This is really helpful. Thank you!
My older son is at WPI now. My younger one is a high school senior. Being new at this, I thought WPI would adjust his financial aid for next year since we will have 2 in college in the fall. When I contacted them about what to expect for numbers for my older son (continuing students donât get financial info until late June, early July), they said that they level fund, so no change in his aid. My younger son also applied and was accepted to WPI. They said his financial package reflected having 2 in college. He received $24K merit and a grant of $6K. So the $6K is what we got extra.
My point is when you visit WPI, or any other place, see if you can talk to their financial aid office and see what their policy is for your second one coming down the line. I donât know if itâs just a WPI thing or not. It was disheartening for sure.
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This is also extremely helpful. Thank you!
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Yes.
Interesting. In the case of my daughterâs college, it was the reverse.
All first-years were required the full meal plan - so when she moved into a suite/apartment as a Sophomore, dropping to a lesser plan (enough to grab a quick lunch between classes while on campus) MORE than made up to cover her budget for food shopping and cooking, including the liquor store and going out once or twice a week - at Manhattan prices!
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Good friends whose daughter has mild ASD is at Clark and itâs been a great experience. Theyâve been very accommodating including giving her a single. Canât speak to BU but friends son at WPI loves it.
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I too wondered about the worldwide thing, and Iâm sure they have other factors that go into it. I would want to take the weekend in case a lot of people end up answering their own questions and decide not to call. Itâs true that in the US, no one was notified during typical school hours. My guess is thatâs their biggest group.
Wow, well said. Then again, maybe it is all destiny.
Wow. Just about to send my third kid, and this is the first time Iâve come across this. Ouch.
So did your first one get more aid when your second enrolled? I was taken aback when they told me this, but didnât get pushy about it. My first son didnât get as much in merit as my second, so it really is expensive.
Weâre going to the WPI admitted day, maybe I should take my own advice and ask them about it. 
Another decision release, another waitlist. S23 feels so rejected. {sigh}
If it is the same one Iâm at they might get tired of the question. 
But at least one of us might get an answer.
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We are seeing a similar pattern of outcomes for my D23. Her high school didnât limit how many she could apply to, and we wanted her to have a few affordable options that she liked, so she applied to a lot: 3 likely and then a mix of matches and reaches (yes, she used all 20 spots on the Common App; and as these were SLACs, she wrote a lot of supplemental essays, attended a lot of virtual sessions, and did a lot of interviews).
We expected sheâd most likely (hopefully) be choosing from a few of her match schools. But it has not gone that way. At all. We applied for financial aid. With little exception so far, she is batting pretty much zero (1 exception) at the need-aware matches and batting 1000 at the need-blind reaches including several top LACs.
Also, the one need-aware match she got into is one is one sheâd have been happy to attend, but itâs also less affordable, in the end, than all but one reach school to which she was also accepted. That match school would cost us $50K+ more over 4 years than the reach school that gave the best financial package. Thereâs another school (a reach) to which she was accepted that came in at 67% higher than their NPC predicted (which happens to be more than double than the COA of the best financial package she got). So being able to see the financial aid packages mattered to us.
She is unhooked (except at two schools where she does not yet have results; but being a legacy at those schools without also being a top$$ donor wonât carry much weight). One take away I think Iâd share for next yearâs applicants to SLACs: if your student is a strong applicant (stats, ECs, essays, recommendations, etc.), unhooked, and in that donut-hole-middle-class-but-with-need category, Iâd be wary of considering the schools that look like matches (based on stats/class profile) to be actual matches. They seem to be reaches for these kids. (The reaches are reaches, too, of course).
We are glad that this admissions process is nearing its end and that we donât need to go through it again. Our daughter is fortunate to have wonderful choices and glad she applied to all the reaches she wanted to apply to. It remains to be seen what will happen with her last few this week, but if we had a do-over, I might have her put less into the matches than she did. They were never going to come through for her, but we didnât fully realize that at the time of application.
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I am aware of this change, but I believe it was postponed until next year.
I was told by the financial aid office that they do not change continuing student financial aid in the case of having a second one in college. I asked if I needed to appeal once the second was enrolled, and I was told that was not a valid reason to appeal. Losing a job and being unemployed for 6+ months was given as an example of appeal reasons.
Our FAFSA numbers were correct, about half of the prior year for each son.
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Thatâs a good point!
I wish I could like this 100 times. We were hunting for merit aid and, because of that, spent most of our time finding true safeties that our children could fall in love with (or at least - really, really like). We realized pretty quickly that matches and reaches wouldnât be the best places to find the most money/best financial match.
D23 applied to 3 safeties she loved and 1 match. Accepted to all four - but the match wasnât affordable (which we warned her was the likely result before she put the application in).
Also, if a school is only affordable with competitive merit - it is a reach, no matter how strong an applicant is.
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Rejected Wesleyan but she doesnât care. That was a last minute add with no real research or knowledge about it.
So far:
Accepted-
Bama- full tuition plus award COA about $16k/yr
Pitt- full tuition TE scholarship COA about $18k/yr
St.Lawrence University-50k merit COA about $35k (includes fed loan)
Hamilton University- FA with COA around $41k
Colgate University-FA with COA around $28k
Waitlisted-
Amherst College
Syracuse (?)
Rejected-
Princeton
Wesleyan
Williams
Waiting on Vassar- one of the few we actually visited and she could see herself there.
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Also, and I know this has been said a million times (here and elsewhere) - all of our students are incredible and will have options and opportunities they canât even imagine right nowâŠno matter where they end up attending college.
One of my children was in a competitive sport for more than half her life. A sport well known for athletes/families always looking for the âperfectâ club and jumping ships. Another family said to me (while discussing club jumping families), âSome people think there is magic in the uniformâŠthereâs no magic in the uniform - itâs in the athlete.â
I hope everyone on here remembers that their child is who makes their magic happen - not the school, club or âuniformâ.
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Also posted on Wesleyan thread, but thereâs more people on this one.
D23 waitlisted at Wesleyan. Really tough, as she was also waitlisted from Case Western last Saturday - those are her top 2 choices, now she has to figure out what her top choice is from where she is accepted (still waiting on Bryn Mawr next week, they might be in the running).
1530 SAT
3.99 UW
good but not unique ECâs, good recommendations, etc.
Considered doing ED2 for Wesleyan or UChicago, but didnât want to write off MIT and CalTech (was deferred from EA from MIT and UChicago, did reg dec for CalTech); and we need to see the actual financials before committing.
SoâŠit seems sheâll go on the WL for both, and we wonât be done with this process until well after May 1st 
Itâs going to be hard, committing to a school and getting excited about it while still also HOPING for a place youâve been waitlisted⊠Any input on how to approach that is appreciated!
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Paging @Lindagaf her daughter had a similar situation - she would have great advice.
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