Swarthmore FA Package Surprisingly Awarded No Need Based Scholarships--HELP?

Paying for College
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<p>Hello! I was accepted to Swarthmore ED for the class of 2017 last December, but my financial aid didn't come with the acceptance letter because there were some additional forms they wanted us to fill out. Prior to applying, we did the online estimator and found that Swarthmore would likely be around $25,000 a year--not too bad for our family, so we figured that we would be safe applying ED considering how generous they usually are with FA.</p>

<p>I just got an email today with the FA results and, unfortunately, we were not awarded any money whatsoever. Both of my parents were astounded, and there is no way we would be able to pay nearly $60,000 a year. </p>

<p>I honestly just don't know what to do. I have already been accepted to a state flagship university, but that's it, and I really do not want to go there. The deadline has passed for most schools already, and there would only be a day to apply to schools with a deadline of the 15th (Carleton, Grinnell, Kenyon, etc.) but their FA packages would likely turn out to be the same, right?</p>

<p>Any ideas as to what I should do? Call the FA office at Swarthmore? Apply elsewhere? Talk to an accountant? Cry?</p>

<p>PS: I posted this on the Swarthmore page, too, but I thought I would post it here too just in case.</p>

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<p>I think you AND your parents need to be on that call. But before you dial the number you all need to be clear how MUCH you ARE willing to pay because that might be the first question the financial aid office asks all of you. </p>

<p>You absolutely need to know how much money your parents can spend on your college education. There are still some very good LACs (and LACs that don’t cost $60,000 per year) that have February 1 deadlines for application but you need to move absolutely quickly. If you don’t have a B list, come back with info about what major you are interested, if you have geographic limitations, what your budget is etc. and I’m sure you will get some help. Worse case scenario is you are off to your flagship which isn’t all that bad.</p>

<p>Talking to an accountant isn’t really addressing the problem in my opinion at this point in time.</p>

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<p>What is your EFC per the FAFSA?</p>

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<p>daisychain, Swarthmore is a Profile college.</p>

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<p>I know, just trying to get some sense of why OP’s initial online estimator would have showed a cost of $25k.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your inputs, both of you.</p>

<p>Momofthreeboys, I know that my family can absolutely not handle the $60k, that’s for sure. Ultimately, my parents said that they would be able to cover as much as they can, but that would be around $20k a year, they thought. And I would have to handle the rest, whether in loans, work, whatever. </p>

<p>Honestly, I wasn’t planning on attending a LAC. But Swarthmore fit all of my wants/needs so well that I ended up going there. I have my fair share of experience with LACs, and unless the LAC was among the likes of Carleton, Kenyon, Swarthmore, etc., I would probably go with a small-medium sized research university for economics. No geographic limitation!</p>

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<p>Call Swarthmore and appeal the award.</p>

<p>But, my advice before you make that call is to try to figure out if there’s ANYTHING in your finances that might have skewed the result you got. </p>

<p>(1) Start by running the net price calculator again - do you get the same result you got the first time you did it?</p>

<p>(2) Look at your assets - is there anything significant that was not included in the net price calculator that was included on the CSS Profile?</p>

<p>(3) Go through the CSS Profile with a fine-toothed comb - did you make any mistakes? Are there any discrepancies?</p>

<p>Once you’ve looked at everything, then make that call.</p>

<p>And if you want to send back-up applications to Carleton, Kenyon, etc., then take the day off from school tomorrow and do it. If you’re concerned about getting another inadequate financial aid award, focus on LAC’s that offer both merit and need-based aid. There are several, and that should give you a bit more variety in the awards you get. But, to be honest, even if you’re looking at schools that offer need-based aid only, there’s still the potential that your awards could vary tremendously. Each school that uses Profile has its own formula for calculating aid . . . so there’s really no predicting. (There have been reports here of HUGE variations in awards from one school to another!)</p>

<p>GOOD LUCK!!!</p>

<p>And please let us know how it turns out . . . .</p>

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<p>If Swarthmore’s own Net Price Calculator yielded one figure, and the aid letter is completely different, then run that NPC again and print out the results to have next to you during that phone call. It is perfectly reasonable to ask them why your numbers and theirs are so different.</p>

<p>If Swarthmore proves unaffordable, take a deep breath and consider your options. You can race through some applications for 1/15, look for options with later cut off dates, wait for the space available list to come out in May, or even take a gap year. Your home state U isn’t your only possibility.</p>

