<p>It’s official! My dad agreed last night, I’ll be in the Smith class of 2015!</p>
<p>Wow, congrats Kymazing! Yay, Dad!</p>
<p>YAY! I’m seeing you this fall! :D</p>
<p>
I agree. D had better FA offers from both Wellesley and Barnard. The FA office may tell you they don’t “bargain.” They do, however, re-evaluate; as part of the re-evaluation process, they asked for copies of the FA award letters from Wellesley and Barnard. Amazingly enough, when the dust of “re-evaluation” settled, D’s offer from Smith was about $1K better than the next best offer.</p>
<p>Kenzie, too much debt can be crippling. However, debt-free can be too crippling in another direction. D could have probably gone to the Barrett’s Honors College at Arizona State without paying a dime, saving her $20K in loans and us another > $50K in loans. The savings wouldn’t have been worth it. The Smith Washington & abroad programs, the counseling with respect to both jobs & grad school, with great results for both, etc. etc. etc. made Smith worth every dime. Best money we’ve spent outside of our home.</p>
<p>Am I looking forward to the education loan payments ending? Absolutely. It’s painful. Sorry we did it? Not at all.</p>
<p>Can anyone who had STRIDE in the past give me insight into what loans I can expect for my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years?</p>
<p>See the difference here is that the loans would be all on me. There’s not much of a “we” in my college process. I don’t even know how to take out 10-15k in loans a year, or if I could.</p>
<p>Kymazing- the website said it’s 15k for all four years. But the research is the first two years. </p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong though</p>
<p>CPU- that’s all true, but I was asking specifically about loans. In STRIDE you receive no loans your first year and “decreased” loans for the three subsequent years. I’m trying to find out exactly how much “decreased” is</p>
<p>Oh sorry :(</p>
<p>no, no, no. your attempt to help is more than appreciated.</p>
<p>kymazing. Decreased means A total of 5k in loans over four years IIRC (it might be 7k total, not sure) I know first year =0, second year=700, etc</p>
<p>WOOT!!! WOOT!!! I didn’t think I had even a remote chance… hahahaha</p>
<p>:) Submitted deposit!</p>
<p>Anyone from Singapore going to Smith this Fall??</p>
<p>Maymay which JC were you from?</p>
<p>Congratulations all. Honored that my D was accepted but we did not think it through. The highest merit is only 50% for us, no fin aid. So we will be going to Fordham. I believe this is a great opportunity for us but I truly respect Smith for the great college that it is and their efforts to make the college within reach for so many.</p>
<p>So sorry your D won’t be attending Smith. Good luck to her at Fordham.</p>
<p>What did you mean by “The highest merit is only 50% for us, no fin aid.” Did you mean your D got no aid from Smith?</p>
<p>Pretty much just the merit. No fin aid. Got merit. Our fault since we were not thinking at the time that Smith was a full need school. We never expected that she would get accepted, felt it was a way reach so we never sent in the Fafsa verification form. I guess we could still send this in but I doubt we would really qualify for much financial aid. It kind of all started with a wish to attend a women’s college but never felt she would qualify since her ACT was only 28 and we interviewed with MHC instead of Smith. Anyway, we believe that Smith is top notch but excited about Fordham and a full tuition. Good luck</p>
<p>Okay, so my parents just submitted my fin aid for re-evaluation with it in writing about my mom’s job decrease since last year. But I am going to begin the process of removing myself from my parents’ house, likely legally. If I do so, I transfer all of the cost of Smith onto myself, and that’ll make it hard for me to still go there. Do you think they’d re-evaluate again if I explain the situation? Or should I just take out loans for the first year, and when I apply for independence next year and resubmit my fin aid forms, will Smith give me significantly more money? I’d go from a very large salary to nothing, and I don’t think Smith is completely need blind. </p>
<p>Any help or ideas are appreciated because my situation is both dire and risky right now.</p>
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</p>
<p>The certain circumstances are listed here:</p>
<p>[Dependent</a> VS. Independent Status | Student Loans](<a href=“http://blog.studentloannetwork.com/fafsa/dependent-vs-independent-status/]Dependent”>http://blog.studentloannetwork.com/fafsa/dependent-vs-independent-status/)</p>