Verification = Admission -- or no?

Paying for College
1

<p>Here's a story ...</p>

<p>My daughter applied to DePaul (among others) and having been asked by another school that she got admitted to - to send in verification materials as we'd been selected to do so -- I preemptively contacted schools she applied to - asking if they wanted our documentation. I was hoping to speed up the process.</p>

<p>DePaul said they would let us know if they needed our documents -- then the next day - I got an email from someone in the financial aid office - that they wanted those documents. I sent them.</p>

<p>Fast Forward to yesterday and we still haven't received any paperwork from the school -- no acknowledgment of the application or even junk mail. Their website says notification of admission would be sent by March 15. I send an email to the financial aid guy since he's the only one I have had any contact with up 'til now. </p>

<p>He replies that she was admitted or else he wouldn't have asked for the tax paperwork and that if I had more questions I should call admissions.</p>

<p>I call admissions who is very perturbed to hear that someone in financial aid told me that my daughter got in and tells me to leave a message for a counselor. I do.</p>

<p>I spoke with the admissions counselor today who looks up my daughter and says her file is with the admissions committee and a decision hasn't been made yet.</p>

<p>I say - I sure am glad I didn't tell my daughter that the financial aid department thinks she's been admitted.</p>

<p>So -- is this typical? For what it's worth -- I had started out thinking that all schools we applied to would need the verification info then began to think - well why would a school that rejects you want to collect all that needless paperwork? But now - I guess I don't really know what's going on.</p>

<p>Very very frustrating to tell the truth.</p>

2

<p>Usually the financial aid office gets the aid applications, and the admissions office gets the admissions applications, and they each do their own thing. Sometimes aid packages are devised that then are tossed in the bin because the student wasn’t admitted. If the aid applications were processed after all admissions decisions were made, no one would receive an aid offer in time to make a decision by May 1.</p>

<p>Each institution is required by law to verify a certain number of aid applications. This means that every year some people need to provide all the back up information before they know if the student has been admitted or not. It looks like your family is one of the winners of that lottery this year.</p>

<p>Here’s hoping for good news the next time you hear from this university!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply … Your explanation is exactly what I thought until the financial aid officer made an admissions decision!</p>