<p>I am still trying to assist a young person I know with college applications. Her heart is set on a certain school, for spring entry, but she will definitely need substantial financial aid.</p>
<p>The school has told me outright that spring entry will reduce her aid. I have a few questions, which I have also sent to the school, but their response time is a bit slow.</p>
<p>1) Is this effect, from spring entry, temporary for only that semester, or is it permanent? If she could afford to pay a little more for spring 2012, then did a FAFSA and Profile for 2012-13, would she then get the aid she normally would get as a fall entrant, even though she would have already started there in Jan. 2011?</p>
<p>2) If she took a few classes at a local community or state college, and applied for fall 2012 instead, to maximize aid, would she then be considered a transfer student? (I am assuming this school accpets quite a few transfer applicants.)</p>
<p>3) Is it pretty likely that transfer students would get less financial aid than freshman applicants?</p>
<p>Thanks all. I'm done with my own kids. This student is a great person who got a little off track, works really hard, and is very deserving. Hoping she can go asap.</p>
<p>It depends on the policy of the school…you would need to ask the school this question. If the school doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for ALL students (and clearly they don’t because they do NOT for transfers or spring admits)…they could very well say NO.</p>
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<p>Again…school decides. Be very careful because you don’t want to waste money here. The student could very well be viewed as a transfer student IF she takes these courses. PLUS some schools won’t accept those credits towards a degree (check that too).</p>
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<p>Again…depends on the school. Some schools guarantee to meet the full need of ALL accepted students. Others are clear that there is limited aid for transfers. You need to check EACH school.</p>
<p>I know that this girl has her heart set on this one school for Jan…but if finances really ARE an issue…why not wait and apply for a fall admission?</p>
<p>This was my feeling, and I am glad to have it confirmed. I think she can do something this year that will increase her chances of admission, too…</p>
<p>I am waiting for the particular school response, via e-mail or phone, too.</p>
<p>Good luck to her…if she really needs this aid, best to do everything she can to maximize it. Has she considered something like Americorps (might be too late now for that) just for this one year.</p>
<p>I would advise her not to take community college classes unless she plans on staying. Some schools, for example George Washington, considers you a transfer student if you take one credit after graduating from high school.</p>
<p>To me this already sounds like a school that may not meet 100% demonstrated need, so there may be a gap in the financial aid package to begin with. The school has told you that she would get considerably reduced aid as a spring entry believe it. </p>
<p>If she starts in the spring, she will lose the opportunity to get and scholarship aid, or a more favorable package that the school may have given her to woo her into attending. With a spring entry, she also will not have the good ability to compare financial aid offers because she will have fewer schools in the mix and most of them will have already exhausted their FA budgets.</p>
<p>Is she eligible for need based aid or is she looking for merit money?</p>
<p>If she needs considerable aid, her chances for substantial merit money as a spring entry is very slim and very few of the schools with really generous financial aid policies have spring admissions.</p>
<p>If she is looking for a spring admit because she is graduating early from high school, I would also rethink that. Unless she has truly exhausted her HS curriculum, taken the most rigorous courses they offer and has done extremely well (factors along with good SAT/ACT scores) that can net her substantial merit money, there really is no financial payoff to her starting in the spring. </p>
<p>Perhaps, you can share her stats or the kind of school she is looking at and we can offer suggestions.</p>