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<p>I’ll suggest all of these options to my parents! Thank you all very very so much! It’s great to have this advice. </p>

<p>happymomof1, quick question: what did you mean by “wait for the space available list to come out in May”?</p>

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<p>The list is published each May by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). See [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/media-center/PressRoom/2012-Press-Releases/Pages/SAS2012.aspx]here[/url”&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/media-center/PressRoom/2012-Press-Releases/Pages/SAS2012.aspx]here[/url</a>] for more information (from last year).</p>

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<p>If you were counting on 25k and your parents can only do 20k and the school says 60k, I really don’t see this ending in your favor. Take a deep breath, make a pot of coffee and start on those apps for any school you’re interested in that has a 1/15 deadline. If you’ve got the stats for Swarthmore, you’re probably good for merit at some of those others on your list. Worrying about Swarthmore’s FA should take a back seat until you’ve got more aps in at schools with close deadlines. Good luck!</p>

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<p>dodgersmom’s Point #2: (2) Look at your assets - is there anything significant that was not included in the net price calculator that was included on the CSS Profile?</p>

<p>Do your parents have sizable retirement fund compared to their non-retirement assets? I don’t think that CB’s NPC asks for retirement fund. However, CSS does. I wondered if some schools started counting parents’ retirement fund.</p>

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<p>I think the only difference is that the NPC didn’t include his share in his family’s business, and the CSS asked about it. We’re having a discussion right now–be right back!</p>

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<p>Swarthmore is not only a Profile school, but they have their own (extensive) additional form that you have to fill out in addition to FAFSA and Profile (and NCP Profile and the Business Form that CollegeBoard provides). Questions about trusts and their terms, (including trusts for any family members, like siblings) outside scholarships, pension plan availability, cost of any private school tuition for student or sibling being paid this year, etc. They definitely quiz in detail on parents retirement funds.</p>

<p>Here is my suggestion to the OP:</p>

<ul>
<li>Talk to Swat tomorrow morning. Explain the situation (did not apply elsewhere, and what CAN you pay). But you actually need to press them to give you a new number, because you have to take the steps below if you can’t get them to do anything (or do enough). If they are going to dawdle (“will get back to you next week” or something like that, go ahead with the steps below).</li>
<li>Go see your school guidance counselor tomorrow. Explain the situation to them and ask if they can intervene at colleges you still want to apply to and allow a late application. I think these colleges actually might be understanding… if Swat did not provide the FA info until today, that is not good.<br></li>
<li>Then kick in on essays and get some applications done by the end of this week if you can. (okay, if you were my kid, I would let you skip school for a day or two to do this, honestly).</li>
<li>Note that you may be some better FA offers from other colleges, so give some other LACs a try. But you also want a couple of schools that are more affordable (in state or with reciprocity) if you can. Grinnell does have nice merit aid. Dickinson is another one that does. If you got into Swat, you are probably on the higher end of stats for those schools and have a chance at merit aid if you can get an app in fairly quickly.</li>
</ul>

<p>This does not increase my estimation of Swat… and my kid has applied there… but I think they are a school that does as they darn well please, and the external world can be d*****.</p>

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<p>Clear cut case of why Ed sucks</p>

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<p>I think the only difference is that the NPC didn’t include his share in his family’s business, and the CSS asked about it. We’re having a discussion right now–be right back!</p>

<p>I don’t know about SWAT, but many NPC’s clearly state that their results are not accurate for those who own businesses. It sounds like the business has significant value.</p>

<p>Edit to add…</p>

<p>From Swat’s NPC
The Financial Aid Office reads each aid application carefully to determine a family’s fair share of College expenses and a student’s eligibility for our support. Given the simplicity of the calculator and the complexity of some families’ financial situation, this tool may not be useful for you. Results may not be accurate for you if your parents are not together, if they have married others, if they are involved in corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships, if they have rental properties, claim investment losses, are ill, or have lost jobs.</p>

<p>What are your stats? Are you a NMSF? What is your major? We might be able to direct you to some other schools.</p>

<p>wait for the space available list to come out in May</p>

<p>I don’t think these are the schools that would interest him or would give him the aid he/she needs.</p>

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<ul>
<li>As a reality check – what was your FAFSA EFC? (I know it is a Profile school.)</li>
</ul>

<p>Some other things to check on Profile:

