click on Financial Aid in the dark blue header menu. Hopefully there is a link at the bottom like this picture, under the big checkmark for FAFSA filed. Scroll ALL the way down, it’s almost hidden.
Don’t know if you have to file FAFSA to get a result, which we did.
If it’s not there maybe it’s the FAFSA, and I’ve surveyed everyone I can find at the 15+ schools applied to between my twins EA, and have yet to find anyone that has not gotten more merit than us, with same (or sometimes lesser) stats. So whatever the hold up is, I’m sure you will get 20K at the very least.
Some of S’ schools sent emails to check the portal. Others have the decision in the portal first. (UNCG sent an email this afternoon to check the portal, so he hunted me down so he could quickly check the portal.)
I think it’s important for the student and parent have an agreement for how to handle the decisions. Maybe your D would prefer that you handle it for her.
Thanks. I think I might try to gently encourage her to look at her email and the portals. I don’t have access to her emails or portals so it’s up to her. She’s just feeling hesitant about it.
My go to for getting portal checks is that I need to know if any additional parent documents are required (financial aid). Sometimes other student info is required, too. It’s not just for decisions.
Not all colleges email first.
So as long as she has set up the portals and checked in them to make sure her application is complete I think you can let her take the reins on this. She will check on her schedule and it will be fine. Not all schools send emails first, but they eventually do send an email and/or something in the actual mail. Of course finding out sooner is exciting and stress relieving but as you said she already has one in the bag and her favorite is likely safe. I would instead focus on managing your and her anxiety in other ways as I think pressing this is just going to lead to conflict and not really get you anywhere.
@mom2cats & @1822mom thanks for your words of wisdom. I did ask her about it last night. She did not like me asking about it, however. So I let it drop. She then went and checked 2 out of 4 portals. Not her #1. She reported that the other two didn’t have any news yet. One was UNCG @OrangeFish and I’m 100% sure she will get in there since it’s in-state for us. So I guess I will go back to biting my tongue.
My son got his first acceptance — UNT. However, he also needs to be accepted to the music school so we won’t know until after his audition the end of Feb. The acceptance rate for music is 16%.
Great to read about everyone’s progress and acceptances. My daughter is burnt out and stalled at this point. Her applications were split among acting BFA, audition/interview theater BA, and LAC programs. She currently has a BFA offer and a couple LAC admits. I think she’s done. Ideally, she would complete some scholarship essays and supplements this week – we need every dollar she can get to keep those schools in consideration. I don’t see it happening. Fewer choices in the end may not be a bad thing.
We’ve learned that she really struggles balancing shows and schoolwork (and applications and auditions), so shows as schoolwork may be the way to go. On the other hand, if she chooses and LAC, I’ve warned her against doing shows while she’s completing core requirements. You can’t spend five hours a day in the costume shop when you have science and labs to do.
She retook both the SAT and ACT once back in school full time. I was hoping that her scores would improve slightly to bump up merit. They stayed the same; apparently lack of stamina due to remote learning wasn’t the issue. I’ve come to realize it’s a blessing in disguise. I don’t want to be sweating GPA vs. tuition cost for the next four years.
So, here I sit, like some of you, watching and waiting, trying to hold my tongue.
My D19 did not sort out the BA vs BFA decision until her portfolio presentation and interview process. Then it all clicked. (I thought I wasn’t going to make it! Lol)
DD was at an early musical theater audition this fall. When asked what type of program she was looking for, she said, “A strong acting program that will also allow me to direct and dramaturg.” She sang her music cuts using only her lower register.
Okay, so now we know. Glad we got that out of the way.
Anyone have any experience with how Earlham College stacks up against other similar LACs in terms of cost of attendance?
Got our first complete merit/fa offer, from Earlham College, 34k merit, no aid other than loans, and the cost is going to be double our EFC. So that’s out. He really liked that one. The first in what I’m expecting is a long line of rejections. We’ve got a whole bunch of acceptances with merits now for my twins but this is the first complete one.
Hoping one of these LACs can take us to EFC, which is already hard to imagine handling. The dream is EFC before loans, but hoping at least one will go there with loans.
Online it shows an average COA of $21k. Not sure how that compares to other LACs or how it fits with your budget, but if your award doesn’t align with that maybe you can appeal?
I’m not sure where that figure comes from, since there doesn’t seem to be any indication of institutional need grants. If they exist, we didn’t get any.
Those are the kinds of figures that dangled the possibility of LACs for us and why we put almost all the energy there, which may have been a mistake.
A 34k merit brings their cost down to about 30k in reality but maybe a smidge lower in theory. I’m pretty sure 34k merit is in the upper range if not the max of their merit.
If it’s the same story at all the other LACs, which it may not be, we could get a 100% acceptance and 100% rejection result.
I just did the Earlham NPC with the very basic info you’ve shared before: income $140k a year, 3.8 GPA, male applicant, 2 kids in college, 1 working parent, no real assets.
Earlham’s NPC came out as $34k scholarship, $661 grant and a remaining total of $31k to be paid by parent and student. Sounds like what you received as the actual award. Had you run the NPC before applying? Did you get a different result when you ran it?
Your FAFSA EFC number doesn’t have any correlation with what 99% of colleges will expect you to pay. FAFSA EFC just determines if you qualify for Pell grant, and whether your Stafford loan options are subsidized or unsubsidized.
Average cost at any schools should also be taken with a very large grain of salt, as I think it is a very misunderstood figure. They are averaging every student’s cost…which means some kids are paying $0, some are paying full freight, most are paying somewhere in between. But the average cost doesn’t mean that most kids are paying that ‘average cost’.
When I’m citing EFC I don’t mean to claim that this is what I’m expecting to pay.
I’m not saying this is what I’m entitled to, or what I’m expecting. I only mean to reference quickly what we can pay (even if we can’t quite pay that either).
So yes, I am exactly as unhopeful as expected and everything you say is exactly what is on my mind.
Your daughter is applying rd to schools with good (better) aid, right? Maybe she will get in somewhere that will give more with your income and 2 in college.
