<p>I am shocked that Vassar’s F/A is better than Swat for you @Englishman, our F/A was much better from Swat than Vassar. Vassar’s F/A relied on a loan component that Swat did not, and the parental contribution was quite a bit higher. We had the same experience with an older child who had applied to both–he did not end up at Swat (or Vassar–Vassar;s F/A was not as good then either) but it was a tough decision. Vassar was immediately taken off the list. Swat is still high on the list and it will be a very difficult decision in the end. </p>
<p>Got my fin aid award a couple of days ago. (We were a little late with a couple of things.) Better than all my need-based-only schools (Carleton, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Vanderbilt, Colby), but I’m pretty sure Colby and Vanderbilt screwed up on calculating my aid. Still about 6k higher than the NPC, which in itself was too high. If appeals to Colby and Vanderbilt turn out nicely, I might try to appeal at Swarthmore. </p>
<p>Going to RTT, though. (Yay for having flights paid for!) Excited to see the mainland in the spring!</p>
<p>@nhdmaniac I’m glad Swat’s aid is more reasonable than some of your other schools’! If it’s at the top of your list, I would appeal right away without waiting for Colby and Vanderbilt’s responses–I appealed nearly two weeks ago and they still haven’t gotten back to me. It’s also very possible that they miscalculated. I appealed to Carleton last week and they replied within three days offering me four times as much aid, bringing their offer much closer to what we expected. I’m hoping Swarthmore made the same mistake. Good luck!</p>
<p>Nah, I know that Swarthmore calculated it correctly because it’s that close to the NPC (basically EFCs of 42k vs like 35k), and the NPC doesn’t count a lot of the benefits my parents get from their jobs. </p>
<p>The reason I have to wait for Colby and Vanderbilt is because Vanderbilt is supposed to have the BEST aid out of the schools I’ve been admitted to, and Colby may have some extra $ thrown in (which they technically call “need-based”) because of their two scholar (Bunche and Presidential) programs. </p>
<p>Not a lot of hope for any of this though. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to go to Pitt or Bama on a merit scholarship. (Agh the struggles of having upper middle class parents who don’t set payment parameters for college while simultaneously calling everything “too expensive.”)</p>