My daughter has heard from 5 out of 6 of the school’s she’s applied to and has been accepted into all. Many letters also included merit and/or talent scholarships (she has very high test scores and grades & is applying to art programs so submitted portfolios etc).
I know the ‘official’ deadline to receive Award Letters is in early April, but since she’s already received acceptances can we expect them any sooner?
She’s narrowed her options down to 3 accepted schools and the ‘dream’ school she’s still waiting on and we may do accepted students days to help with deciding. But the cost will be a big factor in our family’s decisions and we’re all getting antsy wanting to make equal comparisons of her options.
No way to tell (or it just depends). If the schools try to meet need it may be on the latter end of the timeline since they may have to balance funding within the class.
Check the student portal. Sometimes there is no award letter, and the information is just posted.
Some schools need to wait until their application deadlines have passed. They need to know how many students need aid. Automatic merit aid is, well, automatic, but need based aid needs to be sliced and dices among many.
Are these all art schools or are some regular universities that have good art depts? Many art schools don’t have much/any need based aid to give. Some give merit based on portfolio, but often that is all that is awarded besides loans.
mom2collegekids: Most are art schools. For the art schools, MassArts has given merit scholarship. MICA has given an “Art Visionary” award and we were told by admissions counselor that merit is coming. Syracuse gave large merit. Two other schools gave merit awards too but no longer in the running due to other factors.
mommdc: Yes FAFSA all done with completed taxes few weeks ago. With what little info we have so far, crunching the numbers with price calculators so far things are fairly equal. Ie the most expensive schools (like Syracuse) gave more $, less pricey (like MassArts - we’re not a state resident but still cheaper than the others) gave a bit less so our cost to all is fairly close.
Big question mark is waiting on decision from RISD and what merit they may or may not give. That’s daughter’s dream school.
I think it’s just in general the wait and guessing game is making my kid nuts (and us too!!) but had a long talk with her last night that within reason, price won’t be the final decision maker since they’re all fairly similar and we’ll hash out all the other factors. For example, I work in a creative field too so things like networking and school rep I believe are very important in the fields she wants to work in.
Do make sure the schools have everything they need, some want tax returns, etc. We waited an unnecessarily long time for one last year because a simple form was missing and we didn’t realize.
Sure you can call. The answer may be that the deadline for FA filing for the school is later than Jan 5, and the school may process all FA applications that meet their deadline on the same day.
My daughter was accepted to her school in Nov., but didn’t receive a FA letter until late February.
This is the 2nd similar thread that the OP has posted. The last time, she never came back to answer questions.
The aid pkgs should be coming within the next few weeks.
Im not sure what aid the OP is expecting in regards to aid. If the student qualifies for merit awards based on stats, then some awards would have come with admission letters. Did your DD get any merit with admission? A few schools will pkg a merit award with an FA pkg.
If these are OOS publics, and your EFC is beyond Pell, then there may not be any “free money” grants in the upcoming FA pkg (unless there’s some merit.)
If these are private schools that do not require CSS Profile, then there may be a small grant, but typically privates that don’t use CSS Profile do not give much need-based aid because FAFSA doesn’t give them a clear picture of finances.
D was accepted to each of the college’s quickly after application. Each, in the acceptance letter, awarded her a scholarship of varying amounts. Both of the two schools that have processed FAFSA have awarded a degree of “merit” or need aid (again, of varying amounts). This information IS posted on the student portal.
Back to the main question (assuming this update provides enough information) Is it unusual, to not have the information in hand (or on portal) in early March? My D won’t make a decision without seeing the whole picture.
One of the schools is private, and the CSS profile was completed and forwarded. She did receive a scholarship from this school.
Each, in the acceptance letter, awarded her a scholarship of varying amounts
Both of the two schools that have processed FAFSA have awarded a degree of “merit” or need aid (again, of varying amounts).
This information IS posted on the student portal.
Back to the main question (assuming this update provides enough information) Is it unusual, to not have the information in hand (or on portal) in early March?
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Each of the accepted schools included a merit scholarship (of varying amounts) in the acceptance letter.
ALSO…two schools have processed FAFSA and awarded merit/need aid and these awards show on the portals,
^^^ Are you saying that these two schools are now showing MORE aid? Not just the merit from the acceptance letters?
On those two portals…are you seeing the merit from the acceptance letters AND also seeing other new awards?
Are those two school portals showing any loans or work study as well?
Is it possible that those two schools no longer send paper pkgs, and only put their pkgs on the portals?
I agree that some schools are still finalizing 16-17 rates, but usually they send info anyway with a note that there may be some changes in rates. Publics often don’t set rates until summer.
I don’t think it is unusual. Some schools have deadlines for FA forms in Feb, ours did in March. A lot of people don’t have their tax returns finished yet. Would you like a package to reflect your actual income or estimate? We received our aid information in March and April, I think that’s normal. You have until May to make a decision on where to attend.
Does it matter when states pass their budgets? If these are state colleges, they may not know the exact costs until they know what kind of funding they’re getting this year.
Are you saying that these two schools are now showing MORE aid? Not just the merit from the acceptance letters?
Yes, In addition to the scholarship awarded in the original acceptance letter, both schools awarded a need based grant. Both also show the possible loan options awarded as well. I’m guessing that paper letter aren’t sent out, as these two schools information has been available to us for about 2 weeks now.
In the event this tidbit of info helps, one of the reporting schools is a local State school (U of Northern CO, the other is OOS (Northern AZ)
So you are asking about the other 4 schools? No, not unusual not to have need based awards by now. Students have until May 1 to make up their minds, but schools also need time to get all those offers ready.
If you are ready to make a decision, call the schools. They may or may not be able to speed up your FA letter.
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In addition to the scholarship awarded in the original acceptance letter, both schools awarded a need based grant. Both also show the possible loan options awarded as well.
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Sounds like you have the aid pkgs for those two schools. Don’t know if those schools (to save money), put their aid online, and don’t send paper pkgs. Don’t know which schools do that, but some/most may do that now.
The other schools will likely process soon enough.