<p>If a student gets a great package from a school, say all grants, freshman year, from a school that does not guarantee to meet full need, and then the following year, a large proportion of such grants are replaced by self help, is there any recourse other than appealing to the fin aid office? Is there some place to report such a thing? </p>
<p>It 's been my experience that though most all schools will increase the student contribution over time, it's usually done by a few thousand dollars. I've actually seen few true bait and swtich ---most schools will honor their original commitment, all things equal. They may not give more even though the need increases, an additional student is added to the family roster, but they general do not replace grants by self help by, say, $10K or more. A code of honor of sorts. Is there any thing that can be done if this happens? Kelsmom, Sybbie, any suggestions. Thanks.</p>
<p>There is no “outside” group to report this sort of thing to. I would think that the best recourse would be to go through the chain of command with an appeal … finaid officer, associate director, director. If that fails, the next step would be the ombudsman at a large university, or perhaps the Dean of Student Services. A student could keep moving up the chain of command, making sure everyone understands what is happening and how it is hurting students. It is quite possible that the aid office is no happier about this than the student … maybe the powers that be cut funding for aid. </p>
<p>If all else fails, walk away. Leaving is a powerful message (though not always easy on the student) - but the student needs to make sure everyone knows WHY he is leaving.</p>
<p>If the student relied on the college’s promise of large grants in accepting the offer of admission (and in turning down other competitive offers), the school is obligated to honor its initial promise . . . unless the aid award was accompanied by language disavowing any obligation to continuing the generous aid in subsequent years.</p>
<p>And, no, the fact that the school said nothing about the offer being repeated in subsequent years does not get the school off the hook. The student could reasonably rely on the “standard in the industry” in assuming the offer would be good for all four years.</p>
<p>I don’t generally encourage people to file lawsuits, but if the student passed up competitive offers from other schools in order to attend this school, he or she can sue the school for breach of contract. And I think s/he should.</p>
<p>kelsmom - If the school states up front: “No promises. This is for one year only. We do not guarantee that your offer in subsequent years will be the same.”, then you’re correct - the school can do whatever it wants in subsequent years.</p>
<p>But if the school says nothing, that changes things. The common practice among colleges is to continue need and merit based awards for all four years - unless the student’s grades plummet or his parents win the lottery. The reasonable expectation, if a school says nothing, is that the school will do what every other school does: repeat the offer in subsequent years, barring a change in circumstances.</p>
<p>And yes, there’s a contract. It arises from the student’s reliance on the initial award in accepting the school’s offer of admission. That reliance creates a contract. If the student reasonably expected the award would be the same for four years, and the school said nothing to contradict that, then the school is going to have to do what the student expected.</p>
<p>Dodgersmom. Need based aid is calculated annually. Students who attend colleges where loans are packaged can find that student loans will be in their packages…and sometimes,when they have NOT been for freshman year. In addition, if full need is not guaranteed, students can find increases annually simply because the costs of attendance tend to rise, and aid doesn’t always do so.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I do NOT believe this is a legal issue. </p>
<p>I’d be interested in knowing the frequency of this bait and switch you are talking about. Where my kids attended college, there WAS language in their need based procedures that said “if your financial situation remains the same, your aid will remain the same”. But the colleges were very clear that need based aid was computed annually for one year at a time.</p>
<p>I understand that need is recalculated annually, but that’s not the point. Assuming (as I said in my previous post), there is NO change in circumstances, then a dramatic change in the student’s award is a breach of contract. And that would include going from all grants/no loans to all loans/no grants.</p>
<p>And again I ask. How common is this bait and switch you are describing? Are there schools that do this all the time? Or have you encountered a random student here and there who has experienced this?</p>
<p>I’ve been posting on this forum a LONG time and honestly do not recall this being a pervasive issue.</p>
<p>I will say…I personally know of one sort of similar issue. A student we knew had a grant…but the grant was also tied to maintaining a certain GPA in addition to maintaining financial need. The finances did not change, but the student did NOT maintain the GPA required. The second year, he was offered NO grants because his academics were not sufficient for his particular grant which had both a merit and need component. His school did not meet full need.</p>
<p>School A promises an award of $20,000.
School B promises an award of $15,000.
Student accepts School A’s offer, and turns down School B.
After freshman year, School A reduces its award to $5,000/year.</p>
<p>In these circumstances, where the student relied on School A’s offer, and rejected School B’s, he would absolutely have a cause of action against School A for breach of contract.</p>
<p>Again, this assumes no change in the student’s circumstances.</p>
<p>Need based aid awards clearly state that they are for ONE year only. One year. So if something happens the second year…it has absolutely nothing to,do,with the need based award from the first year.</p>
<p>There is NO breach of contract…because the first year is DONE.</p>
<p>Year One: the school meet’s the student’s full need. Year Two: falls $20k short of meeting need . . . with no change of circumstances. How can that be okay?</p>
<p>But I tend to agree with the posters above who’ve never heard of such a thing happening. An increase in the student contribution - sure. But completely pulling the rug out from under the kid? I can’t recall anyone reporting such a thing on CC. Yes, awards have dropped, but there have always been changes in income (or number of kids in school) that explain the decreased award.</p>
<p>Not with NYU-
Quite a few schools have a less than stellar rep regarding decreasing aid, for some students.
I use NYU as a most heinous example, because I know a young woman whose single mother died while she was at NYU, and her aid was reduced so much that even though family and friends tried to come up with enough money so she could stay- she had to drop out.
There are some students who get great aid at NYU & some are even on CC.
But it also has a rep.</p>
<p>No, sorry. Unless it specifically says that they aid is for ALL four years then it should only be assumed for one year. Call it bait and switch if you’d like, but a LOT of schools use aid to draw freshman in. There’s a difference if they’re lying and saying it’s for four years when it’s not. </p>
<p>Aid is recalculated every year. They can do as they please from one year to the next. There is no assumed contract (or whatever terminology you want to use).</p>
<p>Unless there are 4 year guaranteed scholarships in your aid package that are simply based on the students maintaining good standing and continuous enrollment, all financial aid packages are conditional. Athletic scholarships are given and renewed on the condition that the athlete plays the sport. Many merit scholarships are renewed based on the student meeting certain GPA requirements. Need based aid is based on the student filing the requisite financial aid paperwork each year. Most aid packages are based on verification of the information (IRS transcript/IRS Data retrieval).</p>
<p>Because everyone’s financial picture (the family’s and the school’s) can change from year to year, financial aid is reviewed year year and given accordingly. </p>
<p>The financial aid process can be very challenging for schools that do not have large endowments and public schools, because cuts in fundings, a wealthly donors decides to no longer donate to the school, bad return on investments can cause a big increase/decrease in aid from one year to the next. Other than entitlement funding of federal aid, no other aid is guaranteed to the student.</p>
<p>Yes, it can also mean a change in the school’s financial aid policy; going from no loans to loans, going from need blind to need aware or need sensitive, going from meeting 100% demonstrated need to no longer guaranteeing to meet need.</p>
<p>Even at schools that guarantee to meet 100% demonstrated need, does not mean that the students go for free or won’t graduate with more than more loans than a family had originally anticipated.</p>
<p>Emerald…while I agree that NYU has a reputation for poor aid policies, I have to say…I know a student who had quite the opposite happen. When her parent died, NYU increased her aid to a level where her surviving parent could pay the costs easily.</p>
