Hi!
I was recently admitted into UMich feb 9th after being deferred early action. I was waiting for my financial aid offer when they sent a newsletter out saying that they’d contact me if they needed any documents. After a while, they sent me another email saying my financial aid offer was ready, but when I went on Wolverine Access, it said that they requested my irs transcript on feb 10th, even though I never got an email. My financial aid offer was literally no grants, just loans, even though my fafsa says that my need is well over 45k. If I submit my IRS transcript, is there a chance that the aid offer will change? or is the transcript just to guarentee whatever offer they already gave me? Also, is it possible to appeal this aid package?
First…get all of your documentation turned in…including your tax transcript. The quicker you can do this, the better. Pay attention to what tax year they ask for. Make sure to send the tax return transcript and not the account transcript. Do this ASAP. You can print it out from the IRS site, or call to have one sent to you.
Second…DON’T PANIC. Your aid will likely be revised two or three times before it’s final. For example…my kid’s freshman year…we got an estimate of what her aid would be on March 6th, then an official award letter on April 3rd (both had grant aid, and loan information, but nether had the scholarship) Then, on April 16…a revised letter that included her departmental scholarship. If you’re a kid with some need…it might take a while longer for all of that information to filter through. Be patient.
The tax transcript is what proves your need. Getting that in will likely change your award.
Are you in state or out of state? While U-Mich is great at meeting in state need, I don’t think out of state students fare nearly as well. But I agree with MaryGJ that you will likely receive revisions to your FA package.
This is outdated information. Out of state students receive excellent financial aid. Since the 2015-2016 academic year. They stop just short of full need.
@brantly, I respectfully disagree that UM now gives excellent Aid. S’s OOS offer was for only 18k of grant aid, and a lot of loans. He got offers of 48,000 in grants from two other Private schools, one with comparable ranking, and one with higher. The tuition at one of the schools was only 2k more, and the other 5k more. We were bummed by Michigan’s offer. S is most interested in Michigan…
@BigPapiofthree Were the other offers merit aid? Or were they based purely on financial need? I was referring to need-based aid.
@brantly, the two other offers were strictly need based aid, not merit. That is why I was surprised Michigan was so poor. I have heard that UVA and UNC are the two best State schools for OOS Aid. People keep saying that Michigan is improving. While it may be better than the past, I have found from our situation, and talking to others, it is not so wonderful. They have too many OOS kids, and they are funded to support Michigan residents. I respect that. Their need based aid can’t support the high umber of OOS students. And I think they have enough full pay students wanting to go there, that they are in good shape. While disappointed, I get it. S has great options that will provide him with a great experience and education at a net cost that works. I was sharing for the benefit of others to have measured expectations.
@BigPapiofthree Sorry you were “burned” but there must have been some other factors (i.e. assets) involved. Michigan meets “full need” for all OOS with family incomes up to $90k. For lower income students, the Provosts Award covers most of costs. If you family income exceeds $90K is does not guarantee to meet full need and says so on its financial aid website. Moreover, like many universities it does take home equity, retirement plans etc., into consideration.
All I can say is that from our personal experience, and from others I have known, Michigan’s financial aid offer was among the best…and was only bettered by “no loan” Ivies.
Note that ALL universities base aid on THEIR determination of your need. Institutional formulas differ. No university says it will meet the expectations of individual families. I’m glad your son has other options but the fact is that no one is “entitled” to financial aid.
@exlibris97, we do not own a home. Income is well below the 90k. We had to sell some investments to live. The capital gains hurt our numbers by their calculation. Seems unfair. Every private school came up with comparable and fair EFC. Michigan grant was 30% of the other schools. As stated, I am not upset, nor understanding of the schools priorities. Just wished they could have used the same formula that many other schools use.
@BigPapiofthree , that’s one of the unfortunate quirks of the FASFA. Realized capital gains count as income, and the corresponding reduction in assets barely offsets it. Even paying the taxes does not help. We ran into similar issues with other schools, and even a small asset sale made us full pay everywhere. The only way around it is to shelter your assets in classes exempted by FASFA, like retirement assets, or find a school that uses a different formula, or sell something without capital gains. In our case it made Michigan the obvious financial choice (in-state) .
@BigPapiofthree Did you appeal the award? It’s not too late. If you are saying that you had a one-time bump in taxable income because of a needed disbursement to feed your family, you can write about that in your appeal letter. They make the awards based on a formula. But when you appeal and bring to their attention special circumstances, they can revise the award. Be sure to use the words “professional judgment,” as in, “I respectfully request that you use professional judgment to take our circumstances into consideration.”
@brantly, I have given consideration to making the appeal. I am holding off doing it for a couple of weeks until S has a chance to visit a couple of schools that offered him a fly in. Depending on how he feels about the options, will dictate if I appeal…
@BigPapiofthree Better to do it sooner than later if there’s any chance that he would like to pursue Michigan. Why not see what you get so that he has full information to make a choice? Just my 2 cents.
@brantly Agree with you concerned Capital Gains. That’s a killer for any college using the Profile.