UVA Early Action Applicants Thread

As I fail to see an Echols letter coming in today in the mail (I have USPS informed digest) so my hope wanes to receive an invitation to the program. Congrats to all who received and best of luck!

If someone gets Echols, does that necessarily mean that they are smarter than someone who did not?

Nope.

Financial aid was released today

Thanks, @Alezzu

Just saw the preliminary financial aid letter-we are completely freaking out here. Our FAFSA EFC was $5,000. We received $0 grants/scholarships in our preliminary letter! All we received is a $970 pell grant and some loans. Have other people received grants from the school? I’m really hoping those just haven’t been listed yet. For a school that guarantees meeting 100% financial need, I don’t see how they can expect a family with a yearly income of $74,000 to pay $58,000/year for college!

Unfortunately the grants are listed in the award. It’s possible that the school hasn’t received supporting documentation for the CSS Profile or SIS. Their website states that they try to meet 100% need but the funds aren’t always available so nobody is guaranteed a good package. I received some grants in my letter and a scholarship. I don’t know if the quality of the package is different since you’re OOS. Good luck though ! @angsean1

Received Echols and College Science Scholars in mail today (I’m out of state)

Actually, their website says they guarantee to meet 100% demonstrated financial need. Then in their “determining need” section, it says they use the FAFSA and “other supporting documents” to determine need. I emailed them, so hopefully there is a mistake… this just isn’t making sense at all.

@angsean1 did you complete the CSS Profile and submit supporting tax returns/transcripts?

Yes. Everything was submitted early. I’m just curious if anyone else has received aid from the school, and if their income was similar to ours.

@angsean1 My daughter received a small amount of grant aid, but we will have two in college. Probably best to call UVA SFS - maybe a mistake was made. Maybe you can appeal.

@angsean1 (not certain this will ease your mind but…) our D was accepted EA from OSS; FA package arrived yesterday and she received a generous Access UVA Scholarship. Our EFC is slightly higher than yours but our income is similar (under $100k). The Student Loan portion of her UVA pkg was a little higher than other schools we’ve gotten, but any outside scholarships she earns will be applied directly to that portion first as UVA is committed to helping students graduate as debt free as possible. The FA office may be missing some of your paperwork - we provided FAFSA and paid for the CSS to be sent back in October/November (I forget - so many applications). Have you looked in the To Do section on your SIS? I spoke with someone in FA office today to make certain I understood all of our FA offer and how this ‘scholarship’ worked (it’s yearly based on need and she’ll have to re-apply each year-more like a grant). The gentleman on the line was SUPER nice and very helpful. I would call for clarity if UVA is your 1st choice.

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, I did speak with them and they said that his offer (of $0) was correct, and they do not base it only on income. We do not own our home, and don’t have any significant savings/investments, so I am asking for clarification on why the $53,000 discrepancy on what the federal government says our EFC is and UVA says it is. UVA was his top choice.

Does anyone know when Jefferson Scholars at large nominees are notified?

Does anybody have any insight to federal work study options at UVA? My daughter’s got $4,000 of FWS in her aid package. My older daughter has federal work study jobs at UChicago. The jobs are plentiful and it’s work that she’s proud to do (ex. Tutoring in urban schools) I’ve heard horror stories at other schools where students are wearing hair nets and serving their peers in the kitchen. Any idea what it’s like at UVA?

@“Dean J” have Jefferson at large referrals been made?

@ anyone.
I wasn’t asked to send in my CSS. They told me it wasn’t necessary. Anyone else in a similar situation? I still haven’t heard back regarding my package, and I’ve been admitted, so this is stressful.

Sorry, must have gotten it mixed up with another school like JMU.
@rayosunshyne I think you have to complete the CSS profile, but don’t have to submit all of the documents (I didn’t submit the tax return transcript but did everything in my SIS portal). I’d just email SFS to check the status of your package to be completely sure.

Is the date for DOTL announced yet?