  • Could parent income possibly have been reported in the student income section? (and ditto on parent investments/assets)
  • Did any retirement accounts accidentally get included as assets?
  • Were there any Roth conversions?
  • Did they do any withdrawals from IRA, 401K, Keogh, or SEP plans? Was that reported properly as a taxable distribution?
  • Was there any debt forgiven that is being reported as income?
  • Were there significant capital gains?
  • Do you have a lot of home equity?
  • And then the biggie – how was the business valued? Was it a very conservative value? Did any debt on the business get subtracted from the value? Did your parent’s only report the family’s share of the value (if it is also owned by others)?
  • And another biggie: was there a lot of depreciation or amortization reported for the business? Any section 179 deduction (to immediately expense certain business purchases)?
  • If Swat asked about cars, did your family recently purchase any new cars?
  • Do you own a second home or vacation property? Rental property?</p>

<p>I’ve seen people make every one of these mistakes; it is not hard to do. I’d really drill down into this BEFORE calling SWAT. (Though as the student I would put my attention – tomorrow – on applying to a few other schools.)</p>

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<p>I’m courious what is this space available list?</p>

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<p>The space available list is one that comes out after most everyone has committed to colleges, and schools still have spots left and will take applicants. But it isn’t going to give you any guarantees of any deals on financial aid. Swarthmore is a school where you probably are going to get as good as you can get. There are not a whole lot of schools that are more generous than that. As Mom2collegekids said, NPCs are not all reliable when one owns a business. How things are valued can vary. I think you should do as other posters have said and see if you can get some resolution with Swarthmore, explaining your situation, but the gap between what you can pay and what Swat says your family should pay is large enough that I am not optimistic.</p>

<p>I think you should apply to some good Catholic schools with some merit money and your state schools as options. With stats to get into Swarthmore, I think you will get some substantial merit money. Yes, you missed some deadlines, but there are some schools out there that still are taking apps and have merit awards. Many don’t award till the very end. So you need to start looking. I don’t think any of the full need schools are likely to give you any more consideration than Swarthmore. Schools do give ED fin aid packages their best shot because they want to be done with them wth a 100% accept.</p>

<p>I am curious, too as to what your FAFSA EFC is. SOme schools that use FAFSA only, may give you some hefty awards as you are selective school material so that even if the school does not tend to meet full need, you would be a serious contender to get a nice package if you do qualify.</p>

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<p>Thank you so so much everybody!</p>

<p>With all that talk about the FAFSA EFC, I have no idea. We haven’t used FAFSA yet, because we were under the assumption that Swarthmore’s CSS Profile would be all we needed to fill out. If it isn’t too much work, I could potentially have my parents complete this tomorrow.</p>

<p>I think I may stay home from school and figure all of this out. However, semester finals are on Thursday and Friday, so this is an unfortunate time to miss school. I’m probably going to do it, though–my parents are fine with it. </p>

<p>My dad says he factored in the business’s worth and some other stuff in the NPC estimate, which is partially why he’s so confused. </p>

<p>Intparent–you mentioned meeting with the guidance counselor and having her contact schools for a late application? Is this really a possibility? Anyone else with experience with this?</p>

<p>Okay, a little update:
-I have just applied to Case Western Reserve University, University of Minnesota, and Carleton College.
-I have already applied to UWisc (accepted) and to UChicago (deferred).
-I plan to apply to Kenyon, St. Olaf, and Grinnell, but I am looking for some other solid schools that 1) I haven’t already missed the deadline, 2) have some decent academics [if they’re some extremely, not-so-great, obscure school that may offer me merit aid, I think I’d much rather go to UMinn or UWisc], 3) may offer me some sort of aid, need- or merit-based.
-My dad has looked over the CSS profile and believes that everything is correct.
-My dad also plans on contacting Swarthmore tomorrow to maybe work something out.
-I’m disapointed beyond belief. I loved Swarthmore from the very beginning, and after I was accepted, I became increasingly ecstatic about having the potential to attend–reading every single page on the website, every review on College *******, conversing on the ED accepted students FB page. I’m having a really hard time thinking about other colleges after being so sure about attending Swarthmore for the past month. </p>

<p>Am I missing something? I appreciate all of your advice and help and consideration so so much. My parents and guidance counselor, while they care quite a lot, don’t know much at all about applying to colleges or anything related to it. So honestly, I really want to thank you all for what you’ve done already.</p>

<p>I’ll try and post some updates as we go.</p>