Now for background, I come from a middle-class family. I filled out FAFSA and everything and was recently admitted to 2 out-of-state universities. To be quite honest I think these two are the only universities I will be admitted to because the ones that are yet to get a decision from are reach schools. In my letter of acceptance for either of the universities, I was not provided any information of any sort of scholarship/financial aid. Meaning that currently I’m expected to pay sticker price (from my understanding as I don’t think FAFSA tells you how much they are going to be giving you. Also, based on the college board FAFSA estimator I should be getting about 7k a year in aid). I’m considering calling these universities and asking them for financial aid, explaining my situation as well as telling them that I got blank amount in scholarship from the other university (even though I didn’t).
Is this something I should do and is there a way for these universities to check if I actually got the money in aid that I’m saying I did?
It’s going to be putting a very hard strain on my family if I have to pay the sticker price as one of my sisters is also going to college right now and we’re just a middle-class family, we’re not rich.
Are you saying you plan to be dishonest with the financial aid office at your potential college?
Dishonesty is frowned upon…plus, you will have to provide this other financial aid offer to them anyway.
Forget about making something up. That’s simply not the way to do anything.
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Are you sure you haven’t gotten FA? I know at my D’s school, financial aid packages haven’t been released yet.
And no, you can’t fake a counter offer. Colleges are not just going to take your word for it.
FAFSA isn’t going to give you a proper estimate. What you are looking for is the college’s own Net Price Calculator.
If these universities are public and you are out of state, it might be that they give zero financial aid to out of state students. That is very common.
(In case it isn’t entirely obvious, @VishG28 what you are suggesting is an extremely bad idea and potentially criminal - fraud.)
If you are interested in large out of state public universities, look for ones that offer large merit scholarships, such as Arizona, Alabama, and others. And/or look for some private universities that give need-based aid; they don’t decide based on your state of residence.
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Is there another way to check? All I know is that in my letter of acceptance there wasn’t a single mention of FA
Go to your financial aid portal, where you checked to see that they had received all your financial aid documents. Financial aid awards are separate from an acceptance letter.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Threads asking for advice about dishonesty are not permitted. Closing thread.
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