They came back with more financial aid, after we said no

Paying for College
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<p>Choice #1 had a rude financial aid office. It was so bad, that even though my son had earned outside scholarships, they would not even bother with the paperwork from the outside scholarship. When my son tried to ask about maybe being able to earn more aid, and I asked at a different time, the financial aid office came back, very rude, and made it clear that there would be no more and treated us like we were scum for even asking about being able to get more. Meanwhile, the outside financial aid/scholarships, they would not even do the paperwork. The EF actually called them multiple times and were blown off. It was bad enough that the rep from the EF called us and told us how bad it was. About the 2nd or 3rd time, my son relented and said that when things were thing bad, it was probably a sign of what the next 4 years would be like. </p>

<p>So, he accepted admission to the 2nd choice college. And turned down admission at the former 1st choice. On the online form for turning down admission, it asked a reason and he simply put "financial aid." </p>

<p>Now, he got an email saying there might be more financial aid/scholarships available, and to fill out this form and let them know if he is interested. He said no, so I don't know what they would give. BUT, it would seem to me, when they wouldn't even bother to do any paperwork (which was minimal) for outside money, that did not even come from them, and it was so bad that it prevented my son from going, that perhaps, that itty bitty bit of paperwork would have been easy for them to do, OR, they could have mentioned at the time that there might be more aid available. I guess they wanted to see him actually say no. It is as if it was a poker game to them. And they were bluffing. And now that my son said no and moved on, they are trying to get him back in. </p>

<p>That is just uncool. The whole college applying thing and scholarships and financial aid and all is quite stressful without someone making it in to a big game like this.</p>

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<p>It is difficult sometimes to separate one staff-person with a bad attitude from an entire college administration that treats their students badly. One way of making a distinction is to ask for a supervisor and explain your problem. If the supervisor makes no effort to correct the problem, that shows it is a more systemic problem.</p>

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<p>Any business can have rude, incompetent, lazy employees. If they are in the Admissions Office, I would say put up, as you and your kid is highly unlikely to have any dealings with them after admissions. But financial aid is a whole other thing, since you need to work with them for all 4 years. You do not want to deal with a financial aid office that is not efficient and on the ball. Rudeness…no excuse, but if they get the job done, it’s a lesser sin.</p>

<p>The problem with financial aid offices, in general, is that most of the time, they are the bean counters. They are given so much money, a book of rules, and they have to make it work. They do not look at the applications, they know nothing other than what the numbers show on the fin aid paperwork. They never have enough money even at the most generous schools and they have to stretch it the best they could. </p>

<p>So dealing with financial aid is never a pleasure. They usually don’t care whether you student comes to the school or not, or whether you are happy with the award or not. It has been said, that a college president knows that the financial aid office is doing its job when most people are unhappy with it. Yeah. And that is pretty much the case. </p>

<p>However, they should not be rude, they are supposed to go over any questions and explain the awards to you , and it is an essential part of their job to process any outside awards. When they are not doing what their very purpose is, that is a major problem. Please let the college know. They probably do, as I doubt you were picked out personally to slack off on. </p>

<p>Sometimes, if the fin aid awards are so inadequate all around, and/or the office is so incompetent, negligent and nasty as in your case here, a lot of students and families get turned off and just go elsewhere. Then admissions is on the line, and they need to round up some acceptees. Maybe more money is given to fin aid to distribute, maybe some more "merit " awards are given to admissions to give out to fill the class. It looks like that has happened here.</p>

<p>My son turned down his schools early in the process,because he knew pretty much from EA which school he wanted. He did do due diligence in checking out the other choices and waited until all of the merit offers were on the table, but the one kid did not wait until May 1 to let his school know he was coming, and let the other schools know he was not. I guess that is rare, because, he was the only one to get phone calls and inquiries from the schools he released, asking why, and if money were an issue, in some cases, and what it would take to change his mind. Surprising. I guess if you don’t let them know until the last minute, this does not happen as it did not with any of my others. </p>

<p>That’s why I tell everyone to appeal and ask about the awards. Let admissions know you have a money issue of that is the case. Sometimes there are mistakes made, sometimes there is some more money to be had.</p>

