us.
@thumper1 Yeah, the other schools on my list are affordable. My parents said that paying almost full price at BU/NYU would be impossible but that they could manage paying for the other schools. The direct loan is an option too at those schools but we should be fine without it.
Btw thank you everyone!! I’m super uneducated about financial aid and you all have been very helpful.
Your dad’s retirement income of $160,000 a year will probably put you out of the running for need based aid at NYU and BU…when he retires. So do keep that in mind!
@swaggieee - yes, I meant a financial aid counselor at the school you’re applying to. Does you no good at NYU, though. Sorry about that.
BTW, to update the Profile, you just print it out and make any necessary changes by hand, and then send it in. And there is a section at the end where you can explain ANY special circumstances, so use that to tell them whatever you need to. There probably won’t be space, so just say, “see attached,” and then add an extra page with the info.
Ok, so I figured I should update this and say that I didn’t end up appealing the aid at either school. The week of the deadline (which was 4/15 at BU and I’m assuming it was the same at NYU even though they didn’t really have a formal process) was ridiculous in terms of school and everything else that was happening and I didn’t have time to write the appeal letter or try to update the CSS profile. I don’t feel terrible about it because I wouldn’t have gotten enough anyway (if I even got anything), but it means that there’s no chance for me to go to either school whatsoever now and I’m not really excited about any of my affordable options, so yeah. Thanks for the help everyone, though.
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My family’s EFC according to FAFSA is ~$34,000, so we need around $32k for BU to be around that price and $37k for NYU. BU gave me $0, which is alarming, and NYU gave me a $5,850/year scholarship.
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Those are CSS profile schools, so your FAFSA EFC is irrelevant.
Do you have a sibling in college? If not, then your FAFSA EFC cannot be correct. No one with that income (over $200k) would have that low of an EFC.
@swaggieee - I’m sorry you’re not happy with your remaining options. But I guarantee that you’ll be happy 10 years down the road when you have NO debt to pay off. And if you’re bright enough to get into NYU and BU (not to mention all the others!), you’re bright enough to figure out how to make one of the really great schools still on your list a really great experience!
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I’m sorry you’re not happy with your remaining options. But I guarantee that you’ll be happy 10 years down the road when you have NO debt to pay off.
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So true!!!
And, even more to the point, you’ll be happy that you won’t have BIG DEBT to pay off!!!
so, what will it be? A UC or USF??
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I haven't decided on a major yet which makes this a lot harder but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be doing one or two of the following (maybe minoring in one? idk there are so many majors that I'm interested in so I think I'm going to minor in at least one but I'm not sure): sociology, linguistics, international relations, environmental studies/sustainability, english, history, psychology
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After looking at your list of possible majors…if you think you’re going to do English, History, (any of the liberal arts), then USF (Jesuit) should be a strong contender. The Jesuits just do a fab job in the liberal arts and sciences. Not only will you get educated, but your critical thinking skills will get honed. Take some philosophy courses as well, such as Deductive Logic (or whatever it’s called there)
@mom2collegekids Oh, okay. I think our CSS EFC was around that too though because after all of the aid that Drexel offered me (including the two federal loans that total $5,500) the cost is $34,700. My only sibling is my older brother, and he’s in community college right now (and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to be transferring to a 4 year any time soon) which isn’t costing us that much at all (like $2k/year at most I think). Our EFC does seem low and I’m not sure why but I don’t think there’s a mistake there given that it’s around the same for both the CSS profile and FAFSA but idk.
@dodgersmom lol thank you this was encouraging! I really want to be able to graduate debt free and the best option for that would be UCI, but I think I’d be happiest at USF, so I’m trying to figure that out.
@mom2collegekids I’m going to reply to your second comment in my other thread if that’s okay.
Well, I’m partial to USF because I grew up there - well, around the corner actually! When I was very, very young, I used to walk my dog around the campus. (Picture: very small child, stuffed brown dog on leash. Yes, stuffed. )
Being an RA is great…if you are selected for the job. At most colleges, RA positions are quite competitive and require a pretty comprehensive application and interview process. No one should assume that they will get an RA job, because there are far more applicants than positions at most schools.
Certainly…go for it…but have a plan B if this doesn’t work out.
@dodgersmom ooh working as an RA sounds like a really good option if I do choose USF! It is pretty competitive though, as @thumper1 mentioned, so I’ll definitely to be looking for other jobs on campus. Are all on campus jobs extremely competitive in general or is it just the RA ones?
@mom2collegekids yes, and we indicated the name of the community college, his year in college, that he attends full time, and that we paid $1200 for the academic year 2014-2015 and will pay $1200 for 2015-2016.
Don’t know about other campus jobs, but you can ask USF if you’d be eligible for work study if it’s not already a part of your financial aid award. If not, there should also be some kind of listing of non-work study campus jobs - don’t know if it would be online or just posted on campus somewhere. Ask the FA office if they know where you can find those listings. I’d look into it ASAP - maybe you can get something lined up before the fall semester even starts!
If not . . . well, you’re in SF, so there’s no shortage of local businesses!
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