<p>DD got acceptance letter/package today to Fordham. The aid itself was OK, not great, but my question is about the Loyola Scholarship of $8,000. Of course any merit money is great, but after reading the various level of scholarships online, it would appear she qualified for something higher, if not the highest level then the Dean's maybe? She is the valedictorian of a 250-student "average" public high school, great ECs, SATs at least as good as many I've seen here that earned Dean's scholarships. (Congrats to all of you; no offense is intended!!!:) )</p>
<p>I appealed a low level merit award at another school, not as prestigious as Fordham, and they agreed it was an oversight and bumped her up to the highest level. Fordham is more competitive, though.</p>
<p>Wondering if I should let it go, or ask for a little more merit?</p>
<p>I agree it doesn’t hurt to ask. But if they say no in the end be thankful for what you got, my D got absolutely nothing in merit and we don’t qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>Scholarship awards are based on many criteria, and things like community service / involvement or a strong essay can make a big difference. Even if your D may have strong grades and good standardized tests scores, if she is a “book worm” with little / no social involvement and demonstrated leadership she may not be considered a top candidate. College is much more than good grades.
One thing - it doesn’t hurt to ask. But don’t do it yourself. Have your daughter contact the university. I am not a college counselor, but I am actively involved in recruiting people for one of the most prestigious and competitive consumer companies, and frequently deal with recent college graduates or students. If a parent contacts me on behalf of his/her child, it’s an automatic disqualifier. We want young people who are mature, independent and show a good deal of leadership. “Helicopter” parents are a big turn-off. Actually, the fact that you, and not your daughter, has started this thread gives a hint about why your daughter might not have been considered a strong leadership candidate.</p>
<p>jannikt— I have to respectfully disagree with you. While nobody wants a “helicopter parent” to step in a make decisions for their children, I do believe that when financial matters are concerned, it is perfectly appropriate for parents to get involved.</p>
<p>"Actually, the fact that you, and not your daughter, has started this thread gives a hint about why your daughter might not have been considered a strong leadership candidate. "</p>
<p>jannikt -</p>
<p>Comments like this are the reason I stopped using College Confidential with my last child. I find CC very helpful and informative MOST of the time, but considering you don’t know anything about my DD or me, you are out of line here. I appreciate advice, pro and con, and I hear what you say in your post to a point, but is that really necessary?</p>
<p>My D is a well-rounded, well-liked girl with lots of friends, activities, leadership roles, work, service, musical talent, etc. The nice thing is that she’s done it all on her own - I don’t monitor her homework, have never fought her battles when it’s obvious she’d been wronged by a teacher, friend or employer. I consider myself blessed to have her as my child. If possible, I would like to see her get the best financial package available to her, at a school that is a good fit for her. </p>
<p>She has received much higher merit packages at every school she’s applied to, many comparable or higher ranked than Fordham. My niece goes to Fordham and my brother and sister in law suggested I contact financial aid, as they have had positive experiences with them. If the merit stands, it stands, and we will be grateful.</p>
<p>I personally met with financial aid on my daughters behalf and it made a BIG difference…do what feels right for you and your daughter. It would be unrealistic for an 18 year old to have complete understanding and knowledge of a familys financial situation.</p>
<p>jannikt, you may work for a “prestigious and competitive consumer company”, whatever that is, but you do not show much sensitivity towards the struggles of families trying to educate their children. In all but rare cases, it is the parents who deal with the financial side of college applications, particularly during the admissions cycle when the applicants are generally minors. I have never had anything to do with the academic side of my four kids’ applications, but figuring out the financing is a family matter, often involving hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans on the part of the parents. Siblings, parental employment, and other factors figure into the financial aid calculations. In fact, the EFC is determined mostly by parental income-- it is a rare 17 year old who is financially independent. It is certainly appropriate for the parent to become involved in the conversation with regards to paying for a $250K+ investment. </p>
<p>If you believe that the young people you are recruiting are there without the support, financial, emotional, and otherwise of their parents, then you have been well-marketed to. Yes, the child could simply attend a financial safety school, without exploring the possibilities of a dream school, or, worse, could borrow hundreds of thousands in co-signed private loans. I think we could all agree that the former is a viable option and the latter disastrous. An informed and caring parent can step up to the plate and speak with the financial aid department, to try to work out an alternate agreement. There is a huge difference between an obnoxious helicopter parent and a financially responsible parent who is willing to advocate for their child.</p>
<p>“jannikt— I have to respectfully disagree with you. While nobody wants a “helicopter parent” to step in a make decisions for their children, I do believe that when financial matters are concerned, it is perfectly appropriate for parents to get involved.”</p>
<p>“I personally met with financial aid on my daughters behalf and it made a BIG difference…do what feels right for you and your daughter. It would be unrealistic for an 18 year old to have complete understanding and knowledge of a familys financial situation.”</p>
<p>I am a parent with college-bound kids too. But I am speaking from the perspective of a hiring manager (which I also am). I frequently deal with kids who are 19 years old and who apply for internship positions.</p>
<p>There is a big difference between coaching / advising your 18 years old, and speaking on his/her behalf. Again, from recruiting managers position (who ultimately decides if a person will get hired or not), we want people who can speak and act for themselves. Parents who step in to speak for their (almost) adult kids are doing more harm than good.</p>
