<p>On my applications do I just say I need financial aid or what? Usually is it just filling out the FAFSA and then the college determines what I get from them? And for scholarships through colleges sometimes they're automatically given and other times you have to apply correct?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>On the Common Application (used by some private schools) there is a question asking if you’ll be applying for financial aid. In any case, if any of the application forms ask you, then answer ‘yes’.</p>
<p>You will have to look at each college’s financial aid pages on their website to see what they require from students applying for aid. One thing will be the FAFSA, but they may be other requirements. Check what they are spefically for each school to which you’re applying.</p>
<p>And, yes, some scholarships from colleges are automatic, some require special application. The school’s website should have the information available, or call the financial aid office and ask.</p>
<p>And while you’re checking what the college(s) requires…also check the deadlines for submitting these things and DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES. These deadlines vary from college to college so you will need to check EACH one separately. Missing deadlines can also mean missing out on aid in some cases.</p>
<p>For schools that only use FAFSA, you likely will not get a lot of aid. Most FAFSA-only schools do NOT have much money to give…so you’d likely have a gap in aid.</p>
<p>Many of the better aid schools require CSS Profile, but not all of those “meet need” either. And, some schools require the financial info of non-custodial parents.</p>
<p>So, you need to know the facts when applying to schools.</p>
<p>1) How much your parents will contribute each year.</p>
<p>2) What your likely EFC will be…</p>
<p>FA Calc<br>
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid) </p>
<p>Do both the federal method and institutional. Many privates use the both methods. If there is a non-custodial parent, then their income (and step-parent incomes) might also be included at some schools.</p>
<p>Again…an EFC is not the most you/your family will be expected to pay. Most schools do not meet need. Most schools “gap”. And…most OOS publics don’t help with high OOS costs - unless they award a merit scholarship for high stats.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone. If I have a 3.91 GPA, 34 ACT, 2150 SAT, and my parents total income is in the 100,000-125,000 range, anyone know what that would do for me for these schools? (Those are the ones I’m looking at right now, didn’t put the instate ones there). I’ll be sure to do more research later but if you guys know anything that’d be great.</p>
<p>Boston C
Claremont McKenna C
Colgate U
Cornell U
Northwestern U IL
Rice U
Swarthmore C
U Chicago
U Pennsylvania
Washington U St. L.</p>
<p>(I’m guessing that since you gave that range, that your parents’ income is not close to $100k, but is probably more in the $115k-125k range.)</p>
<p>With that range of income (and not knowing their assets), those schools could expect your parents to pay around $25k-35k per year. (Could be more if the school includes home equity and/or the family has assets)</p>
<p>These are all (or mostly all) CSS Profile schools, so each school could have a widely different expectation of what they’ll expect your parents to pay. </p>
<p>A Cornell mom told me that her FAFSA EFC is about $10k lower than her CSS family contribution from Cornell - which shocked them. Then, Cornell filled their “need” with loans and work-study (no free money). That was a problem because they thought their child could take a student loan out to help with family contribution, but that was now not possible since the student loan was going towards “need”. </p>
<p>You need to find out NOW what your parents will pay each year. If you don’t know, ask. If they can willingly pay the amount that colleges will likely expect them to pay, then you should be ok.</p>
<p>However, if your parents cannot pay that much, then those schools will not work for you.</p>
<p>You don’t want to be one of those kids we see every spring that has a handful of acceptances, but the FA packages expect a high family contribution that the family can’t pay. At that point, it’s too late to apply to schools that would have worked.</p>
<p>FA Calc<br>
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid) </p>
<p>Do both the federal method and institutional. Many privates use the both methods. If there is a non-custodial parent, then their income (and step-parent incomes) might also be included at some schools.</p>
