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

Paying for College
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<p>I took this from an results page to give you an idea of what type of student I am for other school suggestions. </p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul][<em>] SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
[</em>] ACT (breakdown): 32C, 35E, 32M, 31R, 30S
[<em>] ACT superscore (breakdown): 33C, 35E, 32M, 31R, 33S
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 4.1
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/256
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): 5-Stats, 4-Lang, Gov, US Hist
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP HUG, Art History, Calc. Standard chem, psych, etc.
[<em>] Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):[/ul]
Not sure what to put here–ExCEL Award, NFL Degree of Distinction, National AP Scholar with Distinction
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Probably my best aspect of my application, have always tried to be very involved and have always loved it
Student Council-President
Project 4 Teens-Captain (super cool group, teach 6-9th graders about abstinence and sobriety, probably favorite EC I do)
Speech-3 year, conference champion, section finalist
DECA-2 year VP, 3-time state finalist
Tennis-3 year varsity
[<em>] Job/Work Experience:
Fast food for two years, janitorial services manager for four years, congressional campaign intern for a few months
[</em>] Volunteer/Community Service:
Lots of stuff about Special Olympics over the past three years
[li] Summer Experience:[/ul][/li]I was at home like four weeks this summer, haha. </p>

<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ul]
[<em>] Essays:[list] really liked my common app essay, about how it’s socially unconventional to talk to strangers, common app EC short essay was about Project for Teens
[</em>] Other (teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):[/ul][<em>] Teacher Recommendation #1: English teacher I had for 2.5 years, speech coach, student council adviser, has a PhD, got to know her very very well
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation #2: Math teacher I had for two years, knew pretty well from church, loved him as a teacher
[li] Counselor Rec: has a lot of recommendations to fill out, but got to know her well</p>[/li]
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] U.S. State/Territory or Country: Minnesota, USA
[</em>] School Type: medium sized public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Caucasian
[</em>] Gender: male
[<em>] Income Bracket Range: ~$150k but apparently it’s higher than my family had estimated! Haha
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):[/ul] N/A</p>

<p>Reflection[list]
[<em>] Strengths: ECs, test scores
[</em>] Weaknesses: no real hooks</p>

<p>And then a little bit about what I’m looking for:
-small community feel
-accessible professors
-top-notch academics (most important)
-location doesn’t matter, hopefully somewhat near a major city (loved that Swat was 20 min away from Philly)
-I don’t want to be too highly qualified or too unqualified
-liberal atmosphere
-major in econ, most likely
-intellectual in nature (dream job: econ professor)</p>

<p>I asked Swarthmore admissions once what the number one reason to go to Swarthmore was, and they responded “to be comfortably uncomfortable by joining a community of lifelong learners and doers!” And I ended up writing my Why Swat? essay on how each word of this reason explained perfectly why I wanted to go to Swarthmore. Probably makes more sense if you read it, but it turned out to be my favorite essay.</p>

<p>HOPE THIS HELPS! While I have these “criteria,” I’m open to all suggestions. I’m willing to consider most colleges!!!</p>

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<p>If you have the CSS profile done, the FAFSA should be quick work-- just transferring some info into another. FAFSA’S EFC will also not take into account business assets for businesses under 100 people and the primary home. Good luck!</p>

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<p>FAFSA also does not consider your NPC’s income or assets at all - so it should be easy to do, but will also likely give you a very misleading indication of your financial aid prospects at Profile schools.</p>

<p>I’d suggest taking a look at Beloit. And you may also want to take a look at the schools listed on the [Colleges</a> That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/) website. Yes, some of them qualify as “obscure” - but that doesn’t necessarily mean “not-so-great”! :)</p>

<p>And I second intparent’s suggestion to contact your school guidance counselor to see if he/she can intervene on your behalf with some of the schools you haven’t yet applied to. No, I’ve no personal experience with doing this, but intparent is right - getting your ED school’s FA aid notification this late in the season really is a circumstance that merits some special consideration from the other schools you’re interested in.</p>

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<p>I don’t think FAFSA EFC is going to be relevant since the business value seems to have caused the problem. Maybe there’s also some home equity issues. It sounds like the problem is with something that CSS catches, but FAFSA might not. </p>

<p>I’m not positive about this, but even tho Swat is a CSS school, it probably requires you to fill out FAFSA as well if you’re a domestic student. It will want to see if a student qualifies for any Federal aid. </p>

<p>I don’t think you should miss school. Have your dad call Swat to find out what the confusion is with the numbers. </p>

<p>Another issue may be is with “business deductions”. CSS schools often “add back in” some business deductions. That would increase income and cause a bigger contribution. The difference between expecting a $25k contribution and a $60k contribution is a lot. Unless there has been some huge mistake, it’s really not likely that Swat is going to give you $35k in aid.</p>

<p>I suspect that if your dad’s input for business value is accurate, then the issue may be “business deductions”.</p>

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<p>*Income Bracket Range: ~$150k but apparently it’s higher than my family had estimated! Haha
*</p>

<p>Unless Swat is a school that gives “super aid,” then your contribution should be higher than $25k with that income.</p>

<p>FAFSA also does not consider your NCP’s income or assets at all - so it should be easy to do, but will also likely give you a very misleading indication of your financial aid prospects at Profile schools.</p>

<p>Are your parents married? If not, then only your custodial parent’s info goes on FAFSA which would also cause a different result. Your non custodial parent’s info wont’ be on FAFSA.</p>

<p>If you look on Swat’s FA pages, you’ll see that FAFSA is req’d.
<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/financialaid/1314/1314.prospective.sfar.pdf[/url]”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/financialaid/1314/1314.prospective.sfar.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Could it be that Swat gave no aid because the OP did NOT send FAFSA? If it’s a requirement, then I think they may not give need aid if not done. Possible?</p>

