Poor FA offer at #1 choice and heartbroken: what now?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I?m seeking input to help out my best friend, whose D is a HS senior.</p>

<p>D had her heart set on Northeastern, and was accepted there. Unfortunately, the financial aid package she received does not at all meet the gap between EFC (12k) and the cost of the school, and she is devastated. This is a lower middle class family from a small town in upstate NY. D is tired of small town life and loves Boston; would like to be there or in a similar urban environment for school. She loved the internship and co-op opportunities available at Northeastern, and it seemed like a great fit for her. She received a small merit award and a little bit more in loans - not nearly enough to make it feasible.</p>

<p>She has a 92 UW HS average, and has many AP and honors courses in her HS courseload. Not sure of exact SATs, but they are not super high ... somewhere in the 1200s out of 1600 I think. She has some ECs and community service, and is an outgoing, well spoken and personable young woman. Wants to major in history.</p>

<p>This girl and her mom are devastated; the D, because her heart was set on this school, despite mom?s warning that it might not be financially possible, and the mom, because she feels like she somehow failed her daughter throughout this whole process. D now is saying, Why did I try so hard in HS? Mom knows she needs to buck up and regroup and get her daughter to refocus and move on, but she herself is emotionally exhausted from the whole process.</p>

<p>D has been accepted at Ithaca (with a slightly better FA package, but still a gap) and SUNY Oneonta (her safety school, which she only applied to at her parents insistence, despite the fact that she liked it when she visited). She is waitlisted at SUNY Geneseo and Marist.</p>

<p>I advised my friend and her D not to despair, but to maybe consider a few options:</p>

<p>a) some late application schools that might fit the familys need, SUNY New Paltz (in a small town, but fairly fun & hip place, and only a 2 hour bus or train ride from NYC, with good possiblities of internships), Manhattan College in Riverdale (small school, but at the edge of NYC, with excellent record of FA for students, and also good NYC internship possibilities)
b) taking a gap year and doing a program like Americorps, which would provide her with a stellar record of community service that she might be able to parlay into a substantial scholarship at schools that offer good CS scholarships. She would probably be able to do it in Boston or a similar urban area, and would receive a stipend and $4700 towards college as well.
c) If she took the gap year, she could also either retake the SATs or prepare for and take the ACT, which some students (like my own S) do better at. Given the combination of higher SATs or ACT, her good grades and outstanding community service, she could reapply to Northeastern and perhaps apply to a few other schools that she had not previously considered (my own Ss choice, for example, Tulane, gives partial to full-tuition CS scholarships, and is in a major city with much to offer).</p>

<p>I was wondering whether others here have had similar experiences with their children or with close friends, and how they handled it. Also, if any of you could offer some urban area schools that have substantial CS scholarships that I could suggest for next year.</p>

<p>Thanks, I know the CC community to be a great source of info and experience.</p>

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<p>I know many kids don't want to consider it, but a gap year might be good. She could earn some money and perhaps in the year Northeastern might be willing to improve the package? Especially if she did something interesting? I don't know. Worth talking to the folks at Northeastern, if she could defer admission and if she did whether there was any way the package might get improved.</p>

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<p>How do funds earned by the student in the Coop program at Northeastern figure into the equation?</p>

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<p>Not that it's much consolation, but there is a lot of griping about NEU's financial aid packages over on that forum. They gave my son a decent merit scholarship, but no need based aid except loans (we didn't qualify for much, but still, most schools threw in something extra).</p>

<p>I'm not a big fan of gap year for kids who had planned on going to college and I would not assume that ANYTHING she did that year would necessarily translate to substantially more financial aid.</p>

<p>I think she needs to look at all the schools she applied to and pick one she can afford.</p>

<p>Mini has a good point (maybe) about co-op money. The problem might be that a history co-op may not pay all that well.</p>

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<p>I didn't see anyone here mention the possibility of getting more from Northeastern. Certainly a phone call to ask if there's any possibility of additional aid would be first on my list. I'd probably even set up a personal meeting with the Financial Aid office and go in person to demonstrate my passion for the school and dig under every stone until I was absolutely sure it couldn't be done.</p>

<p>If there's ANY way to close the gap for freshman year, the 2nd year may be easier. The student could apply as an RA (Resident Advisor) in Housing which can really make a difference in lowering the cost in future years--ie free housing. And if this family has other kids about to hit college as well, the EFC will adjust downward for this girl in future years.</p>

<p>Also someone mentioned getting more details about the co-op and internship information as these could possibily contribute to lowering the overall cost.</p>

<p>If it were my kid, I wouldn't give up without a fight, given how much THIS feels like the right school. I'd also make it clear to D that she must be prepared with other options though...some good suggestions made on that already.</p>

<p>You may want to check the Northeastern Board here on cc and ask questions there to see if you get any additional financial aid insights about what's possible. I wish your friend the best of luck....</p>

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<p>be careful on earnings from a gap year -- colleges will reduce any need-based aid.</p>

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<p>are loans out of the question?</p>

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<p>For a student who wishes to study history, NEU's coop program is not of much relevance. There are many other colleges where one can study history, in fact many colleges that have history departments that are better than NEU's (although it has some terrific profs).</p>