<p>As others have said step one is to sit down with your parents and run the financial aid calculators both the Federal Aid calculator and the Institutional Method. It is important to know what that estimated family contribution might be. Your list is impressive in terms of selectivity, but it also needs a college or two that your family can afford. Look for a college you’d be willing to attend where it can be afforded given the facts that are known (EFC, posted merit scholarships, state funding/awards you qualify for, etc.). Then you can do the research on your “list” and see what is posted and you can search on the forums to see anecdotally what others have to say regarding merit scholarships given your GPA/stats. You have two concerns: one getting in and what are the odds for the various schools on your list and secondly can your family afford to send you there. Make sure you have variety on both those fronts.</p>
<p>Look for a college you’d be willing to attend where it can be afforded given the facts that are known (EFC, posted merit scholarships, state funding/awards you qualify for, etc.).</p>
<p>Very true.</p>
<p>Even if your parents tell you now that they can pay $50k per year (of some other highish number), it’s still a good idea for you to apply to a couple of schools that you would like that would be cheaper either because of a lower COA or because of merit.</p>
<p>Some families experience financial set-backs (loss of job, sudden divorce, death of a parent, health issues, etc) between application time and acceptance time, and then can no longer afford their pricey schools. Those who have a couple of cheaper schools in reserve don’t get left with no choices.</p>
<p>Great help everyone it’s really cleared things up, except what is CSS exactly? Like I said earlier I did not put in my instate schools like UW. Th bright side is some of the smaller colleges like Swarthmore are trying to recruit me for tennis. I know D3 doesn’t have athletic scholarships but aren’t there was the coach can get the school to work around that too?</p>
<p>CSS Profile is another form that gets filled out that includes questions about all kind of financial info.</p>
<p>I know D3 doesn’t have athletic scholarships but aren’t there was the coach can get the school to work around that too?</p>
<p>Are you asking if the coach can get you a better FA package? I wouldn’t count on that unless I was some super player that would give the school some kind of special recognition. </p>
<p>Is tennis a big deal at Swat?</p>
<p>(Another parent posted last spring that they went to their D’s coach after their FA package was inadequate (the D had signed a national letter of intent), they got no additional aid. )</p>
<p>^At some D3 schools, recruited athletes for “valued” sports get better FA…like grants instead of work study, etc. I can’t say for sure whether Swarthmore is one of these schools, and whether tennis is a sport that is important there, but it seems doubtful. Generally football, basketball, and sometimes hockey are the money makers.</p>
<p>CSS is like FAFSA but it is a private methodology and isnt used for federal aid only programs from FAFSA-only schools.</p>
<p>No, a coach can not get you money beyond your instituational EFC. As stated above, they can maybe soften a packge, but the D3 LACs that meet need don’t produce aid for students who do not qualify for it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually a coach cannot even help you soften the package. They are specifically prohibited from doing that in a D III school. This article from last year in USNWR explains that as well as the tricks that schools try and do.</p>
<p>[Do</a> Division III Schools Give Athletic Scholarships? - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/paying-for-college/articles/2009/07/17/do-division-iii-schools-give-athletic-scholarships.html]Do”>http://www.usnews.com/education/paying-for-college/articles/2009/07/17/do-division-iii-schools-give-athletic-scholarships.html)</p>
<p>*SAN ANTONIO—Only about 2 percent of high school athletes are offered even a small sports scholarship from a Division I or Division II college. As a result, many high school athletes who are realistic about their chances sometimes hope their speed and strength might win them a “leadership” or similarly euphemistic scholarship from one of the 444 Division III colleges (mostly expensive private schools) that aren’t supposed to lure game-winners with money.</p>
<p>But that’s not realistic either, says Eric M. Hartung, associate director of research for the NCAA.</p>
<p>The NCAA has figured out such dodges. It bars college coaches from even “indirectly influencing” scholarship decisions at Division III schools. That means a call, or even a wink, from a coach to a financial aid officer shouldn’t improve a student’s odds of winning a grant. “The coach can tell the student who to call” in the financial aid office to apply for aid, “but that’s it,” Hartung said.</p>
<p>To keep everyone honest, the NCAA requires each Division III school to report how much money it gives to students who play sports and how much money it gives to nonathletes. Those numbers show that athletes at Division III schools, on average, aren’t getting significantly more money than nonathletes. Sports players make up 21 percent of the student body at Division III schools, he said. In recent years, the NCAA has found that athletes receive 22 percent of all the scholarship dollars handed out by Division III schools.</p>
