<p>On whether filing CSS/FAFSA affects merit - it might be dependent on the school, but I’ve checked with Marist, Clark and RW and for those schools, consideration for merit is separate from FAFSA/CSS. I’m still on the fence as to whether to bother filing - or whether to just wait and see if merit offers come in…</p>
<p>warriorboy - congrats on getting aid for those expensive schools! You mentioned you did not think you would qualify for any aid - Did the EFC calcuators indicate you wouldn’t qualify?<br>
Just wondering how accurate they are, as I’m basing our decision on the outcome of those calculators.</p>
<p>wb648 - I think you mean EA, not ED, because ED is binding. FYI - if your kid is accepted for ED II then he will have to decline all other offers. If you are comparing FA offers, don’t apply ED II.</p>
<p>Pepsmom, my older son applied to Marist a few years ago. At that time, merit aid was determined through an alumni committee and there was a chart listing GPA and SAT scores on Marist’s website. This gave an idea about what one could expect to be offered. Applying for FA had nothing to do with merit aid, as you stated. We did apply for financial aid. I believe that we received an additional 1k in grant aid. I cannot remember, but they might be a school that offers 1k in grants if you file (In other words, there are some schools that offer 1k to all who apply for financial aid, whether they qualify or don’t qualify. Marist MIGHT be a school that does/did this, but I am not sure if that is the case). Frankly, at that time, they offered my son one of his best financial offers when one considered their lower sticker price compared with other schools. Their endowment seems rather low. I know someone whose youngest child (great stats that were much higher than my son’s stats) was rejected. She would have been the 3rd child in college at the same time as her older sibs were in college. I do wonder whether needing financial aid played some role in her rejection. I cannot recall if they applied for financial aid first, but the school was definitely aware that the 2 older sibs were in college at the same time as the applicant would be in college.</p>
<p>I found my son’s FA award from Marist. I remembered it a bit differently and wish I found it before my girls applied. He got 8,000 for being between 1200-1300 SAT, and a loan for stafford. I know looking at his other offers, he had his worst FA package here. I had my daughter’s apply, but with the knowledge that it might not work out. I don’t understand why they didn’t think we needed any other aid, no other college gave us so little.
If they track interest, my son didn’t show much and I don’t think it would have been a good fit in retrospect, but I wish I found this earlier, I think I would have saved the fee with my girls. I think another good reason was they only use Fafsa and the CSS profile showed our limited assets and savings.</p>
<p>The money S got from Vermont (the one school that has given merit aid so far…and it must be merit since they don’t take the CSS Profile and I haven’t done the FAFSA) must have been based on SAT scores. What else could they base it on with a 3.2 GPA?</p>
<p>Digdig: We’re not quite at the stage you’re at since (I hope) we don’t have all the acceptances in hand yet. However, at this point, I think my D would be happy and productive at any of the schools she’s applied to, so I don’t really care which one she actually picks. I also think that the school choice decision is at least as much art as science, so I don’t think I’m going to stress too much if it seems that her decision process isn’t as “rigorous” as I might like.</p>
<p>I’m a bit worried that my son is going to pick a school without having seen it! He has visited some but not all of the schools to which he applied, and hasn’t done any kind of overnight visit. I told him that he should make some arrangements to visit a friend at each school for an overnight. (I think he pretty much has friends at every school who he can bunk with, although I guess it’s not too much fun sleeping on the floor.) However, I don’t know that he will be motivated enough to work that out, or even think that it is that important. He is still of the mind that he will be happy wherever he goes (even though he currently has a preference).</p>
<p>NEmom - yes, Marist’s lower price along with possible high merit awards do get the price into the running with some of the other schools we are looking at… As for the girl who got rejected, I’ve read and heard at a FA meeting, that full pay students, depending on the school’s situation and how many applicants apply for FA, might have an advantage in this economy, which is unfortunate…</p>
<p>Debruns - we are not sure about the match with Marist either, they have some interesting majors, but with an undeclared major who is not exactly working towards choosing one, I’m thinking it won’t be for him. But it is a really nice school.</p>
<p>And of course, regarding Merit, let’s all hope these students meet the GPAs required in college to keep them year after year. Especially since we won’t be there nagging at them to get work done… Just one more thing to worry about for me…</p>
<p>Debruns, that is interesting. Then perhaps, they do not give 1k for completing the fafsa, if your son did not receive a financial need grant. Perhaps the difference in our experience and your experience was a difference in EFC at that time.</p>
<p>Pepsmom, as far as that young lady who was rejected, that was before the economy went south. Again, their endowment is quite low.</p>
<p>Pepsmom, editing to say, that looking at the sticker price is very important for many families. I used to read in books/mags/guides that sticker does not matter because most families do not pay the full sticker price. Well, if an EFC is between 20-30k, and a school’s sticker is 50,000 then getting as much as a 15,000 merit award will not be as good as getting 15,000 at a school with a sticker price of 35-40,000, IMO (net cost is now 20-25k for someone with an EFC of 20-30k). I have seen enough packages to reach that conclusion. JMO.</p>
<p>Oh, pepsmom, you just touched on another point. I have a problem with merit aid awarded that requires a high gpa to keep that award. Needing a 2.0 (academic progress threshold) is going to be much less stressful FOR ME, than having a minimum of a 3.0, or as a high as a 3.2 to keep that award in place.</p>
<p>NEMom - you are right on with our situation/take on college costs - we have a price range that we think is reasonable and have applied to higher cost ones, but the merit would have to be there to really consider them - especially since S doesn’t really have a preference…
And the stress of merit - you bet’cha, if it’s 3.2 or 3.3 - it just wouldn’t work, I mean, that’s the board we are on - that’s too close for comfort… Although it might work as incentive, you lose the merit then you take out a loan…</p>
<p>Pepsmom, we allowed our son to apply to higher cost schools as well. Frankly, we cannot believe the pricetag of schools in general! When it comes to decision time, it will come down to finances for us. We told our son to only apply to schools where he can make himself happy. This way, we won’t hear that he does not want to attend the school that costs thousands of dollars less. He has schools with lower sticker prices and those with higher sticker prices in the mix. We won’t send him to a school where a 3.2 is required to keep his merit aid, unless we know that the grant money would be there in financial aid dollars if he loses his scholarship. So far, none of the schools that offered our son merit aid are asking for a 3.2 to keep the award. In fact, most " I believe" require UNDER 3.0 (some require a 2.0), but I will read the fine print soon.</p>
<p>NEMom - The WNEC merit requires a 2.7 (which they call a B-) cumulative grade and you have to successfully complete at least 24 credits each year… So we will see, S has to be fully aware of the requirements before we sign up for that one…wish it were just 2.0…</p>
<p>My son has at least three awards that don’t require more than satisfactory academic progress (2.0) as a threshold to keep the award. To be frank, I searched for some schools that offered these types of awards. I feel that most schools that offer these are outside the NE, but that was my experience. I could be wrong, and one could probably find some of these in the NE too.</p>
<p>Practices vary among colleges, but I was very pleased with Susquehanna’s very generous merit aid given that my son had applied ED and not asked for need aid (we had no chance), which I feared eliminated any incentive for the school to be generous with merit.<br>
One of my conclusions is that it is a horrible GC who does not point out what so many CCers advise parents-- that private safeties can offer merit awards which bring them to the NJ state school price.
