<p>I would hope that someone entering the college process can ask a simple question at an information session or via a phone call to a FA office . if you don’t do your own homework, you only have yourself to blame.</p>
<p>You are making a poor assumption and wanting to blame that on the college. The fact that YOU make an erroneous assupmtion is on no one but you. Furthermore, you are advocating a dumbing down approach - kind of like how McDonalds now has to put on every cup of coffee - danger contents may be hot.</p>
<p>r6l, is your EFC going to be lower now, due to your family’s current special circumstances? If you did need to borrow 36k for undergraduate school, you could work for 2 years prior to continuing your education to pay down the 36 thousand. I am not suggesting that this is the smart or best way, but I know someone who used that stradegy. She lived at home, worked, an paid off all undergrad loans prior to going to graduate school.</p>
<p>First off, unless you can prove you are off supporting yourself on your own and not a dependent, your EFC will be based on your parents income and assets.</p>
<p>Second - it doesn’t really matter if you are paying or your parents, it would still be greedy double dipping to have merit aid reduce your EFC</p>
<p>Third, your parents have the primary responsibility of paying for your education - whether you like it or not and whether they agree to do so or not. If all a parent had to do for a student to get need based aid was say we aren’t contributing, every parent would do so and the pots of aid would disappear</p>
<p>A college does not owe anyone anything. What they give people is up to them. No one should feel entitled to receive anything and upset when they don’t</p>
The key word obviously being assumed. I really am not trying to beat up on you, you are a 17 year old in a very tough situation. But honestly now you are making no sense. Listen to what you are saying. “If I had known merit worked this way and not the way I thought I would have applied to more need-only schools. But I understand that those schools have to take my parents income into account so my EFC is the same”. So it really has nothing to do with the fact you applied to the “wrong” schools, it is that you needed to apply to many many schools and hope that one was affordable. At least I think that is what it means.</p>
<p>^^No…what I meant was I would have applied to need only schools with far better policies(like Pomona, Swartmore, heck…even an Ivy) then the ones I did. I applied to schools with decent need policies and merit aid and hoped I could make up the difference</p>
<p>I did make assumptions-and I shouldn’t have…but seriously…can you really blame me? most of my assumptions make sense on paper</p>
<p>Ooooh, and we so agreed on everything until that. Personally I agree that parents should pay for their kids college to whatever extent they can, but they actually don’t have to at all. Now I also think that if that is their attitude, they better tell the kid when they are like 12 or something. And I would think a parent taking that stance is fairly reprehensible, absent extenuating circumstances like a long history of drug abuse or other irresponsible behavior. But they really do not have to. It just puts the kid in a very very tough situation and forced to take a path similar to what northeast mom says, even waiting a year or two to start college. Not ideal, but then parents acting like r6l’s are far from ideal already.</p>
There we have to disagree, but then you are 17, so I can see why they would to you. You really have a very heartbreaking situation.</p>
<p>Again, I didn’t mean to offend you or be heartless. I wish you the very very best of luck and I have to say…I feel very confident you are going to be a huge success in college and beyond. You really must be made of steel. I thought I had it tough, but I think you make my situation look like a day at the beach. I can only imagine your determination to succeed must be immense, or at least it will be once you get past the anxiety and exhaustion.</p>
<p>Ummmm, sorry but based on all you have written - no you don’t.</p>
<p>If you think otherwise, please tell me how much in real dollars you are prepared to pay and how much of a handout from the colleges do you want to receive toward your total cost?</p>
<p>I guess I misspoke…I do think my EFC is mine to cover, not my parents.</p>
<p>But, if I got no money from college, I would be more than willing to start at a cc and work my way through my first two years then transfer. I would find a way…</p>
<p>I don’t EXPECT anything from colleges. I hope, I wish…but I don’t expect…</p>
<p>College offering merit awards know full well interested applicants will in many cases be FA profile as well as full-pay profile. They don’t need to know any individual case, they need to make a general disclosure.</p>
<p>clueless - not a useful comment, and yes it is true. You seem to think Santa Claus will walk in her door and make it better. She knew her situation, so of course she has to take the responsibility for making sure it is taken care of in a way that works for her. Maybe that means finding a more experienced adult that could have helped. Or looking more closely at the web pages. Or making a phone call. Anything other that assuming something completely non-obvious to a 17 year old, one way or the other. The issue isn’t that it wasn’t on the same web page she happened to be looking at, the issue is that seeing nothing she made a wrong assumption that was probably born more out of wishful thinking and hope than reason. Even 17 year olds, especially ones that have been through as much as she has, know that they have responsibilities. She says so herself.</p>
<p>And wow, talk about out of context! The “this” of “How are they supposed to know this” was that she couldn’t afford her EFC, not that she was applying for FA. That is really low of you.</p>
<p>R6L, Just trying to read through this entire thread has given me a headache - I can imagine how you feel. </p>
<p>Have you had telephone contact with any of your schools in question to try and better understand their process? I don’t know if this is or is not a good idea, just curious how they responded to you.</p>
<p>Certainly r6l’s assumptions were the same ones we went into the process with. I think they reflect the natural human tendency to see things in the light of our own needs and interests until we are forced to see them otherwise. I still remember the first time I was at an info session and heard this question asked, and the unpleasant surprise when I heard the answer. I was sure it was an anomaly of this one college. Then we went to the next session…same question, same answer. Lather, rinse, repeat. Gradually we realized that this is how things are done, and even more gradually we realized that it makes sense.</p>
<p>So I don’t think anybody should be blamed for assuming that merit aid stacks on top of need-based aid and reduces EFC–I agree that it’s a natural assumption. But neither should colleges be blamed for the fact that it turns out to be a wrong assumption.</p>
<p>Why? Sybbie’s comment hit the nail on the head. Rocket should not be uspet at the college for not giving her boatloads of aid. She should be upset at her parents for not supporting her.</p>
<p>Why should a college be obligated to provide financial support to a student when the studen’t own parents will not? That makes absolutely no sense</p>
<p>My point this whole time is that I wish there was more clarity on the Merit not helping cover EFC…I understand that there are limited funds and that my parents income will be used to judge my need. I get that. I just think the primary issue of merit replacing need needs to be more clearly stated</p>
<p>and I agree with fallen. Maybe I should have looked more closely. But I got a letter from BOTH my top two colleges urging me to apply for merit aid, and both letters made it sound like if I got merit it would help cover my EFC…</p>
<p>that is my whole point…not that the college should give me more aid, just that they should be clear</p>
<p>I also want to be clear that i do NOT expect more aid due to my family situation. I simply am explaining that my position is different than most on this board…</p>