What happens after your financial aid appeal is rejected???!!!HELP!!!

Paying for College
1

<p>So I have recently been admitted to Emory which is my first choice, but their financial aid is not enough.....:( </p>

<p>I have filed a financial aid appeal which I provided a letter detailing my dad's pay cut and the apartment in which we couldn't sell in this economy and sent all the letter and supporting evidence to Emory and unfortunately, Emory rejected my appeal:</p>

<p>"We had already considered a lower institutional EFC when we made the present award. There was simply no way to account for the income your father may not earn in the coming year. We look at the previously ended year which is 2010. For the following year we will see his earnings for 2011 and account for them in our aid calculation at that time. Simply out, we could not improve upon the already generous Emory College Grant."</p>

<p>I really want to attend Emory but I still need around 5k to make this possible. Is there any way to appeal their rejection? Would it help if I went up to Atlanta to talk and explain our changed financial situation in person?</p>

2

<p>I think the case is closed.</p>

<p>You’re going to have to close the gap yourself with a summer job (or two summer jobs). How much is the student loan in your FA package? if they don’t total $5500, then you could use some additional student loan money.</p>

<p>The school is saying that it can’t predict that your dad will earn less in 2011.</p>

<p>Does your mom work? If not, perhaps she should work a part-time job if your family’s income will be dropping.</p>

<p>What exactly is in your FA package and how much can your parents pay each year??</p>

<p>Emory COA</p>

<p>tuition and fees: $39,158
Room and board: $11,198
Books and supplies: $1,100
Estimated personal expenses: $1,200
Transportation expense: $900</p>

3

<p>My mom already works but it really doesn’t cover anything. Emory gave grant aid of 32000 with work study of around 2000, and the total loans that I have is already 5500, so I really don’t want to take out more loans. </p>

<p>With the pay cut, my parents could probably pay at most around 5k each year. I am still looking to speak with the financial adviser cause I am a little bit suspicious in them examining my appeal; i sent in my appeal on Monday by fax pretty late in the afternoon and got a reply Tuesday morning…make me wonder if they actually read my appeal (which was 15 pages long)…</p>

4

<p>What do you mean by “more loans” in addition to the $5,500 you “already took out”?</p>

5

<p>^^^^</p>

<p>he probably means that his FA pkg already has 5500 in loans, so he can’t take out any more student loans.</p>

<p>what do you mean that your appeal letter was 15 pages long? Was that one page of a request and the other 14 pages some kind of documentation? I hope it wasn’t several pages of a “story.” </p>

<p>*I provided a letter detailing my dad’s pay cut **and the apartment in which we couldn’t sell **in this economy *</p>

<p>I think that apartment issue is what’s preventing you from getting more aid. It sounds like your parents own rentals (an apartment complex) or something like that? Even if you can’t sell it, it has value…unless the mortgage on it is higher than what it’s worth. </p>

<p>I think that Emory is thinking this…Right now, the economy is low, so the apts aren’t worth as much. so, your parents can take out a Plus loan, and when the economy improves, they’ll have more than enough money to pay that back. Keep in mind that colleges expect “future money” to also go towards college costs…hence the loans.</p>

<p>What is the deal with your dad’s pay cut? Did his employer cut his pay-rate that can be seen on a pay stub? The wording from Emory suggests that your dad isn’t paid a set salary…the wording suggests that your dad’s income varies in some way from month to month. Does he sometimes get paid overtime, but in recent months hasn’t had any/many overtime opportunities? If so, that’s why Emory is saying that it can’t predict what your dad may earn over 2011.</p>

<p>Plus, Emory says that they already considered a lower school family contribution…so it sounds like they already did some adjustment when they did the initial pkg. </p>

<p>when you ask if it would help for you to go to Atlanta, where do you live? If going to Atlanta means incurring some significant expenses…travel, hotel, etc, that seems a bit silly when all you need is $5k more…which again, could come largely from summer earnings.</p>

<p>My mom already works but it really doesn’t cover anything.</p>

<p>What does that mean? I think it means that she doesn’t earn a lot, but the money must be going into the household. However, if she’s just spending it on herself, well that’s a problem and you should be “appealing” to her. </p>

<p>What exactly is in your FA package? </p>

<p>You can try again, but you need to get Plan B going…look for a summer job…maybe you’ll need to work 2 jobs.</p>

