Unless you have a substantive change in your finances since your financial aid forms were submitted…frankly, you have NO basis to ask for more money.
ETA…even IF the school gives your kid more aid for year one…there is NO guarantee that they will do so in subsequent years…and you WILL have to ask each year if you come short in terms of need based aid.
This case is actually interesting as Northeastern does guarantee that via the Northeastern promise. That probably also decreases the likelihood of a successful appeal though.
https://studentfinance.northeastern.edu/applying-for-aid/undergraduate/the-northeastern-promise/
@Skippy00 you might want to keep,that Northeastern Promise in mind.
The aid provided by Boston University offers NO such guarantee of increased aid in the event costs increase in subsequent years…and they WILL increase.
In addition, BU is more expensive to begin with.
@Skippy00 Yes, the NEU Promise is real in that your aid, merit or need based will NOT go down through your years at NEU… Merit will not change, but need based aid will actually increase at the same rate as tuition increases. Guaranteed. This can be significant in your calculations over the course of college, once you hear the offer from BU. For budgeting purposes, I would not recommend that you count on coop earnings at NEU to help with tuition expenses etc - esp as this varies so much by major. Not sure what you intend to study. If you are studying engineering or CS, well, you may make more than what you need for basic living expenses while on coop, but many other majors make enough to cover costs, some are even unpaid (more in the social science realm.)
Campus housing is guaranteed all 4-5 years at NEU but is not always desirable (it is by lottery) and can be expensive. but I imagine BU is similar since it is all in Boston.
My son was a top tier student last year and was accepted EA with a 20K per year Dean’s Scholarship. When we completed the FAFSA, our EFC was around 20K. We would be having two students in college at the same time. The NPC for Northeastern came out a bit higher. We were shocked when we got the financial aid award showing NO financial aid other than the 5k of student loans. Long story short, NEU uses its own calculations (which includes home equity) to determine your need and that is the need they guarantee to meet… We tried to negotiate/appeal as NEU’s lack of aid stood alone against all the other schools he was accepted at. They didn’t budge despite our combined college costs (sticker price) for two kids being more than annnual income. I did not hear of anyone else last year negotiating more either. Ironically, my other child goes to a state school (small endowment) as an out of state student and qualifies for a university grant. NEU is not in the business of negotiation for merit or financial aid as there are literally thousands of students standing in line willing to pay full price. My advice; be grateful they gave you anything as it is certainly not a guarantee.
@Annie4321 that is exactly the feedback I was looking for. Thank you.
Also, with my students I tell them it’s a bad idea to consider work-study when they’re evaluating tuition costs even though it is included in a financial aid package. It works well for personal expenses, but it’s a hypothetical job with a hypothetical number of hours. I would pull it out when you are trying to decide if you can afford hard direct costs for a university.
You say you can afford $5000 in costs for your kid to attend college. You also say NEU is $5000 short. The cost of NEU is $63,000 a year or so…are you saying your kid got $53,000 in financial aid? If so…that is a HUGE award.
When you are on co-op you pay no tuition to NEU and your son keeps the income. Some co-ops even pay for housing. So the semesters he’s on co-op the most you’d pay is housing and co-ops average $25/hour. I know several students who’ve made significantly more than that.
@thumper1 My son’s award letter from NEU has direct costs at $70K for next year (tuition $53.3K and room and board $16.7K). So to be 10K shy, award would be around $60K.
Thank you for the updated figures.
If this poster is $10,000 shy…then their kid got a HUGE $60,000 financial aid package.
@Skippy00 is that correct?
@collegemom9 Co-ops that pay for housing are pretty rare and you also have to pay for food and essentials. Don’t forget about taxes either! For that reason it’s best to plan co-op as a wash. I think your average statistic is off and it’s probably closer to $20 across all colleges. Of course that’s major dependent, as a third CS co-op I believe averages $30
@PengsPhils I was just answering OP’s question. Wasn’t saying it was a money maker just that the student keeps the money you make and you don’t pay tuition.