<p>Not sure, but I must have posted this info on another site since I do not see it.
My son has been accepted Early Decision to the Wharton School. Was recruited as an athlete. Good student 2310 SAT and 4.0 unweighted and will have taken eight AP classes.
Problem - financing.
Adjusted income is $120 K. Family of four.
Paid off the house and saved $55K for the boy for college.
We have several (six) rentals in which five are underwater and are a big loss each year.
Can I expect much aid from UPENN? Any horror stories out there so I can brace myself?</p>
<p>Already answered this question @ 11:55 am. scroll down to that time nd you’ll see it. No need to start a new thread.</p>
<p>Our experience with Penn’s SFS was just awful. We got nothing and were told to use the equity in our home to pay them. I cannot say enough how horrible they are. We are people of modest means who have enough to pay for maybe two years. They want you to use every bit of financial security you have (home equity in a modest home) to pay them the maximum amount of money and they are arrogantly unapologetic about it. I wanted our son to go to one of the schools that offered him merit based aid, but lost that family argument. Oh, and there are younger children in the home who like having a roof over their heads and food on their table. They have 6.6 Billion dollars in endowments and they had the nerve to call here looking for a donation. Good luck to you-you may fare better because you son is both an awesome student and athlete. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning. I think that the home equity is included in the NPC. How would the actual aid be when compared to the NPC calculation? </p>
<p>Penn’s final EFC from Family = NPC + $5K, $10K, or $15K ?</p>
<p>I really am not certain about the npc- Penn uses the CSS profile which is far more detailed than the FAFSA and less favorable to the student and their family as well. I don’t recall last Year’s figures and am still waiting on too much tax info to do the financial paperwork for this year. Sorry, but I guess my best suggestion is to go to college board and do the CSS profile and see where you fall.</p>
<p>I think Penn’s financial aid for a family that earns $120k a year is going to be pretty acceptable to you. And, if it is not, then write to your office and explain your circumstance. They will try and adjust the family contribution if they can.</p>
<p>SeraphsMom, in addition to their income they also have rental properties and savings for college. I speak from personal experience plus we have a larger family, no investment properties and less money saved for college and we still got zero. I appealed the decision and then travelled to Philadelphia and met with them in person. They are unrelenting. That said, I doubt any of the top schools go out of their way to be generous despite their claims of “meeting 100% of need” and their “no loan” policies. I find these claims to be self-serving and disingenuous and terribly unfair to middle class students.</p>
<p>@ mrable917</p>
<p>I’m not sure what your problem was but Penn SFS is quite nice and they do try to help if you fully explain your situation. Penn’s Net Price Calculator is pretty accurate and you can compare the value that calculator gives to some of the example fin aid packages in the brochures on their website. Since you have an unusual situation Tofinoguy36, look at your fin aid package on the Penn Decisions site. If it is not satisfactory then call the SFS office and then fill out a Reevaluation form explaining your unique circumstances. They will usually readjust the financial aid. If not then you can ask to directly speak to the financial aid officer assigned to your son.</p>
<p>emblem101,</p>
<p>I hope that you are right about the accuracy of Penn’s NPC. That is all we can ask for from any school.</p>
<p>Usually when one applies ED, an estimated PROFILE is submitted so that an estimated financial aid package comes about the same time as the ED acceptance. You are then given so much time to finalize the commitment. If the financial aid estimate is not acceptable to you, this is the time period in which you should be discussing it with financial aid. If you cannot come to an agreement and the cost is not afffordable, your student can decline the ED acceptance and that is the end of the line for Penn. He then has to wait for other schools’ decisions and aid packages that have not yet been given.</p>
<p>Your student and you need to talk to the admissions director ASAP, because what can happen here is that your son could be on the ED list that is circulated to a number of colleges that subscribe to it. If that happens, his application, if at any of those schools, is flushed. This happens because your son has contracted in the ED application that he will withdraw application to all schools upon ED acceptance. </p>
<p>Your financial situation does not look like an easy one to assess. Your home equity will beincluded with some cap as part of your assets, and you won’t get any “Credit” for being underwater on your rental units, but that income will be considered and income is very heavily hit in the financial aid process. You need to get an estimated PROFILE to fin aid and get some idea of how they will assess your need. You also need to make sure that your son does not appear on that ED list before this is resolved. If this is an issue in trms of financial aid, you need to look at some school that are affordable to you without aid, as most school, PROFLIE schools in particular are going to view your financial info much the same as Penn. I would not be hopeful about getting a different view of your financial picture which means your son should be looking at some schools with hefty merit or with sticker prices that are afffordable. I recommend your state schools and some Catholic schools at this point. But you need to move fast or you can be in a corner. Talk to admissions AND to financial aid at Penn immediately. This is not a wait and see situation, unless you are assured so by Penn.</p>
<p>Ace, Penn’s NPC is as accurate as any, more than most any, that are out there as it is a full need meeting, no merit award school. However NO NPC is reliable for most cases when family owned businesses or other non straight forward financial situiations are present in a family. The more unusual, the less predictable, and you may have different schools that profess to use the same methodology come up with way different numbers in such cases.</p>
<p>Is this a ■■■■■ post??Did you submit CSS profile when you applied? You should have gotten fin. aid offer on Dec. 12th.</p>
<p>Emblem101, I am guessing you probably dealt with someone else (SFS counselors are assigned by the first letter of the student’s last name) and possibly got a financial aid package. We are paying the full ride same as all the celebrity’s kids, politician’s kids, and real estate mogul’s kids. My student also is in class with a student who brags that his father puts all their money into off-shore accounts and he get about $20,000/yr in financial aid. That being said, my son could have gone to a different school where he was offered merit-based scholarships but it’s hard to say no to such a prestigious school that will hopefully provide some good opportunities in the future. I have to admit,though, that I took tremendous offense when we were told (arrogantly, sticking to that) to use the equity in our little 20 year old colonial house to pay them. Again, there are younger children still at home and it is our only home. I was highly insulted by that remark, which I’m sure acccounts for some of my bitterness.</p>