<p>The NYT's Education supplement has a full article on the Financial Aid office at Boston University.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper</a></p>
<p>BU offered D a lower scholarship amount than any of her acceptances that offered merit aid - probably because they consider need in many of their scholarships, and we didn’t have much demonstrated need.</p>
<p>Very eye opening article.
My daughter applied to BU for the 2008-2009 school year. She was accepted and given a very generous FA package. They met with greater than 100% of need. With that said, my EFC was on the high side 28,000. Unfortunately my Daughter declined and went to the not so generous NYU.</p>
<p>Let’s see … widowed mom with $57K income and two other high schoolers at home (and NO possibility of asking husband for help) gets $26,100 in grants … divorced mom with $112K income (who doesn’t wish to “bug” her ex about contributing to son’s education) gets $17,000 in grants. Ah, it’s good to be rich …</p>
<p>^^^ There was something about abuse being involved in the divorce, so it sounds like it wasn’t about not “bugging” the ex-husband. And the whole point of the article is that BU gives more aid to kids it REALLY wants to come. The “rich” (hardly) kid with the divorced mom had a 2350 SAT, 300 points higher than the kid with the widowed mom. apparently BU REALLY wanted him. </p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s fair - why even bother to admit the widowed-mom-kid when it’s clear that BU isn’t going to even come close to their need and he won’t be able to attend? BU left this kid with a “gap” that equalled over half of his family’s income - and he has 2 siblings in HS! Unless this kid wins the lottery or has an unknown rich relative, there’s NO way he’s coming to BU. So why even dangle the acceptance out there? Seems kind of cruel to me…</p>
<p>^ I agree! Asking a widow to “contribute” 73% of her income when she has two additional kids to educate is tantamount to rejection. And not to disparage the divorced mom (who may indeed be trying to distance her family from a truly awful ex-husband), it’s not hard to imagine the conversation in the BU FA office going something like this:</p>
<p>“I really like this kid … 2350 SAT, and all this other great stuff he’s done. What do you think it will take to get him?”</p>
<p>“Well the mom is flat NOT on speaking terms with the dad, and has indicated that if the dad is brought into the equation that she would refuse to let her son attend. With her income and assets only we’d probably offer the kid a $7,000 grant and $10,000 in loans.”</p>
<p>“Well I really like this kid. Let’s waive the requirement to include the dad’s info in the FA calculations, and kick the grant up to $17,000.”</p>
<p>As for the kid with the widowed mom, I think a fair assessment would be “what the admissions office giveth, the FA office taketh away.”</p>
<p>I’m not saying BU’s practices are illegal, or that BU practices are different from those of many private schools. But I do think it’s disingenuous to suggest that the practices are fair. Well thought out? Yes. Necessary? Perhaps. Fair? No, and I can understand why some parents on the “shorter” end would be upset.</p>
<p>So, this is what I don’t understand: they have the financial information when the kid applies. The kid is good enough to get into the university. The financial aid office knows the EFC (and lucky is the family that can actually make the EFC in this economy). </p>
<p>Then they GAP? $10,000? $15,000? In a financial aid package that is already including loans? And they have the financial ability to not gap? The family (or the kid) goes into additional debt of $40,000-60,000 (beyond the $22,000 federal loans)? In this economy? What the heck is the FASFA for then?</p>
<p>OK, so no one is forcing the kid to apply to a $50,000 school. No one makes him go to a school that doesn’t meet need. But, really, why does the college waste our time? It seems almost mean spirited. Again, they have our FASFA. They know what we can reasonably pay. </p>
<p>Yeah, I know. It’s a numbers game. It’s a business. But, I wonder how many of the kids they accept with that kind of gap actually enroll?</p>