<p>Would appreciate any insights you all have with regard to FA and the SSS "Report of Family Contribution."</p>
<p>Two of the schools we applied to for our son are day schools that make their financial aid decisions separate from admission decisions. Both schools called this week to let us know our son had been accepted, and each hopes to make a FA offer next week. Or so I thought.</p>
<p>Today we received a letter from a third school (a BS we applied to as a day student for 9th grade) informing us that our son had been granted admission, but that he will not be receiving any financial aid. Since they said they use the SSS estimated financial contribution as the basis for their decisions, does that mean we're unlikely to get aid from the the first two schools as well? And I <em>still</em> can't access that number from the SSS website, so I don't even know what figure they based their decision on. </p>
<p>There's just no way we can afford 100% tuition at these schools, all of which are close to $30k a year for day students. The BS balloons to more than $40k for 11th and 12th grade when boarding is required. My understanding is that you have a much better chance at being awarded FA for those years, but who would take that gamble?</p>
<p>I'm hoping that we're comparing an orange to two apples, but if they all go by that same SSS number, am I just kidding myself? I was really expecting a FA offer from each of these schools, and expected them all to be in the same general ballpark. Now I'm crossing my fingers hoping that boarding schools and day schools have very different protocols they're working with.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi. Did the school that accepted your son tell you they based their decision on your EFC (expected family contribution)? I wonder if maybe the school just doesn’t have enough FA to go around.</p>
<p>We are applying through A Better Chance (ABC) and were told that even though the schools all go by the same EFC, we may get five totally different FA offers, varying from admitted with full aid based on EFC, admitted with partial aid (where we pay more than EFC), to admitted and waitlisted for aid, to admitted with no aid, to waitlisted for admittance and aid, etc. I think it just varies depending on how much money the school has to offer and they probably don’t have enough to cover all qualified/admitted students.</p>
<p>Can you call one of the schools and ask what the SSS report says your EFC is? I saw that someone in another thread did that since they couldn’t access it from SSS.</p>
<p>Thank you , MSHopeful. Yes, that was exactly what I wanted to know: Were we turned down because we didn’t qualify for FA or because they just didn’t have enough money to go around? I called today, and it was definitely the latter. So the good news is that there’s still a chance the other schools will offer us something.</p>
<p>And I still can’t get the EFC off the SSS website even at this late date! Can you see yours?</p>
<p>Hey Lucie. Everyone has been asking me how I got my EFC and the answer is: I totally lucked out. I log on to the SSS website everyday because they keep screwing up documents I send them. For some reason, when I logged in on 1/13/10 I was able to access my Report. Ever since then, it has the unavailable message.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear he wasn’t denied aid based on your EFC and that you may still good offers from the other schools. Good luck.</p>
<p>You should win some kind of award, MSH, for getting that rare glimpse of an actual number. I’ve been checking every day for WEEKS and no luck. Even the FA officer I spoke with yesterday at the BS had trouble accessing their system, although she finally was able to log in and get back to me with the number, bless her heart.</p>
<p>Have you gotten decisions from any of the schools your daughter applied to? In these parts, the schools make their first-round decisions by Feb. 2. My understanding was that they’d make their best FA offers at the same time, but the other schools my son applied to will all make their FA decisions this week. I hope we get that information before my son is supposed to go back and visit again. I’d hate to get him even more excited about the schools if, in the end, we’re not going to be able to afford to send him to there.</p>
<p>Hey Lucie, maybe my award should be full FA at my daughter’s top choice school! LOL.</p>
<p>Here (Bay Area, CA) the private day schools all send acceptance letters on March 11 or 12. So we won’t know until then. Since we’re going through A Better Chance, we have to let them know my daughter’s top choice, 2nd choice and 3rd choice schools and they help with the admissions process. She has only visited one school so far (we’ve done open houses and activity/assessment days, but only one visit), but she is pretty set on which schools she wants. This may change after her visits, but we shall see.</p>
<p>Good luck with the process. Keep me updated.</p>