University of Michigan and OOS grant aid

<p>I'm new to this forum but I've spent a year over on the College Admissions forum. This seemed to be the place to ask this question.</p>

<p>For a year I've assumed and heard nothing to the contrary that the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor gives no FA to OOS applicants. My D's college advisor told me this, and the people at CA have reinforced this idea.</p>

<p>Then yesterday a student contradicts one of these posters and says that the poster rec'd some FA from UMich OOS. The poster provided a webpage</p>

<p><a href="http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/SampleAidPackages.aspx"&gt;http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/SampleAidPackages.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It appears from this webpage that UMich will give some grant aid to OOS students whose families make less than $100K/year. </p>

<p>Would anyone care to comment on this webpage or my/our misconception? Thanks.</p>

<p>So, if you earn between 80k-100k, then you pay:</p>

<p>Grants
(gift aid - not repaid) $15,490</p>

<p>Net Costs
(COA less grants) $38,000</p>

<p>$38k is a LOT to pay for a family with that income.</p>

<p>UMich is a CSS school, so income alone wont be considered. Is home equity considered?</p>

<p>I would be interested in seeing the stats of the OOS admitted kids. I am wondering if they all (or mostly all) have strong stats/talents so that UMich justifies this OOS aid as merit with a need component?</p>

<p>My original financial aid package from UMich (I am OOS) last year was very heavy in grant aid and only had the minimum amount of loans. My family has very low income with no properties or businesses, though.</p>

<p>Decoys…uMich doesn’t guarantee to meet need for ALL students from OOS. BUT some will have their need better met than others. Just no guarantees.</p>

<p>I never said umich will always meet need. I was just giving an example that umich does give FA to OOS students. I have a few friends with higher incomes that still got some grant aid.</p>

<p>@decoy51‌ </p>

<p>curious…what state are you from and what were your stats?</p>

<p>That upthread link does indicate that if an OOS student has a low income and is accepted, he will get a lot of aid.</p>

<p>In this example, grants cover 100% of tuition
(and also 46% of housing)</p>

<p>Grants
(gift aid - not repaid) $44,990
Net Costs
(COA less grants) $8,500</p>

<p>Options to pay Net Costs:
Federal Work-Study $3,000
Federal loan options $5,500
Total costs covered </p>

<p>They don’t meet the need for most oos, but they do have some financial aid. You can actually see that from one of the sample aid scenario but it is not a guarantee. Umich does meet need for in state students. The school has been raising money for the endowment that hoping to provide more financial aids to oos students in the future.
They have recently updated their NPC. There was some error initially and I am not sure if that has been fixed.</p>

<p>UMich does not guarantee to meet full need for OOS students. But some OOS students do see significant aid…just no guarantee that will happen. </p>

<p>UMich guarantees to meet the full need of instate students.</p>

<p>If UM is giving away this much grant aid to OOS’ers, it had better be coming from endowments earmarked by donors for OOS students. As a MI taxpayer, I think it is wrong to use tuition money to subsidize OOS students … UM has plenty of qualified, low-income in state students. In state families would love to see lower tuition and/or more grant aid to in state students before OOS students are given taxpayer money. Just saying …</p>

<p>I took this caveat directly off the page the OP linked, “While we do not have sufficient funds to meet the full demonstrated financial need of many non-resident students, private scholarships and scholarships from U-M schools and colleges may be available”. In other words, I would not hold my breath for full need to be met. A highly desired OOS student may well get full need met, and this can happen at any school. Much maligned (for gapping) NYU does very generously meet full need and some for those students it most wants. The linked examples appear to me to show how need can be met, not how it will be met for every student in need, particularlyOOSers. </p>

<p>I have seen some $10K grants offered up to some high stat kids in the past few years, which makes UMich a good deal for those who do not qualify for much or any financial aid. The sticker price for UMich is about $10K less (or more) than many private schools and then to get even another $10 off the tab can come to a significant savings over some schools like BC, Villanova, NotreDame, Holy Cross, that some of my son’s friends are considering. Tulane and UMich are two that enter this category of merit money. </p>

<p>But I don’t know a single kid that got a full need met package from UMich from around here… Not saying there aren’t any, but it’s not exactly the place to look for generous aid awards.</p>

<p>@kelsmom Don’t worry. That is why UMich is trying to get more private donation for that purpose. Indeed, Michigan State contribute very little to UMich anyway and UMich almost runs like a private institution financially. After all, they do guarantee to meet the need of in state students. So whatever they offer to oos is after the need of in state students being fulfilled.</p>

