<p>Actually, I AM willing to borrow that much to send my child to a private school, it has just been a shock in the last 2 weeks to get these financial aid offers. I really thought that since my daughter was at the top of their pool of applicants that they would offer more scholarship and grants. One school has actually offered her a really good deal, which will cost the two of us (my daughter and myself) under 10k per year, and if that is the best offer she will take it (it was one of her top three schools all along). </p>
<p>I appreciate the real advice that I get on this forum, as I have learned more in the past year than I could possibly have guessed when I found this site.</p>
<p>Stanford included a work study contribution and a self help contribution. The WashU refund check is meant to cover incidentals and travel. Unlike WashU, Stanford does include those expenses in the COA, but the student contribution is greater than the included non-billable expenses.</p>
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<p>Right, I know. I was using that to illustrate that I know nothing about taxes.</p>
<p>*Actually, I AM willing to borrow that much to send my child to a private school, it has just been a shock in the last 2 weeks to get these financial aid offers. **I really thought that since my daughter was at the top of their pool of applicants that they would offer more scholarship and grants. ** *</p>
<p>I’ve noticed that even when kids are in the top of an applicant pool, it’s harder to get all costs covered. Sometimes when a child is NMF, a full ride or near-full ride can be gotten. </p>
<p>* One school has actually offered her a really good deal, which will cost the two of us (my daughter and myself) under 10k per year, **and if that is the best offer she will take it<a href=“it%20was%20one%20of%20her%20top%20three%20schools%20all%20along”>/B</a>.*</p>
<p>That sounds like a good deal. It’s a good thing it’s one of your D’s top schools. :)</p>
<p>One of my schools e-mailed me and told me that they wanted me to send in copies of my parents’ and mine tax returns. The school gave me a bad FA package, would it be good to send them copies even though the package was bad? Is there a remote chance they could change the package based on the tax returns?</p>
<p>bluecrayon12 - I believe it is better to do it and have nothing happen than to not do it and always wonder…this whole process is such a lottery that the only thing that hurts you is to not play.</p>
<p>bluecrayon, my son got a bad package from a school that also asked for tax returns. They are not even in the ballpark as far as meeting need, so we are not sending them a thing. We are crossing them off our list. They are just that far off the mark and their sticker price is insanely high. You might have a different outcome, but I feel that if there is such a huge gap I am not going to cooperate any longer. Thankfully, my son has some good options without this school.</p>
<p>^^^^ That’s why I said I’d write them. If in your mind you know it’s not doable with its current offer, then I wouldn’t worry about offending them. Say, “We are hesitant to send tax information at this time. However, if doing so would result in a stronger financial aid package, then we might reconsider.”</p>
<p>YDS, that might be worthwhile if the spread were a few thousand (everyone has a different EFC and pain tolerance), but in our case we got a package, if you can call it that, that was literally all loans from a school with pricetag that is over 54,000 per year. This was the only private school that did not offer my son a merit scholarship either, and it was not reach school (even his reach school offered him a merit award). In our case, this was an admit/deny situation, so for us there is nothing to write about.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t mean you should, nem. I don’t know HOW bad crayon’s FA package was so my feeling is if it’s close, then what’s it hurt. You never know what you might scare up. </p>
<p>On the '10 thread I told the story of last week calling the regional adcom of one of ds’s schools to RSVP to a reception, and he volunteered that if ds wrote him an e-mail then he’d get ds more aid. Who knew that’s all it took? Anyway, it’s emboldening me to throw lots of stuff to the wall and see what sticks.</p>
<p>YDS, you have a very valid point. Interesting about the regional adcom’s comments. For the adcom to volunteer that, it sounds as though they want your son badly, and/or they are worried about their yield.</p>
<p>I agree that they seem to want him. The tour we took last summer was overwhelming in the attention we rcv’d. He’s not even a NMSF (though he is commended and a NHispS). After the adcom mentionted add’l money, I volunteered that the COA was higher than we expected because, after closer investigation, we realized their numbers didn’t include books/travel. I figured, since he’s offering up more bucks I’d let him know that we’d like a LOT more! lol</p>
<p>The amounts you show don’t add up to $51,960. Are your parents paying the amount that isn’t covered on FA?</p>
<p>If so, with this package you will have about $7,500 per year in loans. And that amount will probably go up slightly each year. Only you can decide if that is an amount of debt that you want to take on. You can use a financial aid calculator to figure out how much your payments will be.</p>
<p>If your parents aren’t coming up with the $13,710 that isn’t accounted for, then you need a lot more than the $7,500 per year in loans!</p>
<p>It looks good to me too. Especially since there isn’t a summer earnings contribution so if your child earns money in the summer he or she can cut back on the amount of loans.</p>
<p>The amounts you show don’t add up to $51,960. Are your parents paying the amount that isn’t covered on FA?</p>
<p>If so, with this package you will have about $7,500 per year in loans. And that amount will probably go up slightly each year. Only you can decide if that is an amount of debt that you want to take on. You can use a financial aid calculator to figure out how much your payments will be.</p>
<p>If your parents aren’t coming up with the $13,710 that isn’t accounted for, then you need a lot more than the $7,500 per year in loans!"</p>
<p>Sorry, the COA is $49,152. The $52,960 comes from the $2,808 (includes personal expenses, book and supplies, and personal travel). The cost is $19,125 or a total aid of $38,250. What exactly does this mean? Would this be doable or not? I’m on the fence.</p>
It’s a good thing it’s one of your D’s top schools. :)</p>
Anyway, it’s emboldening me to throw lots of stuff to the wall and see what sticks.</p>