BUT!!! Rice gave me only 11k. How is this possible? I thought Rice was a school that meets 100% of a student’s need.
Is Rice financial aid usually like this? I initially was planning to commit 100% to Rice… but my family can never pay 50k per year; our family EARNS 100k (after taking the taxes away) and my little brother attends a private boarding that costs 20k per year.
I heard that financial aid office of Rice is not kind. Did anyone hear of cases where a student was able to appeal and get 20k more?
@harvard2021 It seems they don’t take boarding school cost out. They may consider it a luxury It was not mentioned on the net price calculator. Doesn’t seem like they take any thing out extra unless there are multi students in college. Also CS profile takes in consideration assets and savings so maybe your family has those also that ups the number higher. I also think they only consider if there is like a loss of a job that may be coupled with high medical costs in terms of changing aid. Maybe a death of a parent would would take away the ability to pay.
Yes I understand. But the cost Rice is asking our family to pay is twice times our Estimated Family Contribution in the Net Calculator… Thanks for the comment anyways
If Rice’s NPC shows twice as much aid as you actually got, it would be worth asking them to review again. Take a screenshot of the results from their NPC and forward with a polite request. But yeah, the boarding school might well explain the discrepancy. You used gross income, in the NPC, not net, right?
@harvard2021 I know when my son did the net price calculator is was almost exactly the same as when we filled out the FASFA and CSS. The fasfa was lower by 6500 but I have heard it changes with adding the CSS profile. I know when my son filled out his he made a copy . Maybe if you go back and look maybe you put the wrong number or added a zero. I know for people with businesses they do count the cost of the propery and building whether it is paid off or not.
Go back to them with the competing offers from top schools and see if they will change the package. Tell them you will commit to attend if they match the other schools. If two other schools are giving you $38k that says they are figuring it differently and maybe Rice can be persuaded to do so also.
My D is in a similar situation except we do not qualify for any Rice FA, and Emory has offered her a $21,000/year scholarship. Rice has offered $0. She really wants to attend Rice. We have the money in a 529, but if she attends Rice there will be little left for grad/med school. We have emailed Rice admission and hope Rice will offer some merit $ to yield her. Any tips on how to get merit $ out of Rice from the experts in the CC world?
My daughter is at Rice. We appealed her original financial aid package by mentioning special circumstances. The appeal was a written appeal. They reviewed our appeal and gave us an aid package that was far more generous, ended up being the best. Go to owl days and then go to financial aid and talk to them in person. Worked for us.
@Houston1021 From all I heard with merit it seems like that would be the response. I have heard of job loss maybe high medical expenses may increase financial aid. Sounds like there are other good options. I am sure if my son was full pay I would not be able do that. It is hard to pass up other places that will give so much more when they won’t give any.
Assuming that your little brother is not at boarding school due to special needs, that expense is irrelevant. Otherwise Rice would be paying for his private school education by giving you more aid.
Actually it was medical expenses. My wife has chronic migraines and more and we have tons of doctors bills and prescriptions. Had to send copies of all the medical bills we had.
They are bills not receipts. Insurance doesn’t pay everything, co-pays deductions non covered doctors ect. And of course we qualified for financial aid to begin with
My son is applying to Rice and we are wondering if it will make a difference (either positive or negative) if he checks the “need based aid” box meaning he wants to be considered. The issue is that I think we are right on the fence in getting any aid at all (me and stepdad salary, if counted together would be over $200k) and maybe it would be cleaner to just say that he will not be applying for aid. Or does it even matter in terms of admission? Are they need blind ? Sorry for dumb questions, we are just getting up to speed on application.
@houstonmom11 The fasfa is really easy to do and it comes out in October. Whether or not you get financial aid or not should not effect his decision. When my son did it last year he knew right away what they expected him to pay though fasfa. Though the number was higher when I did the CSS profile. Has he tried the net price calculator. it was pretty accurate I remember when my son did it. It does say Rice is need blind, but I notice on the common app there are places that talk about parents jobs. I am sure as they are reading though the applications they actual could get a feel for your income. Especially when your son lists all the extra curricular activities in his spare time. I guess I never thought of it, but unless they have unlimited income to give every student for aid of course they don’t so I am sure it plays in a little. https://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2017/01/08/2017-guide-to-college-financial-aid-the-fafsa-and-css-profile/#5c6061c04cd4 i don’t know if we can post this check this out