okay, so i'm falling in love...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Fordham University
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<p>with FCLC right now and, considering i'm basically going into the whole "payin' for college" thing on my own AND am considering law school after grad, I'm not big on taking out loans. Soooo, would someone with these stats n' such be able to get a combo of need/merit aid to meet my need (like under 2 grand EFC) w/o more loans than, oh say the subsidized stafford loan of $4000 or w/e it is. My mom went to a Jesuit school and I have relatives in Manhattan so EVERYBODY is on board with this freakin' sweet plan except for the fact that it isn't affordable especially if financial aid is on NYU levels of failitude. So, would I get merit aid to bridge the gap between Fordham's need based aid and my need? Oh, and I'm a politically conservative (on economics and foreign policy, not social) white male from rural Pennsylvania so I'm borderline URM at a school like Fordham, lol.</p>

<p>GPA-
Projected 97/98ish on a 100 pt scale over 3 years. Amazing 4.3 at frosh year school in a different state.
Will not be ranked.
Took one AP (US History) junior year and will take AP English, AP Gov, and AP Econ next year. These are the only non-math and science (or music theory and art, but whatever) APs offered at my school. It isn't too late to switch into AP bio or physics, but I don't think I'll do well in either (not well enough to get a respectable AP score or grade) and it seems that taking non-AP physics seems like a good fit for me. Definitely not doing AP Calc...lol, I'm not a mathie.</p>

<p>SAT-
1st Time:
690 CR
650 Math
700 Writing
=1340/2040</p>

<p>2nd Time:
720 CR
670 Math
780 Writing
=1390/2170</p>

<p>I live in Pennsylvania and go to a small public high school in a college town that sends many, many grads to top schools, especially compared to others in the area. Silver Medal USNWR High School. Although I'm not that crazy about the school itself, the kids are phenomenal.</p>

<p>ECs include multiple tourney wins in debate, a 30+ hr a week job plus a rec from employer, countless hours during campaign season and a rec from the county party chair, and hundreds upon hundreds of service hours.</p>

<p>Applying for political science btw.</p>

<p>EDIT: This would be a RD application. Unfortunately for Fordham, Cornell ILR has won my heart for ED + I need to see the finaid package at a school that doesn't guarantee 100% need met...duh!</p>

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<p>I don’t really know man. I will tell you that Fordham is surprisingly pretty good when it comes to financial aid- better than nyu at least. Regardless, it’s still 50 grand a year which is alot. I don’t know the details on merit based aid so hopefully someone else can help but I’d look into Fordham’s scholarships as well obviously.</p>

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<p>bummmmmmmmmmmp</p>

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<p>NYU was more generous to me than Fordham.</p>

5

<p>Financial Aid can be very deceiving because few schools have the resources to meet all need. At the end of the day, I strongly believe the Financial Aid package will be driven by – how competitive are you in the total applicant pool. So if you are in the top 10% of their admitted applicants…your aid will be much more generous than if you are in the bottom 25%. </p>

<p>It is not possible to track what % of demonstrated need people got based on where they were in the applicant class (not enough data avail to see) – but anecdotally, it was clear some people with EFC of say less than $8k, only got packages covering $25k-30k…leaving a significant gap. Do take into consideration how competitive you are for the schools you select, as you will find more dollars where you are in the top 10% of their applicants.</p>

<p>My D did receive about $10K of merit, based purely on her ACT/GPA/total profile from a very competitive school in Ohio. She is attending this Fall, we just got back from Orientation yesterday.</p>

<p>From all the threads I have read at many schools, I believe my statement above is a fair representation.</p>

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<p>That’s the point. My stats are above the 75% percentile and I wanted to know if I would qualify for enough merit scholarships to cover the gap.</p>

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<p>I got a full scholarship from the National Merit program… so if you get that you’re set. </p>

<p>Based on your stats I’m guessing you’d get something. Your ECs are very good, as is your average. An AP science might help, though. You also might want to take the SAT IIs, if you haven’t already. (especially in math! You need to be well-rounded) I don’t know how much you’d get, but it should be something.</p>

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<p>I have to take the SAT IIs for my ED school anyway (including Math II).</p>

9

<p>100% of need met, does include loans. So technically, they can meet 100% of your need in loans as a financial aid package. That actually happened to a friend this last year (she got just a few thousand in fed grants for a 50k school and the rest was loans.) So also take that into consideration.</p>

<p>And is Cornell restricted ED, like you can’t apply EA to another school? Because Fordham doesn’t have early decision applications, only early action, so you can apply EA to Fordham and still ED to another school.</p>

<p>But with your stats, I’m pretty sure you’ll get a good package. I understand your concern though; I’ll be a freshman this fall, and I’m planning on law school after undergrad, so I didn’t want to take out huge loans. So if your FA package isn’t up to par, appeal as soon as you can and hopefully they’ll be able to meet your need.</p>

<p>And also, start applying for outside scholarships right now. Especially local ones. Those were a HUGE help to me, and are one of the few reasons I can even attend Fordham. So definitely do that, and good luck!</p>

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<p>Our experience: Encouraged to apply early action, and we were told Fordham never defers an early action decision. We were deferred, then waitlisted, and finally accepted off waitlist, by which time Fordham was unable and/or unwilling to provide a competitive - or sufficient - financial aid offer. This despite my teen having graduated from a Jesuit high school with honors, father temporarily unemployed, and struggling to pay two college tuitions simultaneously. Of the 6 schools my teen was accepted to, Fordham provided the least financial aid. My teen took biology honors course senior year, struggled, but got through it, and, again, ended up graduating with honors. So one strategy might be to apply early action, and expect Fordham to probably give an up or down decision. If financial aid is a factor, then you would at least know where you stand in terms of acceptance. If you get deferred, or deferred and waitlisted, then you would want to be prepared for the possibility that less financial aid money may be available. In our case, one deferral, one waitlist, an acceptance, two financial aid appeals, and 7 months later, my teen will be attending college elsewhere.</p>

11

<p>I’m pretty sure I can do Early Action at other schools. Some EA schools don’t let you apply EA if you are applying to an ED school (Boston College does not allow this). If Fordham does allow this, I don’t see why I wouldn’t try. Sorry about that financial aid horror story. If I do apply to Fordham, it would probably be the only non-“100% need met w/ loans capped at just a few grand” schools I apply to. I would say financial aid is the BIGGEST factor in my college search. I’m in love with the city experience and would love a really urban-feeling school like NYU, Fordham Lincoln Center, or George Washington…but none of those schools have nice financial aid.</p>