<p>Being a business owner throws the NPC off - sometimes by a lot! The only way to know the why’s is to call them ASAP. Also, you do need to do any other apps right away and do have your guidance folks try to help you out on late app to school(s) you may be qualified for and be able to afford. </p>

<p>Good luck. As another post says, ED can be problematic for sure. I think the whole “in love with ONE school” thing is a big problem that the colleges perpetuate to get families to throw financial reasoning out the window and send Suzie/Johnnie to their “dream school”. There are lots of colleges you can be happy and successful at and afford. Find a few and don’t look back.</p>

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<p>That wouldn’t be it. All Swarth requies for their ED applicants by this point is the CSS, 2011 tax return, W-2, and paystub, and the last 2012 paystub. The FAFSA is required for later, but not right now.</p>

<p>You also may want to ask if Swarth seeing the Business/Farm supplement would help them better understand your family’s business and financial situation. The supplement is required for RD students, but I’m not sure about ED students.</p>

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<p>I doubt the lack of FAFSA at this point means anything. this is an ED student. FAFSA wasn’t available prior to Jan 1. FAFSA would just be used later to see if a Pell Grant should be awarded and aid adjusted accordingly.</p>

<p>I’m guessing that Swat has seen the business info. This student’s FA pkg was delayed because they requested more info. </p>

<p>The FA pkg should have come thru right after the acceptance. this delay in getting the FA pkg, which may not be resolved, has likely sadly caused this student to miss out on other schools’ merit deadlines.</p>

<p>Since Swat is known for good aid, it’s hard to imagine that another CSS school that only gives need based aid would provide a better pkg.</p>

<p>If anyone knows of particular schools that would still award merit for his stats, please recommend them.</p>

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<p>We have seen repeated reports on this forum of just that happening, though. Since each Profile school uses its own criteria, awards can vary dramatically from one school to another . . . even when the only requirement for the award is “financial need.”</p>

<p>From the posts above, it sounds like Swarthmore requests some very detailed financial information that other schools do not.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes, maybe. I thought the more detailed info was the business info. Other CSS schools do ask for that as well. A Columbia parent was very distraught last year when after providing that info, they got no aid for their child, either…when they had expected at least $25k in grants.</p>

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<p>I am not convinced that this is true. The NPC at Swat gave us the LOWEST estimate of aid of any college we plugged in for. They did not even offer a loan. They also request more info (picking through your finances in more detail) than any other school D applied to. Via that extra form they require, which asks a bunch of stuff not on the CSS. If they are asking, I assume they are using the info.</p>

<p>Isaiahstock, I do think you GC should be able to help with this. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing they are for. If your GC is any good… they will have contacts at many schools, and will be able to explain the situation. (Although I see you said above that your GC does not know much about the college application process, so that is not a good thing…).</p>

<p>That said, with income of $150K, you are probably going to be close to full pay at many schools even with a sister in college. I would focus on schools with merit aid (Carleton is not one, obviously, although your app is already in there). Also, you have missed the date for consideration for merit aid at Kenyon; they request RD apps by 12/15.</p>

<p>By the way, you will need to do the FAFSA for pretty much any college you are applying to. Even the Profile schools still want it. And they will want 2012 tax returns (personal and business). The FA awards are usually not considered final until they have all that information (the tax returns confirm the data you put in on the Profile and the FAFSA, that is why it is not final).</p>

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<p>Oh, yeah, forgot the FAFSA couldn’t have been submitted earlier, only a preliminary CSS profile. I should have remembered this as I had to do this for my kid a few months ago, but I just wasn’t thinking. So, looks like it’s the business that threw the NPC vs. actual offer off a lot. Could be business valuation and/or business profit that’s reported on 1040 isn’t accepted at face value by CSS schools - items added back into income like expenses, profit sharing, company retirement contributions, whatever they want to add. </p>

<p>The OP’s parents need to discuss this with FA office right away. Maybe they get lucky and can convince them that an incorrect assumption was made by the college in valuing either business valuation or what may have been added to income from the business. Remember, income counts much more than assets when they determine need-based aid. For every $2 of added income you are likely losing about $1 aid or thereabouts. That’s the number I’ve seen anyhow, I’m sure each CSS institution is different. You can see how quickly aid can change though if some big business expenses are added back to your income by the college FA formula. OUCH!</p>

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<p>The NPC at Swat gave us a very unfavorable estimate of aid due to about $400,000 of equity in our home in California. We can’t use that equity since we need a place to live. We emailed Swat about this, and got a very rude reply. This experience didn’t sell us on Swat.</p>

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<p>Yup, that is Swat’s reputation…</p>

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<p><< We can’t use that equity since we need a place to live.>></p>

<p>No, but they probably surmised that you could borrow against it. Most schools anticipate that families will pay by some combination of past earnings (savings), current earnings, and future earnings (loans).</p>

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<p>OP, I guess if your family’s contribution needs to start with a “2” and if the appeal to Swat doesn’t bring the net cost down that far you won’t be able to go there.</p>

<p>So proceed with the appeal and see how it goes.</p>

<p>P.S. Someone with home equity of 400k does NOT have to leave the house to access that wealth. One can choose to take out a home equity loan - or not - to help fund a college education. In other words, it is reasonable for Swat to look at that amount of home equity as assets than can be tapped to pay for college. Post #33 puts this thread in a new light . . .</p>

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<p>I wish colleges would just publish their whole FA formula on their websites and be done with it. :(</p>

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<p>But many other schools do not make a similar surmise. For example, Swat’s neighbor Haverford.</p>

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<p>Also, due to our relatively low income, we would not be able to get a home equity loan.</p>

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<p>How? The financial situation described in that post has nothing to do with the OP.</p>