<p>post 340:
Again, this then means failure to report <em>gift</em> assets, failure to report “other kinds of support,” etc. It means that such families are either scheming enough to avoid any such schools requiring that info on their own institutional data (such as CSS or the college’s form in addition) and/or they have misrepresented “sources of additional income + sources of additional support” on those forms.</p>
<p>Gifts are a very gray area. Many of these families are not scheming at all. They just receive the help from their family as gifts. Most of the questions about support from the family are pretty specific. They may not consider the gifts as support. There is no line where gifts need to be reported and where they are not. Most of us do not report all if any of the gifts we, and our highschool graduate receive in our financial statement.</p>
<p>In light of some new posts here in the last few days, I thought this thread bump might be appropriate. </p>
<p><sigh> We can always hope we will do better explaining this stuff next year.</sigh></p>
<p>If you think this is bad, come on over to the FA board. The birds are falling out of the sky over there. Wow, I remember this thread like it was yesterday, yet it’s been a year.</p>
<p>Every year, for 7+ years, it can be heart-breaking. On the financial aid board there are sticky’s but I still think they are overlooked.</p>
<p>Hopefully we can enlighten more just by bumping this thread for the 2010 parents/students.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>C’mon folks. The FA birds never call AAA and get their financial road map until just before they show up on the FA board. Planning your college application strategy to work with your financial situation, we’ll deal with that in April.</p>
<p>Just sit back and watch the migration and try not to poison the pigeons. Yes, it is OK to feed them, though.</p>
<p>The saddest one for me this year was a student who is currently a jr in HS and he can’t get his FATHER to take FA seriously, he even refuses to run a couple of quick calculators to get an idea of if/how much FA they might qualify for. The father is giving the same old, just apply and we’ll see what happens and work it out from there. So the kid, who sounds incredibly responsible, is having a tough time trying to figure out an academically and financially realistic list.</p>
<p>I no longer read the FA forum. Too sad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Talk about undermining a kid…</p>
<p>Getting GPA=4.0uw with rigorous classes will guarantee full tuition or sometime a full ride, unless you are absolutely set to go to very top schools. Any responsible kid should realize that it is more up to him, not parents.</p>
<p>Here’s a 2010 parent who just learned of this thread and hopes to avoid some of the mistakes documented here. Thanks for the advance warnings.</p>
<p>I keep banging my head on the wall talking to my SIL. She just can’t get her head around the fact when I tell her that they will not qualify for FA. </p>
<p>If you make enough that the President is going to raise your taxes, you will not qualify for need based FA.</p>
<p>If you own a vacation home that is worth 1 million +, you are not going to qualify for need based FA. I don’t care what the ad com at MIT said, you WILL NOT qualify for need based FA other than loans.</p>
<p>My nephew also has to go to a school that “everyone” has heard of. Apparently no one has heard of the University of Chicago. They are of the “MIT or bust” category.</p>
<p>Can you tell that I am fustrated. Oh well it’s their life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’re referring to the student I mentioned, or students in general. But in either case, the fact that kids should be responsible for their academic preparation in no way relieves parents of their responsibility for understanding and communicating to their child, the financial information related to attending college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Absolutely not true.</p>
<p>
Cretainly not true at any of the State schools I know of. At my daughters school, a State U, the valedictorian scholarship is $1000 a year. The only thing close to a full ride is for national merit finalists. Their other good scholarships are based on high ACT or SAT scores plus a good GPA. The GPA on it’s own = nothing as far as scholarships.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.unm.edu/~schol/freshmen/regents.html]The”>http://www.unm.edu/~schol/freshmen/regents.html]The</a> Regents’ Scholars Program<a href=“for%20non-residents”>/url</a></p>
<p>The Regents’ Scholars Scholarship Program provides tuition and fees, room and board, and books to fifteen to twenty freshman students who meet specific criteria outlined below. The award is renewable for four years if the student meets specific renewal criteria each year.</p>
<p>Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and meet the following requirements: </p>
<pre><code>* Valedictorian or;
- ACT composite score of 31 or higher (or SAT equivalent 1360) or;
- A cumulative sixth (6th) semester grade point average of 3.9 or higher and;
- A statement of goals and philosophy
- Two letters of recommendation
</code></pre>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.unm.edu/~schol/freshmen/amigo.html]The”>http://www.unm.edu/~schol/freshmen/amigo.html]The</a> Amigo Scholars Program<a href=“for%20non-residents%20freshman%20and%20transfers”>/url</a></p>
<p>waives out of state tuition plus additional cash towards in-state</p>
<p>There are several others for those that graduate from high school in NM and others where they are just residents and did not have to graduate from NM high school</p>
<p>(this is just one example of one school)</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>katwkittens - thanks for posting that. It’s nice to know there are still schools offering opportunities like that to good students.</p>
<p>Nice thread. :)</p>
<p>
If you meet the above criteria, I am apalled that you would even ask for financial aid.</p>
<p>Just an example about variances in FA from waaay back at 9:00 tonight. ;)</p>
<p>My niece, Ms. Artsypants, opened 2 FA awards tonight by email. UMiami gave her grants of $13,730/year. Boston University gave her grants of $33,900/yr. There were significant differences in other areas , too.</p>