Sure. She is pursuing Classical Vocal Performance. Her portal had the acceptance letter and when you scroll down at the very bottom, under the signature there is an area that said financial letters available for this account. Clicked on that and the award was listed as Presidents Scholarship. I just checked and it is a Scholarship for first year students up to 28k. Unfortunately, that still leaves us with 50k out of pocket. While we absolutely love the school, it’s really hard to justify the cost when we’ve gotten offers from other music schools that make more sense financially.
I’m 95% sure that we will be declining the offer this week, so hopefully that opens up that money for some other students. I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of that happening in the coming weeks, so I would be diligent in checking back with schools to check if aid is coming available.
From what i can glean from this year’s applications, is that students, especially music students who normally would have to travel for auditions/interviews, actually applied to many more schools than would be possible in a normal year. Zoom/video auditions from home allowed us to cast a wide net to get the best offers. So, I’m thinking there’s a lot of $$$ out there that has been offered to students that will be released in the coming weeks as people make decisions and decline certain schools. I would urge anyone to inquire with their top schools regarding increasing aid.
I did more research about this and there are many reputable articles stating they are need blind. The only place I see need aware is on the FAQ for international students. How can we know for sure?
Our son is trying to decide between Syracuse and Miami for Architecture school.
Would love anyone’s input on these two schools. Obviously the weather is different. Syracuse did give him much more merit money than UM but we are trying to let him choose the school based on the merits of the schools. But love anyone’s advice.
As someone who was accepted to both, I prefer Syracuse but that’s for reasons that are probably different than yours. I am going into Communications, and Syracuse is better for that than Miami. I’m also from New York so weather won’t affect me that much and it’s closer. I’ve sort of ruled out Miami because I got more money at Cuse and I feel the program is better. I also like the spirit at Cuse too and I feel it is more diverse whereas Miami is Florida and the Northeast. I’m not sure which is better for architecture but also consider other factors besides just the program.
UM has recently switched to NEED AWARE, this is from their website:
Is the University of Miami need aware or need blind?
Since 2016, the University has committed to meeting a greater percent of an admitted student’s demonstrated financial need. However, the University’s approach to financial aid had resulted in a small number of admitted students experiencing a gap between what their family could afford (i.e., Expected Family Contribution) and the Cost of Attendance. This gap will now be eliminated, thus increasing the range of admitted students who will be able to attend the University.
In order to eliminate this gap, like other selective institutions, the University is adopting need-aware admission. Using institutional methodology, financial need will be considered in the application review process for a limited number of applicants to ensure financial aid is awarded to those admitted students with financial need who have the greatest likelihood of academic success. Meeting 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students is a priority of the University of Miami along with ensuring graduating students are not burdened by debt.
So do you think many of the students that ended up on the waitlist were in greater need of financial aid? Or did students that were in need of aid have a better chance this year?
Thanks! Ewww. Rationally I can see that less-wealthy schools can’t do both need-blind and 100%-need-met. And not meeting need is raunchy too: “We’ll let you come in theory, but it’s on you that you’ll be unable to in practice unless you sink yourself in debt.”
Yet ewww. The cynical part of me also sees how becoming “need-aware” is in the university’s interest, in that it increases yield (fewer students need to turn down an offer for financial reasons). But acceptance is marketed as a “congratulations”-type thing, and it’s gross if the reality is really “congratulations, you’re already rich” for those admitted and “no upward mobility for you” for those rejected.
Another full topic is merit aid: the non-need-related discounts given to lure students at many schools, with the amounts carefully calculated based on how much a school wants a given student and how much it needs to offer to get the student, calculated from a slew of demographic data. (Google “enrollment officer”…this is a lot of what they do, and it’s a whole industry.) It brings down the artificially elevated “sticker price”; but if it comes at the expense of students who deserve to be admitted and need aid, that’s a big equity problem.
the admissions process is so complicated, i have no idea which type of applicants they put on waitlist rather than declining. I do think it’s safe to assume that for “need aware” colleges if they have 2 applications in front of them which are identical, they could then look to need and chose the student that requires less fin aid. UM’s new policy to meet 100% of fin need would mean that a student that is accepted would get more need based aid than in the past. So i guess the new policy makes it harder for needy students to get admitted, but will give more generous awards to those that make the cut.
Do any Umiami Spring 2022 admits know what there plans are for august-december? Trying to figure out what I could do from August-December. Anyone renting apartments in Miami, studying abroad etc??
I heard that 1-2 yrs ago Miami offered a study abroad program for spring admits, but I guess they took it way due to COVID.
I completely understand what you’re saying!! It’s unfair that schools accept students due to their financial aid status. However, it’s not fair to discredit those who were accepted to UMiami this year. Most of this years Miami applicants were admitted due to their strong academic achievements and impressive extracurriculars, not because of financial aid needs. You don’t receive a “congratulations” because “you’re already rich”, you receive a “congratulations” because you had strong grades and test scores which impressed the admissions committee. Especially this year, when admissions we’re 10X as competitive, admitted applicants are clear examples of hard working, intelligent students.
That being said, the college process is INCREDIBLY unfair and cruel and needs to be changed ASAP (in terms of money, financial aid and admissions selection).
Do any Umiami Spring 2022 admits know what there plans are for august-december? I’m most likely going to accept the spring offer and I’m trying to figure out what I could do from August-December. Anyone renting apartments in Miami, studying abroad etc??
I heard that 1-2 yrs ago Miami offered a study abroad program for spring admits, but I guess they took it way due to COVID.
Yes, I shouldn’t have used overly dramatic wording–any admission at all is an honor, and in no way do I want to minimize or discredit the hard work students have put in. Other “need-aware” universities have said that the overwhelming % of their students are accepted regardless of need, and they switch to “aware” in borderline situations. For those students, it just really stinks (getting rejected and not knowing for sure why, or getting accepted and not knowing for sure why…and not even knowing if you were a student for whom it was considered). But there are a ton of issues in the admissions process, and UMiami isn’t alone in trying to figure out what to do.