That’s the tricky thing about Iowa, I am supposed to be considered a resident for tuition purposes under a congressional act that covers my particular circumstances, but on my portal it has me classified as OOS and I received an email saying they did not consider me in-state. Both myself and my parents have since contacted them multiple times with all the proper documentation and we also checked that we were not mistaken in our interpretation of the law (we weren’t), but they just haven’t responded. The merit aid they gave me was for OOS tuition and it doesn’t cover very much of it (which surprised me a little bit to be candid), so even Sarah Lawrence would be cheaper at the moment. Anyways, I’m obviously very happy to have gotten in and to have received any merit at all, it’s just a bit frustrating that they’ve been so unresponsive and that, as it stands now, the financial summary they gave us is not accurate (or legal lol).
You might try another department - who are you contacting? Admission or residency?
If you have all the documentation of the rule, you might email it to them - the explanation and then your info - they might be unfamiliar.
I emailed residency but I don’t have all the tax forms and other documents so my dad emailed those along with a couple memos he received about the change in the law in question both to residency and admissions, he also called but was just told to email again. I believe his union also contacted them (since the law is related to the nature of his work, since it’s the reason I’m kind of in unusual circumstances) with further resources so UofI could fact-check what we were saying. This was about 2-3 weeks ago, we were hoping they would sort it out before I received a decision so that we could get an accurate picture of what the financials would look like, but they never emailed back. In fairness, they likely don’t see cases like this very often but the law is pretty clear-cut and if they still weren’t sure they could have just answered saying so.
give them a few days…call…or ask if you can get a 30 minute zoom with someone. Rather your dad should…assuming Iowa is in contention. If it’s not, then don’t waste your time.
yeah I think we will end up doing something along those lines, thanks for the advice! And yes, Iowa is pretty important to me for a couple reasons and my parents and I were really banking on having it as an option, since, with in-state tuition, it would be the most affordable on my list aside from maybe Ottawa or McGill (but McGill is nowhere near a sure bet admissions-wise).
You might get help from an iowa senators office, or congressional rep.
More good news! Accepted to the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse with both the Chancellor’s scholarship and Success Award, meaning I’m five for five both in acceptances and scholarships! NYU is coming out Tuesday followed by Barnard on Wednesday, both decisions that don’t bode well for me, so I’m really happy to have one last win before the decisions I know will sting.
Congrats. What does that mean financially ?
See Iowa’s in the rear view mirror !!
So far Ottawa is the most affordable of my options by a mile, followed by UofT, then Sarah Lawrence (merit included), then Iowa (if they don’t budge on residency), then Syracuse (with merit). We didn’t fill out FAFSA because, at the time, I was still set on studying in Canada and my dad insisted that we wouldn’t qualify for anything anyways (I now think that was a mistake), so to be honest all of the American schools aside from maybe Sarah Lawrence are very up in the air at the moment cost-wise. I do have a couple different external scholarships I’m still in the running for (I’ll probably find out about those throughout April) and some alternate paths I’ve looked into to go to one of the pricier schools if I end up being dead set on one, I’m just trying to tell myself I’ll end up where I’m supposed to me and not ruminate too much on where I messed up in this process.
Update! Waitlisted at NYU 
A bit bummed of course but frankly I was expecting a flat out rejection so I’m choosing to interpret this as a small win!
Well yes, being on the waitlist means that they think you are a good fit and actually do want to admit you, but there just aren’t enough slots at this moment.
Let’s wait what happens with Barnard - and then you have all your options on the table. Sarah Lawrence is already great win, especially since it came with merit. It would make perfect sense to go with any of your admits.
But if in two weeks you should still feel strongly that you want to pursue the schools that had to waitlist you, then you can always get back on the mission of showing particularly strong “continued interest”, and let each school know specifically why you are still thinking that you’d be a great student there, maybe by adding new piece of information/facet that wasn’t covered in your essay. Just realize that the odds are still small so in the meantime fully embrace your primary choice.
thanks for the words of wisdom, I think I’ll accept my place on the wait list but like you said I’ll probably wait at least until Barnard comes out tomorrow. I’ve pretty much gotten over the disappointment already though, I think I had already kind of mourned NYU a while ago so I’m just looking forward to the whole process being over!
