<p>Those of you still interested in the drama of last month will be pleased to know that our revised financial aid package from my daughter's first choice university is much, much better and more in line with what we can reasonably afford.</p>
<p>So here is what I learned from this experience:
If you get a financial aid package that seems nearly impossible, don't just walk away from it. Find out who in the office has the time to answer your questions; often, as in our case, there's a fundamental misunderstanding that can be cleared up with more documentation. It's a human process; see if you can work your way through it. Let the school know that they are your first choice and ask for their help in making it happen.</p>
<p>A big amateur mistake I made was not setting up a retirement fund. Just saying "oh I hope to keep this money to retire on" might make them smile but that's about it. </p>
<p>We are very lucky. This was a really taxing process. I still have a fair amount of money to borrow but my determination (some would say fixation) has resulted in a cost that is many tens of thousands of dollars less than it was before.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update – can you let us know generally what the hang up was? I am just curious to know whether I was correct in my hunch that they were attributing an inflated value to your assets based on mistaken assumptions your investment interest income. </p>
<p>I think there was also speculation as to whether they were attributing “income” to your volunteer work with your daughter’s private high school.</p>
<p>P.S. I hope you had a lovely time in Italy!</p>
<p>Fairfielder: I lurked with such interest on your initial thread and even found myself discussing the issue with my husband, it so interested me!
I’m delighted to hear you were successful and would love to hear what they were confused about, if you don’t mind sharing.
Best of luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>The confusion was primarily over whether I had my assets in the bank and available for my use–I had to send them bank statements as well as copies of the promissory notes that are holding my investments, to show that I don’t have ready access to this money. One of these was accompanied by a letter with glowing unsolicited praise of my daughter; I scanned this and sent it to the dean of the school she will be attending and asked if there might be any discretionary scholarship funds for students of above average promise (don’t all moms think their kids are above average?). This might have helped bump up our award.</p>
<p>Now, Second Choice University also gave us a poor aid package. I called them to ask what the problem was and they had, as calmom suggested, attributed a higher level of assets because of my amount of interest income. They immediately agreed to reconsider the aid package if I would send them documents showing 10% rate of return. I went back and looked at what I had sent them and nowhere did I mention the 10% rate. So–my mistakes were, in the first case, assuming the school would take me at my word and not need documentation; and in the second case, I guess maybe I thought they would read my mind. So: be specific!! Don’t leave anything between the lines–these are overworked people and they need to see things clearly stated.</p>
<p>Amusingly, my new award letter arrived in the mail stuck to another envelope addressed to a student with the same last name as mine, in a different state. I looked up his phone number online and called to say I had gotten a letter meant for him and that I would put it in the mail tomorrow; I also offered to open the letter and read him the figure. He asked me to do that, and his award was almost the same as ours. It also said “Revised” at the top. Made me think I’m not the only one who asked for a re-do of our package.</p>
<p>The take-away point on this is that you can ask for a better deal. If your situation is unusual or falls outside the usual categories, I would not hesitate to suggest that you ask if more funds could be made available. I didn’t want to give my daughter the message that her education isn’t worth fighting for.</p>
<p>There’s a lesson here for all parents-- something I had to learn over time.</p>
<p>If you have a financial situation that is at all unusual (and likely to be interpreted against you), you need to be proactive in advising the financial aid offices of the actual facts, and providing appropriate documentation. This is especially true the year your kid is applying to multiple colleges and you will want to compare financial aid awards, because colleges will in fact calculated awards based on certain assumptions. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, newbies to the financial aid process tend not to think of this – I think I was much better prepared the 2nd time around, but even then I made some mistakes in terms of info provided to (or not provided) to colleges.</p>