<p>Some of you may have followed my saga of appealing the horrible FA award from my daughter's first choice school. I filed an appeal on April 4, was told it was in improper form on April 12, and filed a new appeal on April 14. The school's policy states that all appeals are processed within 2 weeks of the file being complete. Given the fact taht she simply cannot attend unless she is given at least 6,000 more aid, the timing is critical. </p>
<p>The FA person processing the appeal has twice requested "additional" information, which, in fact, she already had in her posession, as those documents had been filed with the appeal. As of yesterday, she e-mailed my daughter saying that she would make a determination on the appeal "in about a week." Ummmm.....does anyone else notice that May 1 is Sunday? Now, the FA person will NOT return my calls, and only e-mails my daughter. I have left a voice mail and sent an e-mail under my daughter's name quoting their policy and asking for them to expedite the appeal. </p>
<p>What other recourse do I have? Is it time to call the Director and yell and scream?</p>
<p>First thing is just to calm down. If they're not answering yoru phone calls anymore then the office is probably already getting as frustrated with you as you are with them. that DEFINITELY won't help your daughter any.
Second, call the admissions office of the first school and your daughter's second school and ask for a time extension on making a decision. Explain that this is based on financial aid information that you're waiting for. Most admissions office are understanding about this factor and are willing to work with students to allow for a few days/week extension. There are even some schools where if you decline you can always go back and accept again (a friend had to do this for financial reasons a few years ago).
Also, understand that there are probably a few hundred other students in this predicament and the school is probably busy dealing not only with other incoming freshmen and their appeals but with continuing students who may have just received an offer they can't afford either.
And finally, keep in mind that the admissions office and financial office are direct indicators of the school itself. If they are disorganized, what kind of education do you think your daughter will receive? I know of several friends (myself included) that had a first choice pick and were EXTREMELY disappointed with the organization, courteousness, and professionalism of the offices we dealt with during the application process. The end result was that it turned us all off from the school completely. It happens.</p>
<p>I have hardly been barraging them with calls. I have placed two calls during this process, neither of which has been acknowledged or returned. </p>
<p>I would have turned my back on this place weeks ago, particularly in light of the generosity and high service orientation of school choice #2...but daughter insists we keep trying.</p>
<p>I assume you are hoping for more need based aid.
Is this a school that promises to meet 100% of need or is this one of the many schools that gap?
( check usnews reports for average $$ of loans at graduation)
Are they meeting the EFC? or is it that they have placed your EFC too high to reach?
If they are a 100% need met school AND they have offered a package that meets EFC there isn't a lot you can do.
If they are a 100% need met school and they are not meeting EFC- then there is a lot you can do.
Sounds like they gap however- schools with lower endowments & public schools often do this- they save money for students who have a huge hook- you might try giving them additional documentation if you already haven't done shown to add weight to your argument that you can't afford it.</p>
<p>My D school meets 100% of need and no more even though we have to borrow to meet EFC- for us it is worth it- but if they didn't even meet 100% of EFC there is no way we could afford it</p>
<p>Can you reach someone else in the office and let them know you have been unable to get in touch with the person who had been helping you and you are wondering if there might be someone else who could answer your question. (No yelling or screaming, please.)</p>
<p>My EFC is around 16. COA is 40,000. Award is 11,000 grants, 2500 Stafford. So the "gap" is huge. I have also argued that my EFC is too high based on some extenuating factors, hoping that this would nudge the aid amount upwards.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my daughter's SAT's are miles above the mean(she had 1420, they have an average around 1150) for this school, but her GPA is average (3.2 at a highly competitive prep school) -- and they will not give any merit aid on a GPA under 3.6, regardless of other factors.</p>
<p>I really dislike this school and thier attitude....but it is her #1.....and she would be the one attending.</p>
<p>Two years ago, my son had similar stats. He got terrific music merit aid. BUT there were some schools that would not even consider him for academic merit aid based on his GPA of 3.3. We did not have success getting finaid increased anywhere (we did not, however, qualify for need based aid at all).</p>
<p>I don't understand - I see that they do offer to meet 100% of need
IS there any workstudy or Perkins loans?
Unsubsidized loans?
It seems as if their total package should be quite a bit larger if they are not gapping-
I don't necessarily agree with you that your EFC is too high, our EFC is $15,000 and our before tax is about $25,000 less than what you have said on another thread you take for income and I don't know how far you would get with that argument..
[quote]
Duke will meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need as determined by University calculations.
[/quote]
Question is the $16,000 EFC the FAFSA EFC or the EFC Duke is using?
IF they have their own forms/PROFILE etc. they may have adjusted your EFC upwards ( although that would be quite an adjustment)</p>
<p>This is University of Denver. They do NOT meet 100 percent of need. </p>
<p>Income is that of a single parent with two kids in private college, and the wage itself is substantially lower than AIG.</p>
<p>Anyway, I finally got their response by catching the FA person on the phone today, and she told me that they increased the aid by 1,000 only. She states that they NEVER meet full need. So D will go to Eckerd, where they have been extremely generous, extremely helpful, and is the school I would rather see her go to anyway.</p>
<p>oh'oh- bummer
so your EFC for one daughter is $16,000 with another child in college- I was thinking private K-12.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good plan- if Eckerd is a lot better to deal with- that will be much less stressful for the next 4 years- cause even if U of Denver did meet need for some reason this year- they might decide to not give anything for the next 3 years- some schools do- bait and switch like that : (</p>