Hi, I applied to a school that claims to meet 100% of need and recently got my financial aid package and it was drastically different from what I expected. It’s a small private school, one of the most expensive in the country, but also my first choice.
There is a $40,000 gap from my EFC and my cost of attendance. I understand that the EFC is usually low, but I didn’t expect it to be that low. I also used the school’s net price calculator, but my cost of attendance is almost $15,000 ($60,000 over 4 years) higher than the one I calculated using their own net price calculator.
I should probably mention that I’m a national merit finalist and this school gives half tuition to national merit finalists. With the half tuition scholarship, I would end up being below the cost calculated with the net price calculator. However, I have not technically been awarded this scholarship yet, and it was not included in my financial aid package.
Can a school claim to meet 100% of need and do this? They stack merit and need-based scholarships, but it doesn’t make sense to me that they can just make up a need-based number that goes against these tried and tested formulas: FAFSA, net price calc. It just seems to me that they’re trying to make money.
I want to appeal my decision. I called the financial aid office and they claimed their committee decided the award I got was all I needed, based on our savings and assets. What should be my next steps?
tl;dr Got $15,000 less than expected from school that “meets 100% of need,” maybe because of expected merit scholarship. Can they do this? What should I do?
Schools determine what your need is so they can claim to meet it. You can call them and ask if the NMF scholarship will be added.
I think you may be laboring under a misinterpretation about aid. There is no “tried and tested” NOC formula. FAFSA is very straight forward and defined by the gov’t. The schools put the NPC together based on their aid models. If this is a Profile school and your parents own a business or are self employed then the NPC will likely not be too accurate. Also, you state the schools are trying to make money. You realize you are talking about The School’s Money, right? The school is willing to lose money on you to get you to attend.
Yes, schools make up their own need based numbers.
If you think there was supposed to be a scholarship added to your package p, you can call and ask about that.
Sounds like you need to get THIS figured out first.
Not enough information on the other part.
Do either of your parents own a business...or are either self employed?
Do your parents own any real estate in addition to your primary residence?
Are your bio parents divorced/remarried?
You say you talked to someone and they already told you the calculations based on your family income and assets were accurate? To whom did you speak? Does the school have a policy for written financial aid appeals?
I don’t mean to presume but your other posts mention Harvey Mudd. HMC does not automatically give half tuition to NMF; the amount is $1K - $2K (per year, renewable). Not aware of any schools in HMC’s peer group that automatically give half tuition to NMF. Are you sure the scholarship is an automatic one?
Regardless of the college we’re talking about, make sure you have done what you are required to do to qualify for the college’s automatic NMF scholarship (typically need to list that college as first choice, possibly some other stuff) and obviously make this part of your appeal if you do not see this scholarship in your offer letter.
Your appeal needs to be in writing (email is fine).
If this is HMC, then your FAFSA EFC doesn’t matter. They use CSS profile. Do your parents take business deductions? Do they have a lot of home equity? Do they own other properties? Do they make large contributions to retirement accts?