Hi, skip to the end for a TL;DR but I’m feeling the urge to pour my heart out a little bit if anyone is interested 
Last Wednesday unfortunately yielded some more not-so-great news: I was rejected from Barnard. This obviously didn’t blindside me or anything, I knew the chances were slim to none (especially considering the fact that I got so stressed about my supplemental essays that I procrastinated them until the last minute and they ended up kinda sucking and being very generic), but I was a bit more disappointed than I expected to be. I would have updated sooner but I decided that, having received 3 decisions in the span of a week, I needed a break from college talk altogether to regroup. I’m glad I did, as I’ve stopped beating myself up and have gained some perspective. I may not be NYC-bound as I had hoped, but I have finally talked myself down from catastrophizing about it!
I can honestly say that I would be excited to attend any one of my options, and was extremely lucky that each institution I was accepted to was excited enough about me in return to offer at least some merit aid. Reframing my options in this way really helped ease the blow to my confidence from NYU and Barnard. When I worked up the nerve to get back on CC and look through the forums for these schools, I also realized that this admissions cycle was all topsy-turvy: to my surprise, a LOT of great students got waitlisted from Syracuse and Sarah Lawrence, which I think made me a lot more appreciative that I have them as definitive options.
I also talked about my options with my parents a tonnn from a financial perspective and realized that I am incredibly lucky to qualify for domestic fees at the Canadian universities, as those rates are pocket change compared to what I would pay even at UofI with in-state tuition AND merit. This leads me to a small tidbit of recent good news: I got accepted to McGill for a Bachelor of Arts! However, my first choice was the interfaculty degree, the “BA & Sc”, and for that they have not yet made a decision but did request my most recent transcripts so hopefully it won’t be too long until I get a decision once those are submitted. Due to a mix of financial reasons and other circumstances, I have therefore decided that I will be committing to McGill if I get into my first choice program and, if not, I will be accepting my UofT offer
Anyways, this was a bit of a rant but I basically wanted to say that I’m very grateful to everyone who offered any advice or encouragement on this thread, it meant a ton to me in my moments of panic! I felt it was only right to give you some final updates, both on the results of my applications and on where my head is at. All-in-all, I feel both lucky to have the options I do and proud that I got this far.
TL;DR as promised: Rejected from Barnard but almost over it, got into second choice program at McGill and awaiting a decision on my first choice (will attend if I get in, if not I’ll opt for UofT)
Thank you for the update and congratulations!!!
McGill at the resident rate is beyond fantastic! My D seriously considered it at US resident rates.
Fingers crossed for your first choice major… how exciting to have these wonderful choices.
Thank you for sharing. Talking out your thought processes is a good way to move past any understandable sense of initial disappointment - and be able to make good decisions.
Also, someone else in similar shoes might be helped by reading your post.
It’s very kind of you to let everyone engaged in your thread know, how things turned out. (We too like “closure” sometimes 
.) I’m very happy that you ended up with several great options to choose from - and now that you’ve considered the financial aspects and taking a “long view”, those might truly have always been your best options.
Congrats! McGill (especially at such an affordable price) is an absolutely FANTASTIC outcome!
Well done you! You have navigated the challenges of the college app process well, and learned a lot about making complex, high-stakes decisions with imperfect info. Be proud of yourself, have a great UG & we will see you in NYC for your MA!
Thank you so much! I’m also pretty happy, to be honest my biggest hope was not to feel totally blindsided by any of my decisions so I’m just glad everything went pretty much as predicted. Thanks for all the advice
Thank you! I do feel like I have learned from this whole process, and yes I will definitely not be giving up on NYC! My hope is to go to law school there, so that’s the new goal
Yes, I’m feeling pretty lucky about that right now!