We are first time parents with the college selection process – this is our oldest child. I’m a bit confused about what will happen when she starts getting decisions. Will we know what her money offers are so we can compare apples to apples? Or will we make a blind decision, not knowing what the financial obligations will be? Do we have a period of time to gather the offers and then is there a universal deadline for letting schools know? Or is it, “here is this offer, let us know in 48 hours.”
Unless your child applied ED, he/she doesn’t have to decide until May 1st…and should have financial decisions in hand for comparison.
If your child applied ED, he/she doesn’t have to decide until FA pkg is sent.
No one should have to decide w/o the FA pkg in hand (if applied for aid).
Did you run the net price calculators on each school’s website to get an idea of what aid you’d get? Do you have any special situations that can cause the NPCs to be inaccurate (non custodial parent, own a business or take business deductions, own add’l properties, etc)
Did you submit the financial,aid application materials…all of them…ON TIME? Assuming you did not miss the deadlines…your kiddo should receive a financial aid package either with or shortly after an acceptance is received.
Your kid needs to keep a close watch on their college portals for any information. In particular, they need to watch for verification requests. If your kiddo is selected for verification, send the materials ASAP. No financial aid will be sent without this being cleared up first…and that can take time!
The on,y quick turn around is for accepted ED students. ED accepted students have a small window of time to make a decision. But ED kids should receive their financial aid award with their ED acceptance…if the financial aid materials were sent in on time.
Does that May 1st deadline apply to acceptances for competitive merit scholarships? My worry is that she will turn down a “bird in the hand.” She has already been accepted into Tulane with the Presidential Scholarship (and has applied for Deans Honor, RIP Fallen Chemist for his support), and she has 5 other schools she is competing for merit aid. She has really excellent credentials plus is an URM–she purposefully is applying to schools where she falls in the top and who give lots of merit $. But, she also really likes a couple that give no merit $ but really good FA (which we would qualify for). I just can’t see turning down a big merit scholarship at the “chance” for good FA. That’s my worry.
Someone will undoubtedly correct me if I am wrong, but the only “here is the offer, let us know in 48 hours” situations occur when schools are accepting kids off a wait list. The schools don’t want to take wait list kids unless they are 100 percent sure that they will attend, and you should have the financial package for the wait list school at that time.
Any normal merit or need-based offers like Tulane’s should be valid until the May 1st deadline.
Wait list and ED