Dig, i empathize with your desire to offer advice yet fear of influencing your child too much. My suggestion would be to gently ask some questions, rather than to state a conclusion such as “Isn’t Y State very similar to X State, which you just eliminated?” Remember, too, that schools we think are identical kids can see as very different for reasons we do not notice (or think trivial, such as a cute tour guide).</p>
<p>I think that many or most GCs stay away from the financial topic altogether. This is a problem, bc every spring there are students who were admitted to schools that they cannot attend because of cost. It is not hard, IMO, to beat the cost of NJ public schools because they are so expensive! For example, the cost of attendance at NJ pubic schools are nearly double the cost of public Us in NC. Before financial aid, my son has one private school that has already offered enough merit aid to make the cost of attendance equal to that of a NJ public when we add back 2,000 in transportation costs for the year (will require airfare). He still could be awarded more merit aid from this school within the next few months. A second private school is close behind financially, and they have stated that they are definitely awarding additional merit money to our son (I think that they want to see our fafsa first, but that’s just a guess on my part).</p>
<p>S would be happy at the state flagship school, but it is a little reachy for him, and he wouldn’t be accepted for his major, he’d have to try to transfer in.</p>
<p>Another state school would be a good match for him & has a decent program; it is, however very close to home, and S was a bit turned off at the open house (it wasn’t run very well)</p>
<p>What I am trying to figure, is it worth it to go to a state school, where he’d have to take out 15K of loans total or go the private route where he’d be looking at 40K+ of loans total? I am not comfortable with him taking on that load of debt, but I worry what is going to happen with the state schools and their budgets/overcrowding.</p>
<p>Reasons that we looked for small private schools (casted a wide net to this) that might beat our instate public U cost. So far we have 2 in hand that will probably meet that goal. The trade off is lack of name recognition and being further from home. Still, the schools seem to be solid in terms of education. One of them is in a very nice location too. The other is in “the sticks” (quite rural), but our son does not mind a rural location. The private schools will never have our kid in a lecture hall with 300 students, or being taught by a TA. Some people like large schools, especially for the variety of majors and professors. Our son prefers a small school.</p>
<p>That is a decision we are facing as well…although the private school to which my son is accepted seems to have a lot of the same qualities as the public schools, so it’s not like I am comparing a tiny school to a giant school. The private school (Tulane) has about 4,000 kids in total, and the public schools we are looking at have anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 kids! Our in-state flagship (to which he has also been accepted) has about 15,000 I think, and costs $20,000 all-in, while the private school costs $52,000 all-in. We can afford the state school without loans but son would have to borrow about $24,000 to $30,000 per year for private school and about $10,000 to $15,000 per year for the OOS publics. I just can’t imagine him taking on that much debt, especially when he is likely to go to grad school.</p>
<p>I know there are plenty of private schools that would give more aid, but he would have to either go down in quality or down in size, neither of which he seems to want. I do wonder if we have missed anything, although I can safely say that there is no way I could get him to fill out any more applications at this point!!</p>
<p>RTR, three of d’s seven schools are yet unvisited. Two were summer visits. I think we still have a good deal of visiting to do … no overnights, though. She won’t go spend the night with strangers. She definitely wants to sit in on classes in her intended major, and she wants to see what students do when they aren’t in class.</p>
<p>Central Washington U was not on her list, but we stopped there one day in July on our way home from points east. It was late in the day and all we could do was self-tour. We stumbled into a brand-spanking new student center that was simply gorgeous. Even though it was summer session, students were lounging about the TV areas, buzzing through the dining hall, and working out in the attached fitness center. It was a great demonstration of what a campus hub should be. Subsequent tours elsewhere always have me looking for that same detail.</p>
<p>Digdig…I know what it’s like to find something ideal and then be comparing it to everything else. I went to two state schools, one for college and the other for grad school. Both have amazing campuses with beautiful “hubs”. When we toured our in-state flagship, I couldn’t help comparing its relatively mediocre hub to the ones at the schools I attended.</p>
Just one more thing to worry about for me…</p>