@sdl0625 The short answer is yes, you can decline an ED acceptance due to financial reasons. HOWEVER, it takes alot of work to prove that the package doesn’t work. If your EFC says you should pay $40k per year and the school meets all need except the $40k, you are on the hook. Of course, you are not legally bound to go to your ED school, but she runs the risk of her ED school calling other schools and her high school to make them aware that you didn’t fulfill your end of the agreement. Think it through very carefully.
so its the EFC from FAFSA, right? @STEM2017 . How does CSS profile play into this?
@sdl0625 I am referring to FAFSA EFC. I’m not sure how CSS plays into the formula, but the college calculates what they think you should be able to pay based on your forms (FAFSA and CSS). Simply saying “its out of reach” will not suffice as a reason to deny an ED acceptance.
Full disclosure: I have no personal experience with this, I am going on what our GC told us and what I’ve read on the subject.
@sdl0625 Did you run GW’s net price calculator?
Has your d visited GW? Has she read about or talked with anyone about their freshman dorms and the dining situation on the Foggy Bottom (main) campus?
D had GW on her list for a very long time, despite their not-as-strong Arabic offerings. But it came off the list after she learned about freshmen living in 4/5/6 person rooms and that there is no longer a traditional dining venue on campus, just a number of fast food/salad/sandwich/etc places. That’s fine for once a day but she couldn’t see herself eating in a healthy way like that all the time. A Whole Foods is just across the street for some variety but $$. YMMV
We also had GW on our list since it’s an alma mater for my BIL (all the way to a phd) and for FIL (graduate school), and SIL’s husband (which I guess makes him BIL also). Last Christmas eve BIL and BIL were regaling the family with stories about GW. On the ride home D17 was quiet until she finally said “that school will not be on my list”. lol
The BIL’s loved their GW experience, it just would be a terrible fit for D17.
I tried to get her to apply to Swarthmore yesterday since they sent me a very alluring letter, but she shot it down immediately. She said there’s no way she’d like it better than NEU or UA, and she’s already in there. I feel like Swat may have put some sort of voodoo dust on the letter compelling me to tell my daughter to apply, because she’s totally right.
She said the only way she’d fill in that section of the common app is if in the essay section (which is why swat?) her answer is “my mother made me.” 8-|
@WhereIsMyKindle and @STEM2017 Congrats to both your kids!
I laughed out loud at my office. Very funny. Thank you!
UNC EA comes out late January. Not so Early.
USCali scholarship semifinalist comes out late January as well.
@dfbdfb Congrats and good luck on the Blount Skype interview!
…and the Big MAC from St. Thomas!
@MotherOfDragons - “my mother made me” reminds me of a story I heard from an admissions counselor. Legacy kid didn’t want to apply and his parents made him. When he didn’t get in, the parents called and questioned admissions. “Did you read your son’s essay?” The entire essay was “I hate ____ and my parents are making me apply.”
So many congratulations due to so many of your kids the last couple of days! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
DS is waiting for Villanova - hopefully today.
@phoenixmomof2 --that’s awesome! Good for the kid! Fingers crossed for Villanova!
Congrats @dfbdfb – A Skype interview is perfect except one does have to clean their room lol.
Hello and just checking in… My DD was invited to interview for Blount at UA, too, and it sounds like she will Skype as well. We’d love to hear from anyone with any background here. Thanks so much!
QOTD: Over break, S17 will apply for a scholarship through my work ($4,000 per year if he gets it), honors college and the 3+3 law program at Albany, and the 2nd chance at honors college for MSU. All require essays, and I’m not sure how much the essay prompts overlap… Then he waits on those results and some local scholarships to decide between Albany and MSU. He’s still quite happy that he knows he has 2 good options to choose from (he’ll probably have a 3rd, but he hasn’t heard from Buffalo yet–he wasn’t thrilled with his visit there, though…) He only applied to 3 schools, and he briefly talked about throwing his hat into the UChicago RD ring (where he’d have to completely NAIL the essays and hope the AO was feeling very generous), but he hasn’t mentioned that lately.
QOTD: What’s left?
Somewhere between a lot and a whole lot for D’17. She still needs to complete a total of 3-5 scholarship apps for 2 schools, but they are lottery type situations. I think it is 6-7 essays. If she works hard, I may put another lump of coal, from my stocking, on the fire.
Then the waiting for scholarship results and the inevitable disappoinments for all these lottery situations. I hope she will be a finalist for a few which might entail traveling for some interviews. So in the damped sine wave of the admissions cycle, it seems like a downslope is coming. I’ll have to help remind her of some great options already available.
I saw this with S’14. Lots of good news front loaded followed by a quiet period, then all of the “bad” news, and then the realization of how lucky he was with the good news.
Onward and upward…
@theshadow - WPI EAI comes out today.
Hello and just wanted to leave a grateful pro-GW plug here… I graduated from GW back in the day (in a Thurston Freshman 6 my first year. Ugh.) My DD has NO interest in applying there, but I’m so glad I did. My parents and I made it work on VERY modest means. I’m a first generation college grad, and the entire experience changed my life forever. I spent 6 happy years in DC, stayed 2 years after graduating to work – and loved it all, except the Thurston 6!
**JOTD:**Two men sank into adjacent train seats after a long day in the city.
Man 1: Your son go back to college yet?
Man 2: Two days ago.
Man 1: Mine’s a senior this year, so it’s almost over. In May, he’ll be an engineer. What’s your boy going to be when he gets out of college?
Man 2: At the rate he’s going, I’d say he’ll be about thirty.
Man 1: Well, has sending him to college done anything at all?
Man 2: Sure has! It’s totally cured his mother of bragging about him.
QOTD: D is still waiting on 4 admissions decisions and 15 lottery scholarship decisions. I agree re: front-loaded good news. We expect lots of disappointment in the next few months, but we hope she hits the lottery at least 2 more times. She is also waiting for a few more honors college decisions. She has 2 essays left and she’ll finish those during this break. A long road ahead.
ETA: a few outside scholarship apps to complete as well.
QOTD (what left?): we probably have most left compared to others =)) only one decision out of 20 and one interview. out 6 that do mandatory interviews. Waiting on couple of optional interviews as well.
QOTD: Nothing left but to wait for the orientation dates to open on 3/8. I already paid the enrollment deposit at UT Austin.
Congrats to all of the acceptances! I can’t even keep up with all of the wonderful news.
Hugs to all with deferrals! >:D< What is the deal with the deferrals this year? They should just let the kids know one way or the other.