I applied ED 2 to smith and was accepted, but I did not receive any need based aid. I have an appointment with a financilal advisor next week, but what do you think the likelihood of me receiving any aid at all is? Mom says I need at least 20k per year to attend… Are my hopes and dreams of going to smith completely gone???
Nobody can answer this post because you have provided no information. Did you submit FASFA? CSS?
Yes both have been submitted and reviewed. If initially they believe those fafsa and css numbers are not eligible for aid, could they change their minds?
What did the net price calculator on the Smith website show you? If it showed you as getting aid, then you could at least show them that. But just because you want aid doesn’t mean you will get it. Unless you made a mistake in the FAFSA or CSS profile, or you have concrete info to share that changes their calculation, likely more aid will not be forthcoming. Do not withdraw your other applications.
They’re not going to give you more aid just because you “need it”. You should not withdraw your other applications as you’ll probably need to decline your Smith acceptance if you need financial aid to enroll.
They net price calculator gave a very generous offering that made the total cost of attendance 11k per year… Is the net price calculator accurate?
You should print that NPC result and ask the FA office to please explain the discrepancy. Now there certainly can be valid reasons why the NPC shows more aid than you have been offered – for example, divorced parents, small business ownership, rental property, or family trusts to name a few reasons. It may not help, but it makes it understandable why you thought ED would be workable financially. It can’t hurt to show them that. However, the NPC is just an estimate, and they are not bound to honor it – the “real” process collects a lot more info.
What you feel you can afford, and what the define your “need” as being are two very different things. Smith met my sister’s entire need, with a very small loan, but that is sadly because our FAFSA EFC is low and we have virtually zero home equity. From what I heard, Smith will reconsider IF they miscalculated your package or if there are circumstances they weren’t aware of. However, they won’t reconsider just because you think you need more aid. That’s the case most places. On the whole, Smith is known for being very generous.
@intparent FYI, I would not ask them to “explain the discrepancy”. They are under no obligation to do so and it isn’t a discrepancy since Smith states that it uses its own “institutional” methodology in granting financial aid. A better approach is to request a re-evaluation and state that while you want to attend Smith, you may be forced to go elsewhere because of a better aid package. You can then show them evidence of this. The student will also need to document why the have unmet need. From what I’ve read, they will not match this aid but may increase it if they agree that they need to reconsider your circumstances.
@Brexit99, I don’t think you understand the NPCs. The NPC calculation is defined by the college, so it is perfectly valid to ask for an explanation of why there is a gap between the NPC result and the actual offer. Even if the school
website directs you to the CollegeBoard tool for the NPC calculation, every college defines the methodology for their college within the tool. That is the point of the NPC. There may be a valid reason for the discrepancy (your incime went up, one of the reasons memtioned above, etc), but college FA offices make mistakes, and showing them the NPC results can give leverage. Sometimes the tool has issues – but at least then the college sees that their tool is off, and maybe makes adjustments for future years.
Asking for re-evaluation due to the COA of another college only gives you leverage if that college is comparable in ranking or higher. Sometimes it will get you something, sometimes it won’t. I have done it, and one college added $10K in aid. Another college didn’t budge. Sometimes if you provide info that wasn’t revealed in the CSS Profile (medical expense debt, job loss, for example) they will adjust their calculation too.
@intparent I do understand the NPCs. I’ve used them and have received financial aid offers. However, disclosing information you failed to mention in your CSS–medical expenses, as you say–is very different from going to them and simply saying, “match what Harvard gave me”. My comment simply reflected what I was told my a former financial aid officer at Harvard. He said that nothing made them more angry than when a parent tried to leverage offers. He said it got the entire discussion off on the wrong foot.
You have to use the right wording. In our case, we said that the cost of attendance at a comparable school was lower, and could the please re-evaluate our financial aid package. It might annoy them – but believe me, colleges see this as a business transaction. Any parent who doesn’t approach it that way is being foolish. They may or may not improve aid, but if you have better COA from a comparable college, it does not hurt to ask. Sometimes they will improve the aid. The college that added aid in our case asked us to send the aid letter from the other college, which I was prepared to do. We were polite, but I sure am not going to worry about the fact that they would rather not be asked.
Of course Harvard is offended when parents try to leverage what are most likely merit offers from much lower ranked schools. They don’t need to bargain when they have an 81% yield and already offer the most generous need-based aid of any college.
Smith is generous with financial aid. Once admitted and enrolled they support students with a fund for emergency travel, a guaranteed stipend for a summer internship, financial aid extending to study abroad. For sure they do not have the resources of the Ivys (e.g., they include loans in aid packages where higher-endowed schools do not) and net price would be lower at Harvard, but I don’t think it is fair to characterize Smith as not being generous.
https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/FeaturedColleges_ThePellPartnership_EdTrust_2015.pdf
Of course every family and every school is different, that is why you compare packages.
Have any of you found the financial aid award letter to be very confusing. So many sections. At the top it does show total aid, but the remainder of the form is poorly structured. By comparison, my financial aid award letters from Columbia and Pomona are very clear. They show “family contribution,” “total need” and “aid awarded”
I also noticed that Smith’s travel budget was very low compared to these other universities, which makes me wonder if they are under-estimating total costs.
@klingon97 My daughter’s financial aid letter on bannerweb is super short compared to what we saw for other schools, but I’m guessing a longer form that includes family contribution comes in the mailed package?
To the original post, I will say we found what’s been offered right now very reasonable, comparative to some other offers she received, and much more generous than a few others. Only a state university beat it, but she had a full tuition scholarship and some other award money offered there so it sort of doesn’t count. We will be able to work with these numbers.
@vavoom The complicated thing about Smith’s FA letters is that they don’t state EFC. You have to work it out. The form they send will show you total cost and then total aid. Your contribution is the difference. But in a another section it talks about other expenses not billed (insurance etc). So you have to add these to your EFC.
That said, Smith is very generous. Great college. Your D will enjoy it I am sure.
Any suggestions on next steps? Best for student to contact or parent? D was offered STRIDE but we can’t afford $40,000/year. Not sure it’s worth going to admitted student day if the final answer is going to have to me no from us.
Get your daughter to call them first. Make sure she explains everything properly. Most colleges supposedly do not appreciate having to deal with parents from the get go. Stay in the background. Have her explain to them that Smith is her no 1 choice (if it is really that) and that she will SIR if it is affordable. All colleges are careful in offering FA and there is always money available.
Having said all that, there is no chance of getting additional FA if you actually have the ability to pay for college but just do not want to spend that much. FA is meant for those that simply can not afford to attend college without FA and if your tax returns, IRAs, bank accounts, stocks and other assets are substantial, the appeal will be immediately denied. There must be a way for you to prove inability to afford paying for college. Basically you must have a case.
@whatnext28 @khanam don’t have much experience on this, but I’d dispute that advice on two counts: 1) I’ve heard that the parent should actually deal with appealing financial aid, just because it streamlines the process. 2) don’t say it’s your first choice! The college will take that to mean you will go there no matter what, so they don’t need to give you more aid, which is not the message you want to send.