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<p>Isn't coop required? (I thought that was what NEU was all about...)</p>

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<p>suggest that they call N'estern finaid office to see if they can reconsider their offer.</p>

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<p>My kid applied to NEU last year. Mini, I don't think that it is required. Weenie, my son got a merit award too, but nothing more either. Moonmaid, I think that the Suny suggestion was good, if they are still accepting apps. I have no idea about Manhattan College's packages. My son had a nice package from Marist for our family (but a portion of that was merit aid). I don't know if Marist will come in more affordable for this family than Ithaca's package. Ithaca sent a package that was just slightly more money for our family than Marist's offer. Is Ithaca out of the question financially for this family?</p>

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<p>If she does decide to do a gap year, wouldn't it make sense to accept the offer of admission she has already received from one of the safety schools then tell them she will start the following year? Otherwise she will have to reapply to a list of safety schools as well as Northeastern and any other "reach" schools she decides on during her gap year. Having one firm possibility in hand might reduce the stress of going through this difficult process two years in a row.</p>

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<p>Although it is not an urban college, your DD seems fit academically in the Honors College of Florida Atlantic University where every student will get a merit-based scholarship.</p>

<p><a href="http://wise.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/financial.htm#major%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://wise.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/financial.htm#major&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>For anyone else in this situation, please feel free to PM me. I have PM'd the OP. My DS is at NEU and I have a bit of personal information/anecdotal information that may help but do not want to post on public forum.</p>

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<p>I would just caution against taking the gap year with the primary purpose in mind that the community service will yield stellar scholarship money. It seems to me that this plan could be quite a long-shot, absent very specific "you submit this CS resume, we give you this $" assurances. She could find herself again facing a financial gap and a repeat of today's disappointment.</p>

<p>I don't think you outlined the size of the $$ gap - is there any chance summer and term-time earnings could fill it?</p>

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<p>I'm not sure of the exact figure for the gap - my friend said it was "a lot" - I am certain it is a lot more than the family can afford, or that she could earn during the summer and term.</p>

<p>Thanks for your all of your responses. My friend's D wrote an email to the FA officer; my friend followed up with a phone call. Turns out that the FA office either lost or did not receive an important supplemental piece of supplemental financial information. My friend's husband faxed it, and we'll see if it makes a difference for them.</p>

<p>In the meantime, Mom and D have identified a few other SUNY schools with April deadlines that she is thinking of applying to.</p>

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<p>Moonmaid,
My nephew went to NEU and I know that my brother always negotiated his financial aid package to make it work. Agree with others that a phone call is in order. Best wishes for a good outcome.
Edit: I see you've already made that all-important phone call!</p>

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<p>I am sorry to see a story like this. But something just does not seem right.</p>

<p>quote
"This girl and her mom are devastated; the D, because her heart was set on this school, despite mom?s warning that it might not be financially possible, and the mom, because she feels like she somehow failed her daughter throughout this whole process. D now is saying, Why did I try so hard in HS? "</p>

<p>Did both D and M try hard at all? A 1200/1600 SAT from "trying hard" from D? Many 7 or 8th graders could do better than that.</p>

<p>How come M did not ask D to take it one more time? What about taking an ACT?</p>

<p>BTW, I will ask my D to read this one so she would understand why I push her to aim above 2350.</p>

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<p>laserbrother - before you go spreading your cheer around this thread, you might want to probe a little deeper. The student in question is well within the 25-75% SAT range for NEU. Her SATs are reported by the OP to be "in the 1200's" (not exactly 1200); she has a strong GPA (92) with AP and honors courses. </p>

<p>I see you've edited your post now; which is much appreciated, since your comment that she was "lucky to be accepted at all" was rather unkind. Most of our kids are lucky to be accepted at their top choice school. A kid can be lucky and deserving at the same time.</p>

<p>The student in question may have been a little naive and/or unlucky in the financial aid package. Since we're still not sure how much of a gap there is in her package, it's a bit too soon to tell.</p>

<p>What others might learn from this thread, though, is that gapping often occurs in finaid packages. NEU, for example, has these statistics on the College Board website:
Number who applied for need-based aid: 2,303
Number who were judged to have need: 1,823
Number who were offered aid: 1,818
Number who had full need met: 302
Average percent of need met: 64% </p>

<p>Those last two figures are telling and show that most applicants need to expect to make up a shortfall. Very few schools pledge to meet 100% of need.</p>

<p>Still, I wish the OP student all the best.</p>

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<p>While it's too late to question the choices of the OP's friend's daughter...it is unfortunate that she didn't pick some other schools that are in cities!</p>

<p>Northeastern's co-op program is very good...but not exactly the school in the Boston area that one might think of for studying history. </p>

<p>Around this time someone usually posts a place to find a list of schools that are still accepting applications. Perhaps there are some "Match" schools for this student in Philly, NYC or Boston that are still accepting applications....although I imagine there might not be much left in the way of FA. </p>

<p>Certainly continuing to talk with the FA office at NE is a good move. If it's not successful, starting at one of the more economically feasible SUNY schools, and then trying to transfer if she wants to be in a city, might be the best option.</p>