6

<p>How does a kid these days get two summer jobs? </p>

<p>With the economy the way it is now, most of the summer jobs (at least in our area) go to all the unemployed adults, or places that used to employ high school kids and college kids have closed up, gone under. </p>

<p>It seems to me, OP, that a $32,000 grant is very generous!</p>

7

<p>You can always try to continue the appeal, but the risk, and a very high risk it is, lies there that you won’t get any more and you spend even more in your efforts. </p>

<p>You had better look at more affordable alternatives. The “sale price” is still too high for you. The other way to go is if your parents take a PLUS for $10K a year and use the $5K they can pay towards paying off the loan. That spreads their obligation over 10-14 years, but in more affordable pieces. But it is a financial risk for them. If they are turned down for PLUS, you can take another $4000K in Staffords which narrows your gap substantially.</p>

<p>My kids have worked 3 and even more jobs. They have life guarded, been bus boys, pet sitters,taught swim lessons, done odd jobs. My oldest made over $10K one summer. This son is hoping to make $7K, he made close to that last summer. He also works during the school year and has now taken on more hours since things have slowed down at school for him. He has a dog walking business, pet sits and life guards at our local pool on weekends. He just got a call for warehouse work that he is contemplating taking as a regular part time job. When he visited his prospective college a couple of weeks ago, he had a line on several jobs for during the school year. That’s the way he is wired and he has been working outside of the house since he was 12. Many of his friends’ and their parents will swear there is no work around here for teen agers while my son drives his car that he bought with his own money and he pays insurance and maintenance on it. That was a priority for him. The older ones were not as focused that way, but they all worked–it was part of what we felt was important in this family. They all had college savings too.</p>

8

<p>*How does a kid these days get two summer jobs?
*</p>

<p>I agree that it may not be possible in all regions of the country, but there are many kids who work 2 jobs over the summer to earn as much as they can.</p>

9

<p>Three things to do:</p>

<p>1) As cptofthehouse says, start looking ASAP at more affordable opportunities, and take that search very seriously as you may very likely end up attending one of those schools.</p>

<p>2) Have one of your parents go up the ladder at Emory’s FA office and attempt one more time to get some adjustment. Don’t do this yourself, have a parent do it – preferably whichever one is most skillful in dealing with people in a positive and sympathetic way. Do not work through the first person who picks up the phone. Try to make contact with someone in a supervisory role. FA officers lower on the food chain may not feel they have the authority to make these changes in marginal situations. I had a friend do this for her kid at Northwestern; she went directly to the Director of FA after being denied by a lower-level employee and then she did get the adjustment she needed. Again, don’t do this yourself… have a parent do it.</p>

<p>3) Then you and your parents have to decide: go elsewhere or scrape up the additional funds to pay for Emory.</p>

10

<p>My appeal letter was actually just 2 pages, but the rest was just copies of my dad’s paychecks and mortgages…the old apartment actually is worth way less than what we are paying for every month of mortgage so I hope they took that into account…</p>

<p>My mom’s pay barely covers the necessities each month so we mostly depend on my dad’s pay, but my dad’s pay is dependent mostly on his tips and there has been NO business due to the economy and his salary has decreased over 30%. Most likely my parents will probably have to take out money from their savings (which they saved up for retirement since my mom doesnt have any retirement plans) to cover up the rest of the cost and I would have to get two summer jobs!! </p>

<p>I have also been accepted to UF honors college and am deciding between the two schools! The cost difference each year is around 3000 with UF at the cheaper end, but UF still costs over 16000 annually and the price is going up each year! I am leaning toward Emory because most of their financial aid is need based and if my dad makes less this year they can give me more aid, but UF does not take need based into consideration and expects us to pay for everything unless the EFC=0…Now I have to make a decision in a few weeks!! Any advice???</p>

11

<p>kabushiki,</p>

<p>You need to run all of your aid packages through this calculator: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid) </p>

<p>Since you’ve been admitted to the UF honors program and Emory, I expect that you have a very good profile. Did you apply anywhere else? Did any of those institutions offer you enough merit-based aid to make your education affordable? If not, take a look at this group: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt; Some may still have space and money for next year. You also could consider taking a gap year and reapplying next year to places that would offer you better merit-based aid.</p>

<p>If you really can’t afford UF right now, and you don’t want to wait to start college, is there a community college that you can commute to for two years? That would keep your costs down. Then you could transfer to another university after finishing your AA or AS degree.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>