<p>If a Division III university offers a “leadership” scholarship, it cannot consider factors such as team captainship, Hartung said. As a result, he said, some colleges are now telling applicants not to include athletic accomplishments on such scholarship applications.</p>
<p>The NCAA has even cracked down on seemingly innocuous scholarship programs such as those targeted at Canadians. At one school, a disproportionate number of the Canadians happened to play hockey, so the NCAA objected, Hartung said.</p>
<p>Hartung acknowledges these rules can be very tough on coaches, who tend to be competitive and want to attract the best athletes. And it can be tough on students who are considering several offers and want to leverage their talents to reduce the cost of tuition.*</p>
<p>Very interesting read thanks. They can help with admissions itself though am I correct?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It depends: It depends upon the sport, the college, your proficiency in that sport and clout that that the coach has in D III schools.</p>
<p>In CalTech for example, coaches have almost no say in the admission process, you get in based on your merits and if you get in the coach may consider you for the team.</p>
<p>In other schools, some coaches (not all coaches) may have one or two spots they can award to students who might not other wise be considered i.e. students who are exceptional in that sport but have a weak academic record. For others, they can put in a good word and it is up to the admissions committee to do the rest. In other words, it could be a tip, i.e. the fact that you play tennis and the coach is interested in you could give you an advantage over another student but not much of an advantage. In some cases, the coach could say, “get admitted on your own, and if you do, I will reserve a spot for you”. As I mentioned earlier, as an example, the women s volleyball coach in that school may have more powers than the men’s tennis coach, as that school is known for the woman’s volleyball team. So even within a school, your mileage will vary. And obviously it varies from school to school.</p>
<p>There is a whole forum on sports recruiting on CC where you can get better information. The FA forum may not be the best place to ask the question regarding your choice of schools.</p>
<p>All right thanks for that I’ll be sure to check out that forum. I’ll be sure to talk with my parents about the financial aid calculator.</p>
<p>*Very interesting read thanks. They can help with admissions itself though am I correct? *</p>
<p>Not sure about that. </p>
<p>My nephew will be an athlete for Tufts this next year and when he first visited, the coach told him he needed to bring his ACT up to get accepted (he had a 30). He brought it up to a 33 and was accepted.</p>
<p>I don’t think the coach had a lot of “pull” to get him in, but by increasing his score getting in was easier.</p>
<p>^^^^^ That is an important point. Your scores, grades, recommendations etc. are very important in D III schools. You need to be competitive as an applicant in most cases. If you are in the lower 25% of the various ranges, your chances are bleak unless you are an exceptional athlete and the coach really wants you. As I had mentioned earlier, I have heard stories where coaches essentially tell the student to get admitted on their own merits and then contact the coach. So if you are applying to D III schools, make sure you are competitive applicant even without the sports advantage.</p>
<p>It varies greatly as to how much being a recruited athlete will help you in admissions. In some cases, it is a guaranteed in, if you are star caliber in a sport that is considered very important to the colleges. You can have colleges fighting over you, and offers galore being made.</p>
<p>That is very rare, and you wouldn’t be posting here if you were in that situation. Most student athletes learn pretty quickly that having a sport does not mean auto- anything. It depends on the school, the sport, the coach, the athlete. If the coach of a certain sport has a good working relationship with people in admissions and fin aid, he can get more than a coach who does not. Some coaches also are aggressive in dealing with the college in getting their recruits, and that too can make a difference. Those coaches who don’t bother, often just get whomever admissions passes through the process.</p>
<p>Usually there is some cooperation between admissions and the athletic dept. One of my sons who was an outstanding athlete in college had no interest or time to pursue sports in college. But on the basis of the info he provided on his app, coaches from the schools where he was accepted contacted him. To be able to contribute to a NCAA team is considered a plus for the applicant at most schools, and though there may not be a measurable credit given for this status, most colleges app officers look at what a student will be contributing to the school, and being on an athletic team is certainly a factor.</p>