<p>My daughter was honored to be awarded the Zollman scholarship and Stride. She was excited for the opportunities and signed up for Previews. However, since then, the financial aid package came and was significantly less than what I find affordable. I don't mind sacrificing and taking out loans for a great education, but the offer from Smith was 16K/year less than 2 other great LAC (one of which many think of as the #1). My daughter wrote an E-mail on the Preview response page thanking them for the scholarship but would not be able to attend Smith due to finances and therefore will not attend Previews. </p>
<p>Neither of us are comfortable with "bargaining" and I doubt the financial aid office is either. However, if she visits and "loves" it there I'm willing to make the attempt. But, she is concerned about missing classes (3 AP's this semester and 5 AP exams soon) to visit a school that's not financially feasible. I know missing HS classes is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's important to her. We're on the east coast but since there are no direct flights, travel will take some time. Is it worth visiting in the hopes that her financial aid package can be improved?</p>
<p>I’m surprised your package was so much less, perhaps because of your large merit aid offerings (half-tuition plus 15,00 per year)? Not sure. </p>
<p>In this case, I would fully recommend bargaining. The worst any financial aid office could say is no, and obviously if they offered her a Zollman and STRIDE they’re putting extra effort into attracting her, so they may be willing to be even more flexible than usual. But I would only do so if Smith is really her number 1. If she’d just as rather go to one of the other LACs then I wouldn’t make the effort. So a visit might be worth it, at least to determine if she loves Smith enough to fight for it.</p>
<p>Thanks S&P, The Zollman is 20K a year plus STRIDE stipend leaving parent contribution about 30K/year. Another LAC is putting out parent contribution at 12K/year. Our financial situation can be viewed in different ways. I am in a partnership. I have book profit that I never receive as the money goes towards paying off loans for the partnership. But, that book profit shows up as income on personal taxes. Therefore, I have to pay taxes on money I never receive (that’s the part that has killed us for the last 3 years). Of course I sent in personal and corporate tax returns plus a letter explaining the situation. But, schools may look at the financial info in different ways. </p>
<p>I’ll only fight for it if it’s her number 1. So she’ll have to make the decision to visit or not. It’s a difficult one for her as she feels she has an obligation to continue doing well in her classes.</p>
<p>Ah, ok I see, so she just got the Stride research stipend that comes with Zollman, not the full stride scholarship (15,000 a year). It may be your book partnership issue that is messing with your package, it’s possible it wasn’t given full consideration though you did the right thing by sending in the letter. You might be able to more fully explain that in person to a student financial services rep (or on the phone if you can’t get there in person).</p>
<p>You don’t have to visit to improve the FA package. Though I did see someone in the FA office when I was there, it wasn’t necessary.</p>
<p>Get someone on the phone & explain the circumstances. Follow up via e-mail, sending scanned copies of the relevant documents. Include any significantly better FA offers from peer institutions. Include a cover letter; if Smith is your D’s #1 choice, say so.</p>
<p>Do not think of this as bargaining if it gives you discomfort. Think of it as giving them more complete information so that they may re-evaluate. </p>
<p>Your D doesn’t have to miss any HS classes; this is an irrelevancy.</p>
<p>TheDad, thanks for your feedback. Those documents have already been sent in along with a cover letter. I have no additional information besides better FA offers from peer institutions. Really, I’m only comfortable bargaining or giving them the same information again in another format if Smith is her #1. In that case she’ll need to go visit, spend the night, and attend classes to find out. In her letter, my D explained that she had significantly better financial aid offers. </p>
<p>I’ll have to say, she is feeling a bit conflicted at this point as Smith signaled that they wanted her but feels that financial aid put her in an admit/deny situation. </p>
<p>S&P it’s interesting how detailed some financial aid offices are at interpreting corporate tax returns as opposed to others. The corporate tax returns support what is stated in the letter, but some financial aid offices just want to look at my personal tax returns for income and look at the corporate returns to look for additional assets. Good news is that loans are paid off and I’m hoping income and book profit will be closer :).</p>
<p>GTalum, my daughter was awarded a STRIDE and she also hesitated to miss two days of school for the admitted students open house because she was worried about missing her three AP classes. Fortunately she knew that, in the long run, the choice of her college was more important than missing three classes. Perhaps if your daughter talks to her teachers, they can give her the assignments in advance and she can work on them while she’s traveling. This is familiar territory for high school teachers and I’m sure they’d understand and cooperate as much as possible, especially since your daughter is such a stellar student. I think often in April high school AP teachers, if they’ve been well organized all year, wind up doing review, so perhaps she wouldn’t be missing any new material, and she can do review on her own, if necessary.</p>
<p>If the other LAC to which you’re referring as #1 is either Williams or Amherst, then I very much recommend she get a feel for the other LAC as well as Smith. One of my daughter’s friends whom she met at the Smith Open House did overnights at Amherst and at Smith and immediately decided Smith was for her because of the gracious, nurturing welcome she received. Fortunately all three schools are near each other, so she could visit both. I recommend your daughter have the overnight experience at each school if at all possible in order to compare and make up her own mind, so then you can know whether or not to talk to Smith again.</p>
<p>April can be a confusing emotional roller coaster for many seniors if they want to seriously evaluate their college choices.</p>
<p>Thanks Carolyn, One of the other LACs is Williams. She didn’t care for the Amherst reception on an earlier visit and didn’t apply. I know Smith and Williams are close but our plan was for her to fly to Smith Thursday evening and Friday and then come home to meet weekend obligations, and fly out to see Williams on Monday and Tuesday. I know it sounds crazy, but this schedule was far less expensive than flying a parent, hotel and food for parent, and renting a car. She is also concerned about missing weekend volunteer projects she is organizing or part of. Really, the above financial situation I outlined above really has us strapped for cash. This year I’m hoping it will improve and will be happy to pay more for college. </p>
<p>The problem with missing school is more her than the teachers. Long story, but she has already missed about 4 days in scholarship interviews. She had trouble catching up and was exhausted. She doesn’t want to do that again unless there is a legitimate chance that Smith can make going there financially feasible.</p>
<p>GTalum - I would advise visiting both if she is interested in both - they are in very different places despite seemingly being in the same part of Western MA and my guess is the campuses will feel very different to her. Williams is pretty isolated as a campus and there really isn’t much else around in the way of college life especially without a car - Smith is more integrated in the five college area as well as being virtually in downtown Northampton -not to mention the coed vs women’s college decision</p>
<p>GTalum, I agree that the schedule you’ve outlined sounds crazy, but you have to do what works for you. I’m glad to hear that you’re considering having your daughter visit both.</p>
<p>If you want my daughter, a STRIDE student, to PM her just let me know. I know she’s PMing a number of students.</p>
<p>OK, called financial aid. Very aloof. They implied 0 chance of financial aid status changing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Smith is in our future. Thanks for all the advice. She has, so far, 3 really good options.</p>
<p>GTalum, I’m sorry to hear Smith is not working out for you. You mentioned your financial situation hopefully is going to improve in the near future. Perhaps if your daughter is still interested in Smith, she could consider transferring at a later date. In any case, I wish her well wherever she goes.</p>
<p>Thanks Carolyn, we are in a much better financial position than most. We just don’t have the income that’s indicated on our taxes. But, we’ve followed up with another E-mail after calling today. She’s just disappointed to miss out on finding out what all the excitement around everyone connected with Smith was all about. But, she is very honored that Smith showed such an interest in her.</p>