<p>I am having a major financial aid issue. I was accepted into all my colleges and I choose to go to a private university as I felt it was the best fit as well as offering the most financial aid (Tuition per year comes to about $37,500 and my package was for about $36,000). Recently, my mom was contacted by the college and it turns out I lost all my grants as my parents "make too much money" (which I find rather hard to believe as my mother and father are divorced, my mother is unemployed,my stepfather is a cabinet maker and pays child support for his kids, and my father is a carpenter). Due to this, an additional 11,000 dollars has been added on to my college expenses and neither me nor my parents can afford it.
I have no idea what to do as it is July. My mom is having a talk with the financial aid administrator and I'm hoping that the college can offer me more aid but if that falls through I'm lost. Should I be looking into the schools I was accepted in and explain my situation? Should I be looking for new schools? Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated as I'm very worried. Thank you.</p>
<p>What is the college? From what you've described, it sounds like a bait and switch, and I am doubting that any reputable college would do that. Naming the college would probably give you info from others who know of its practices.</p>
<p>You may have to take a gap year and reapply to colleges where you know you'll get in and will get the aid that you need.</p>
<p>Considering how late it is in the season and how great your need is, unless you are an extremely desireable applicant, I doubt that the colleges that you turned down will reaccept you now and give you the aid you need. However, you have nothing to lose by contacting them and trying.</p>
<p>It's probably way too late to find 4-year colleges that will accept you now give you the aid you'd need to attend for fall, 2007. You could choose to go locally to a community college, which you'd probably afford and could get a late acceptance to. However, that could lead to your having to apply elsewhere as a transfer student, which depending on the college would reduce your chances of good financial aid. Some colleges don't have good aid for transfers.</p>
<p>I don't have the answers. I have just posted this thread under the parent's heading where a family has a similar situation, perhaps for different reasons. Pehaps you will get some responses there too.</p>
<p>It's Allegheny College.</p>
<p>In looking up Allegheny on the US News premium college web site, I see that they do not guarantee to meet 100% of financial need. Indeed, they met the full need of only 52% of freshmen, 45% of upperclassmembers. 70% of their students were determined to have financial need. On average, Allegheny met 94% of the need of its freshman that it offered aid to.</p>
<p>Somehow I'm guessing that Allegheny had much higher acceptances of their admissions and financial aid than they had predicted. Consequently, they ran out of financial aid money and now are rescinding aid from students whom they'd promised it to.</p>
<p>You may wish to consider seeing a lawyer about your situation because I, too, find it hard to believe that your parents make so much money that Allegheny erroneously originally gave you a generous financial aid award.</p>
<p>Legal Aid offers help to low-income people, and may be the best place for you to seek advice.</p>
<p>If you can reach your GC, see if s/he will intervene for you.</p>
<p>So the first thing you need to do, which you are already doing, is to contact the school. If they don't have a justifiable, fact-based reason as to why they decreased your financial aid I would second the idea to get a lawyer because this is clearly a shady situation. If it gets to the point that you need to contact a lawyer, I would contact the other schools that you were accepted to and explain your situation. If this problem is truly what it seems I believe that other colleges will be sympathetic to you.</p>
<p>Keep us updated, as someone who is also heavily dependent on financial aid to attend a private school I can really understand how you are feeling right now.</p>
<p>WBOV, do you have any update on your situation? I am quite curious as to how this turns out. Many on this board have said that Allegheny gives very good financial aid and to have this happen is surprising to me. My DD is interested in this school and we are going to visit in a couple weeks. Your story is making me second guess our plans.
Also, I don't understand how you lost "all your grants" from a $36,000 aid package but now owe only $11,000? I don't mean to imply that $11,000 additonal is not a hefty piece of change but your original package was quite phenomenal.</p>