<p>My out of state daughter got a significant grant, bringing our out of pocket costs to those we would have paid in-state in NY. While not meeting full need, it made it workable for us. Also, some patience is involved. Her award was last updated last week, there was a significant difference between the initial award and the current one. Just make sure you submit as much info as you can. Good luck!</p>

<p>Is Michigan like UW and UMDCP in that it has departmental scholarships that are awarded to matriculated students on a year to year basis? if so, are they awarded to IS, OOS, and int’l students?</p>

<p>@jkeil911 There are scholarships from CoE and LSA for freshmen that are renewable. The amount for in state and oos students are different even under the same scholarship. For instance, the Engineering scholarship of honor is $8000 for in state but $20k for oos per year. I believe the corresponding scholarship in LSA is $10k for in state and $20k for oos. There are also smaller merit scholarships. As for departmental scholarships, they are usually available to sophomore or higher after the students declared major. I believe all students can apply to these disregarding their residency.</p>

<p>I haven’t found much in the way of breakdowns of financial aid between the OOS and in state students for any state school. One can look at the common data breakdowns and see what the overall %s of need met are as well as merit aid, but trying to figure out what an OOSer can get is not so easy to do. And it often doesn’t matter when there is merit aid involved as well as the fact that full need is not guaranteed or given for that group. </p>

<p>However, if UMich or any school is on a student’s list, and the possibility of getting money is there, I urge the student to go for it. I don’t recommend situations like international students applying to schools that out and out say No Finanical Aid for International Students, and there is little or no merit aid for them either, especially when there are limited resources for how many apps tod do, but if there is something that is a possibility, by all means, give it a go. I daresay, that the chances are better for OOSers getting decent packages from schools like UMi, UVA and UNC-CH than from schools like Virginia Tech, OSU, UMaine, UIl, etc, especially if the stats are very good. And for those students whose stats are in the upper echelons of a school’s, there is often that possibility of scholarships. Just don’t count on it and make sure there are some good back ups. Everyone should have at least one option that is affordable and that will accept the student, anyways. After that, one can take the chances. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from applying to UMich as an OOSer because s/he needs aid, but would let the person know that OOSers do not get the guarantee of full need met that the instater does. </p>

<p>^ I agree. Aids to oos student is more limited while merit aids is only given to a very small percentage of student (in state or oos). For the school specific scholarships at UMich, there is no application. You just need too apply EA and they will notify you if you get one. There are a few other top merit scholarships that are by invitation or require separate application though. Usually, those top scholarships are given to students with excellent credential with near perfect scores and outstanding EC. One should not count on it when submitting application. Nevertheless, one should not hesitate when you are qualified but with needs. You never know until you receive the financial aid package. Even after that, they may adjust the package in your favor. They turned all the loan and work study money into grant for my D after matriculation and even increase the amount to match the increase in CoA. UMich is trying to raise the endowment to provide more financial aids to oos students.</p>

<p>It really depends on the school. For example, OSU has a gazillion different merit scholarships, many targetted at OOS, and Purdue also awards merit money OOS, while UW-Madison doesn’t. Schools lower the down totem pole also want to raise their stats, after all.</p>

<p>BTW, considering that state appropriations now make up 16% of revenues (while tuition makes up 71%) at UMich (more than a full reversal in contributions in 1970), your tax dollars most certainly aren’t going to OOS students. In fact, your tax dollars aren’t probably even enough to cover in-state tuition costs for MI students these days. OOS students are subsidizing in-state students, I’m willing to guess. In absolute dollars, MI is spending less on UMich (and less per in-state student) than they did 10 years ago.</p>

<p>Thank you, everyone, for your clarification.</p>

<p>You never want to put on hopes on any school award letter until you actually receive one. Every family situation is different and they school will calculate their awards using their own template.
The only way to know is to apply and wait for your award form the schools of your interest and then make a decision afterwards.
Bets of luck to you.</p>

<p>Looks like the good OOS financial aid is mainly in the lower income ranges (<$20,000 and $20,000-$40,000). The net price increases rapidly for $40,000-$60,000, and again at $60,000-$80,000, but curiously seems to level off at $80,000-$100,000 range.</p>

<p>Targeting the good OOS financial aid to the lower income ranges may have to do with this: <a href=“Report: Pell Grant rates at 'U' fall in recent years”>http://www.michigandaily.com/news/according-report-u-failed-increase-pell-grants-2008-2009&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;