<p>rentof2, thanks !!</p>
<p>You’re welcome. And congratulations on your acceptance. It’s a really wonderful college… as I’m sure you well know. ;)</p>
<p>The office told my mother that they would be mailing out the information on Monday and Tuesday.</p>
<p>On that note, has anyone received anything? I haven’t and I’m freaking out a bit.</p>
<p>Don’t freak out. The mail is super busy this time of year. If I’ve had one experience with Amherst over the last 3+ years, it’s that they are very well organized and their administration “runs like butter” … as the Princeton Review rankings put it.</p>
<p>Waiting is difficult, but take a breath, relax. It’ll all be resolved very soon.</p>
<p>I received an email linking to a page with my FA estimate and everything else mentioned above on Friday. The reason I was wondering about the physical copy was because I need the deposit fee waiver form, which is supposed to come on the mail along with the FA information.</p>
<p>Is the college giving all admitted students a link to their online FA estimate these days? I’m just curious. Returning students get their FA renewal information that way each year, but when my son was first accepted (this was back in Dec. 2007), we had to wait for a physical letter in the mail. Back then, if I recall correctly, only international students got acceptance and FA notices via email.</p>
<p>Received the Financial Aid Memorandum today. It was… interesting.</p>
<p>I have run the on-line Amherst Financial Aid calculator about 15 times, 3 times tonight at 12 times over the past 6 months. I get a FA number that helps soften the $54K/yr a bit. The letter today said I qualify for zero, zip, nada, zilch, nothing. Write a check for $54K each year plus any additional expenses. Apparently I must sell off the majority of my 401K, to the tune of $325K+ after penalties for early withdrawal, or sell my home. </p>
<p>Frankly, I am a bit surprised. This now may be going towards “Plan B”. While my daughter will be heartbroken the alternatives are minimal. Calling FA is the next step as I really don’t know how they came up with their numbers. Obviously not the news I wanted to hear…</p>
<p>Kurtatalos, if you’re getting a different number on the calculator, talking to them will either help explain the difference between the calculator estimate and the (non) aid award, or else it might help identify a mistake that’s been made on their end.</p>
<p>There have been a couple other posters with fairly ample incomes, but not so high that they expected to be paying full cost, who have shared similar experiences here in the past.</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but it could be that for families with professional incomes (sort of vaguely thought of as “upper middle class”) the aid policies are not that great. Harvard and Yale seem to have super generous aid for those 100K+ families, but not many other colleges do. Still, if you got something different on the online calculator, it’s definitely worth a call to figure out why that is. It may have something to do with assets, although I don’t think 401Ks are a factor… not sure though.</p>
<p>I hope it works out for your daughter.</p>
<p>'Rentof2 -</p>
<p>D was admitted RD to Amherst last year and the FA package was online. Amherst also told us first semester billing information for new students would come via mail but after that, it would be done online. </p>
<p>QLM</p>
<p>Rentof2… being substantially below that 6 figure number it has become a quandry. Regardless, phone messages and emails have been sent. Ran the FA calculator again, same result on my end. I was under the impression that the calculator was “in the ballpark”. In lieu of a simple, unintended error at their end (a possibility) it presents an awkward situation as “none” is… unique. </p>
<p>Wish you well…</p>
<p>I finally got the estimated award :)</p>