<p>Do you children a favor - give them advice, but don’t step in. It’s a tough world out there and they will need to fend for themselves alone. It’s amazing, but sometimes it seems that 18 years old kids are more mature than their grown-up parents.</p>
<p>^^^I think we will have to agree to disagree. I do agree with you about not getting involved in things like looking for internships and micro-managing our children. As part of my daughter’s HS program she has found (on her own) and completed four internships both during the school year and over the summer and I have not been involved in helping her get or complete any of them. I know she has grown from those experiences. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, I do not think it appropriate nor would I give my 18 year old all of the detailed information about our family’s savings/income/future expenditures etc. that would be necessary to have a productive and meaningful conversation with a college executive regarding financial aid. At 18, I believe that it is time for parents to step aside, but when it comes to financial issues, it is not yet time to step away.</p>
<p>Again, just my opinion and I won’t post again on this thread. Best of luck to your D MeeBee8.</p>
<p>But let me try and help out a bit. There is good advice on both sides here.</p>
<p>Its true that anything the student does for themselves at this juncture will be received as a good sign of maturity. But its also true that financial aid gets a gazillion calls from frantic parents who want to find a way to afford Fordham.</p>
<p>Scholarships and grants are not an exact science. With 33,000 applications you can imagine the frenzy. Fordham also has pools of money for kids in special situation like the performing arts at Lincoln Center and athletics at Rose Hill, and then the uber stats kids they are trying to woo to Fordham when they know other top schools will be competing. Fordham badly wants these kids, because frankly our ACADEMIC product is every bit the match of those top schools. Trust me, I know. My kid finished Phi Beta Kappa at Fordham and is now in graduate school at one of those TOP SCHOOLS. Fordham also has special funds for kids from Catholic High Schools, particularly Jesuit High Schools.</p>
<p>Mistakes are made all the time…or…er…oversights. Everyone is human. But sometimes they make difficult choices between two very competitive candidates and one gets the big scholarship (half or more tuition) and the other gets the lesser scholarship. </p>
<p>It does not hurt to ask politely and expressing STRONG interest in Fordham and a commitment to attend. Its also permissable to mention, politely, any competing offers. Be humble, but direct and polite. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>n.b. my kid got ZERO scholarship money and there were people at Fordham who got money and had lower stats, very very frustrating. However, she got decent grant money…which is essentially the same thing in accounting terms…just a different and less prestigious label. I wish Fordham could be like the Ivy League with anyone with family income of less than 150k a year, they get a full tuition remission. But its not. It is what it is.</p>
<p>My daughter will definetely learn how to be independent and handle all kinds of situations by herself now that she will be living in NYC…but she had to GET THERE first. Our financial situation is very complex and it wouldn’t even be logical or practical to make her handle all that by herself.</p>
<p>I concur dad. But the question is not asking her to explain anything. It was whether she should make the approach to fordham to increase a scholarship. </p>
<p>I lean towards parents making that call, since they may get questions on the phone. Its all good.</p>
<p>Another approach might be to have your daughter’s HS guidance counselor talk to the Fordham Admission’s Rep for your area and ask if the Merit Scholarship can be re-looked at. 2 years ago when my son was a HS senior, I asked his guidance counselor what she thought we should do in a similar situation and she volunteered to do this. As a result my son’s merit scholarship was in fact increased. He is now a very happy Fordham sophomore. Good luck, I hope it works for you, Fordham is a wonderful school!</p>
<p>We are waiting for my son’s final financial aid package to be posted on the Fordham website, but we are pretty sure it will be pretty close to what they already sent in the mail. Fordham is my son’s first choice, but he has received more scholarship money and grant money from another school. This is my question, does anyone know if Fordham has any additional school grants besides the scholarships that they award? Is it worth calling them to ask them to look at his financial aid package again? I am just grasping for straws here but maybe someone has some insight.</p>
<p>As stated in other threads, there is a right of appeal for any financial aid offer. Ask politely, firmly and directly with your circumstances. You may include other offers from other schools, politely. </p>
<p>Fordham has about a 42% acceptance rate, from what I heard this year. (Subject to change.) From that, they will have a yield of 15% or so, to get to their expected/desired class size (dorm space etc.). To some extent your son’s stats figure into it…how desirable he is to Fordham for that class. Not saying they are playing head games here, only just pure mathematical statistics with the pool of accepted students, as they expect a bunch to go elsewhere both up and down the ladder.</p>
<p>But it doesnt hurt to try and sometimes it works. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks. As soon as they post his final award package we will contact them. And as far as head games, this whole process is making my head spin. ha ha My daughter stayed in state for college so this whole out of state process has been such a huge learning experience. I am really looking forward to getting to the end. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.</p>
<p>The financial aid/merit formulas are always complicated to me. But I thought that if you get a pretty good FA package, you are not necessarily going to get a lot of merit, even if the kid would generally get a high level of merit based on their stats. Meaning that the FA and merit awards are not necessarily stacked on top of each other, which may seem unfair to the high need/highly qualified students…but I guess they’re always only going to give out so much money.</p>
<p>I have worked in large private and public universities for many years. And I am sorry to say that, in my experience, parents who call on behalf of their children tend to be more successful than the student when it involves money. Of course it depends on how you approach the situation, etc. But a well meaning parent who is respectful and friendly and persistent will very often be heard. Many of our kids just don’t have the skills to navigate some of these more complex and red-taped ridden systems.</p>