<p>But in this case, I would complain about the nasty, rude, incompetent, lazy fin aid officer and let the school know that s/he was a primary reason that the school went off the list, Your input in particular , would be valuable in that you have a specific thing that was not handled that should have been. You can nail the person on something rather than with vague adjectives and adverbs. When someone does not do something that is part of the job, it is a serious problem and the college, really any organization is well served to be told.</p>

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<p>The actual admissions counselor had been wonderful. So, I finally did call him and tell him about the experiences. Since my son, me, and the person at the EF were treated that way, making it so we could not bring in outside money, and on multiple occasions, I felt he needed to know. I didn’t want to have to tell him, as he himself was so great. But on the otherhand, he does all this hard work to travel and interview and tell about the school and everything else, only to have the financial aid office (and whomever else the EF tried to deal with) do what they did. We had also asked about appealing to get more financial aid from the institution (however, in the end, my son earned enough outside aid that we would not have even needed that) and were told no, they never do that. Then, after all was said and done, they came forward letting us know there would be more money. So, basically, it seems that until you say no, you are out, they won’t consider giving more money. They are bluffing. But, we did not know that our son’s future was just a game to them, so we had no clue it was just a bluff. Doesn’t matter. We want to deal with straight forward people. His future is not a game.</p>

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<p>Just remember that admissions are the sales folks out there to sell the school to you and your student and get the MONEY from you to the school as well as the best students. The financial aid office has to figure out the money angle for those who are deemed unable to pay. They do not tend to be so wonderful and nice. They don’t care beans about your kid, they don’t know him. The only beans they care about are the ones they have to count. But they should be doing their jobs, and rudeness is not something belongs in any department of any organization.</p>

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<p>I honestly have to disagree. The “bean counters”, as you so disdainfully call them, have been very helpful everywhere S13 was accepted to except for 1 school. They were helpful, had something else (no matter how small) to offer & very knowledgeable. We made appointments will all of them but the 2 state schools, when we went to visit after being accepted, they knew who he was, what he wanted to major in & genuinely cared even if there was nothing more they could offer. After narrowing it down to 3, he expressed that they were on his short list & all responded politely to us. One even saw an error on the appeal paperwork we submitted & helped us to correct it which resulted in eligibility for more aid! </p>

<p>lmkh70 - it is very wrong how they treated you & your son.</p>

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<p>lmkh70 -</p>

<p>There also is the chance that after the admissions officer passed on your comments, a few heads rolled in that financial aid office. If there are some new people in charge now, perhaps they hoped to make things right.</p>

<p>But truth be told, I’m with you on this one. You should not have to knock down a whole bunch of doors just to bring your kid’s own outside scholarship money to a college! They should have had a red carpet out for that!</p>

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<p>I apologize that my “Bean Counter” title comes off as disdainful, as my sentiments about them are not as such. I have the utmost respect from them, being a bean counter myself in college major, jobs and current work. I think that Kelsmom is a treasure , and I think they have a very tough job, the toughest. If anything, I tend to zing the Admissions Folks for a number of reasons. I’ve never mocked financial aid, I have admittedly, done so with Admissions. So again, my sincere apologies as no disdain was intended, </p>

<p>I am glad that you got the reception you did at fin aid as you should have. I wanted to make the point that wherease Admissions are the ones to roll out the red carpet and do the rah rahs, fin aid is the one who presents the cost. The quote about the College Presidents was not one I made up and is one that makes the rounds. It’s a very tough job as it always is when one has to make a budget balance which they do. </p>

<p>In Imkh’s cae, that school has a problem and should be made aware. Not only were the employees rude, but they are not doing their jobs.</p>

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<p>School #2 was wonderful with the financial aid office, and every office actually. So no issues. They even offered to do an appeal for us and help us, but we didn’t end up needing it.</p>

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<p>cptofthehouse - I suppose I am a bit sensitive as I am a Finance Manager. ;)</p>

<p>lmkh70 - glad to know school #2 was so helpful! Glad you let them know that their FA office was the one that lost your son as a student.</p>

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<p>So dealing with financial aid is never a pleasure.</p>

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<p>It is always a pleasure dealing with financial aid at my school! :slight_smile: (I AM financial aid at my school)</p>

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<p>At many colleges, there will be glitches and complexities in financial aid. The question is whether the college staff corrects mistakes when they are identified, and provides clear directions on what is needed from the student and parents so that glitches don’t become real problems.</p>