<p>I was told that my job will be eliminated in a company downsize smack dab in the middle of the financial aid assessment process (termination effective date = 3-24).</p>
<p>How do financial aid officers at colleges handles this kind of thing? Do they give you the best assumptions ? Do they give you the worst assumptions and hope you'll go away?</p>
<p>In a financial aid seminar I attended, led by a 15 year FAO pro, she said colleges will try to do the best for you - more the former scenario.</p>
<p>When I emailed one FAO at one college about the situation, if email could groan, it did. He talked about all the hassle of an almost certain verification audit from the Feds, for example, which I take it is not a nice thing for faos and everyone.</p>
<p>So my wife was wondering if this turbulence would be deleterious to a package - sort of the the latter scenario, where an FAO might give us a nothing package since they would not want to be bothered.</p>
<p>Good thing to know now- the college that you mentioned sounds like a pain to deal with.
We have had to verify numbers every year- it isn't a big deal on our end.
Our D as I mentioned also was already enrolled in a school ( barely had been attending a week-), and hadn't given us anytime to plan for alternate scenarios, since we didn't anticipate 9/11.</p>
<p>However- by having a heads up, you can take into consideration how helpful finaid dept is & also plan less expensive options.</p>
<p>To answer your wifes question- possibly , if a school is need aware, they may take greater need to be a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>( it also helps to visit - when my D had orientation- I went down and met with finaid officer- it gave them a face to put to the sob story that I sent a few weeks later)</p>
<p>The image of the groaning email made me laugh :D</p>
<p>Agree with emeraldk - they sound a pain to deal with. We found our FAO really helpful.</p>
<p>Your situation is probably trickier to deal with as the loss of job and whether a new one is forthcoming is all a bit up in the air. We never sensed any groans in emails from the FAO but our situation was a bit more cut and dried. </p>
<p>
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So my wife was wondering if this turbulence would be deleterious to a package - sort of the the latter scenario, where an FAO might give us a nothing package since they would not want to be bothered.
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</p>
<p>I would not expect this to be the case for most FAOs. But There are probably better and worse financial aid departments as in everything. One that would give you a nothing package because they do not want to be bothered is one that would throw up some red flags about the school in general. After all you have 4 years of dealing with them.</p>
<p>My husband lost his job, and we got different responses from different schools. Tulane told us to send verification (layoff letter and unemployment stubs) while UVA told us to wait until we were awarded a package and notify them then. I didn't even bother contacting other OOS state schools, or our state school since we probably won't get much anyway.</p>
<p>thanks for the input. yes, this is an expansion of the other thread cited in this thread. The other thread helped much. Now I am at the part of contacting the colleges and I wondered if my inquiry could adversely impact the FA pkg. </p>
<p>quote--
To answer your wifes question- possibly , if a school is need aware, they may take greater need to be a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>To be clearer: we are in the FA phase. We have acceptances. BUT, the FA step can really be another way of rejecting a candidate. If FA comes in all loan, for example, this is a way for a college to reject a candidate.</p>
<p>I'd never actually considered getting a "worse" package as a result of change in circumstances, although I realize your logic is probably based on the recent "admit-deny" thread that discussed how schools technically accept low income students but the packages they give preclude them going to the school. </p>
<p>I'm guessing that no one will be able to give you a definative answer on this. But I'm also guessing that any extra "loans or workstudy" would be inexcess of what you would otherwise get. Plus (and I'm hoping this is the case) the schools may view a loss of job as temporary and will not make any adjustments to try to sway the applicant's decision to attend. </p>
<p>All speculative and I'm doubting we will ever know.</p>
<p>My sympathies on your situation. I know what it is like as my husband and I were in your shoes three years ago when my son was accepted into some expensive colleges. My husband was unemployed, but receiving severance pay and unemployment. I contacted all the schools involved and faxed them the appropriate documents, etc. No one can predict absolutely what will happen, and your aid package is also dependent upon your financial resources, and how much money is saved in your child's name.<br>
My sense is that changing a financial aid package is like turning a battleship around: it is not a process that is responsive in a swift, expedient manner. You want them to recognize the situation NOW, I think they have more of a wait and see attitude.<br>
At least that is how it played out for us.</p>