Being overeager, I applied to my dream school (Wellesley College) under EDII. After showing my parents my FA and getting their okay, I withdrew all my additional applications and enrolled. Wellesley’s COA next year is a little over 69k and I’m allowed to take out $3000 in direct federal loans. Despite my EFC being 010340, my parental contribution is $18,000. We’re planning to appeal since my father was just laid off, but I’m not sure how much that’ll help. The first 9k is due in July and my parents are only telling me to find scholarships. Wellesley does not allow outside scholarships to count towards parental contribution and I have no college savings, so at this point it looks like I’ll have to take out private loans. I’m not sure what I should do as far as these private loans go or when I should start taking them out. I’m also wondering if I’d just be better for me to cut my losses and plan on transferring after a semester. I don’t think my major is worth 20k/year and I’d rather not switch to something that is just so I can go there.
Tl;dr - I have to pay my EFC+8000 so, how/when/where do I take out private loans before July and should I plan to transfer asap to save money?
A change in financial situation (such as your father being laid off) making the school unaffordable might be a valid reason to break the ED agreement, if it comes to that. You could take a gap year and apply again to schools that will cost less?
Your EFC of 10,340 is probably the EFC from the FAFSA. The only thing that the FAFSA does is determine your eligibility for federal aid. Wellesley uses the CSS profile to determine your eligibility for their own institutional aid. The profile takes a more in-depth look at your family’s finances.
It may not help much this year because the job loss is new. The school will want to know if your father is receiving severance pay, and how much /over what period of time will the severance be paid out. There is also an expectation that your father will get another job.
There is a premise that college will be paid for from past (savings) present (income from work) and future (loans).
Even if you take out the additional 2k, I gather your EFC of 16,000 will still be unaffordable.
If you know this, perhaps you would be best served by finding out if you can:
defer your enrollment for a year (your financial aid for the 2018-2019 school year will be based on 2016 income, where hopefully your dad will find work this year and be in a better position to pay)
Take a gap year and apply to schools where you may stand a good chance of getting merit (in your case you may need full tuition, which may be hard to get) to bring your cost into an affordable range for your family. This means applying to your local state U and living at home.
on your gap year, do not take **any class**. at some schools taking even one credit will mean that you are a transfer student. The best packages are reserved for first time freshmen.
I disagree that schools never consider job losses until a time period has passed. I lost my job in April of my kids’ senior year, and both schools reviewed FA for September, one school awarding extra FA almost immediately (although in the $2k range, not in the $20k range).
Contact Wellesley and ask what they suggest. If they cannot change your award for this year, I think you are going to have to decline and apply to other schools next year (or check the ‘still accepting applications’ list issued in May)
SOME schools have a waiting period before they will consider special circumstance considertions for job loss. This is completely college dependent.
Things to remember:
Each college has its own process for special circumstances considerations.
Colleges do NOT have to do special circumstances considerations at all...and some schools don't.
Special circumstances considerations are handled on a case by case basis...so what applies to student A might not apply to Student B.
The student needs to contact THEIR college and inquire about the process for making this request. Only their college will give them the exact answer they need.
I know, but the tone of the responses always seems to be ‘Don’t bother asking, there is a waiting period.’ My experience with two schools was they wanted to help and that there was no waiting period. I had to sent in documentation of my job loss, the loss had to have occurred (I actually had notice a long time in advance and was told to contact them again after I’d actually left the position), and had to fill out the budgets and other documentation they wanted.
All this student can do now is ask Wellesley. She has to decide quickly, and if Wellesley says ‘You have to wait 3 months’ she’ll have to withdraw the acceptance and either wait a year or find another school. It’s worth asking now.
@bodangles @sybbie719 @twoinanddone
I’d prefer not to take a gap year and my parents would rather me just attend and take out loans than taking a year off. If the appeal doesn’t change anything for this year, I’ll work on transferring after a semester. @CTTC
It was one of the schools I applied before pulling my applications. I’ve heard they have good FA packages (at least for freshmen), they accept spring transfers, I like the school, and I’d be able to stay in Massachusetts. @OHMomof2
They gave me 3k for loans.
Are Stafford loans separate from the direct federal loans that Wellesley gave me? My Stafford loan estimate was $5500 and Wellesley said I could take $3000 in loans out.
Either way, I doubt I can afford Wellesley in the long run. If my appeal is rejected, I’ll be leaving after a semester. If it’s approved and enough is given, I’ll be leaving after a year (and going most likely to UGA where I’ll be able to receive HOPE/Zell Miller and in-state fees). I’ve already enrolled and paid my deposit, so would it really be okay to bail if the appeal doesn’t work?
If you aren’t getting any freshman awards from UGA, I’d do some community college classes for the first year (or semester) and transfer. There is no reason to go to Wellesley and run up a big bill for a semester. Also, the credits might be harder to transfer to a different system.
According to their website, direct costs are $66,984 + $2110 for health insurance if you aren’t covered (a jump of $3,068 from last year!) How much was the grant they gave you? What is the breakdown of your aid package?
So it will cost $25,332 using total cost of attendance (this would include travel, books, etc.), or $22,690 in direct costs to the college ($24,800 with health insurance.) You need to ask your parents how much they are willing to pay each year and find out ASAP if they will give more aid because of the current job situation AND take another look at their aid numbers.
You should be able to take out $5,500 in Stafford loans.
Your work study would go more for books etc, NOT the direct costs.
You would also see if you could get a waiver on the health insurance by finding out if your parents’ insurance covers you in MA.
Crunch the numbers, see if they work and if you and your parents are able and willing to pay, then make your decision. I would not advise you to start there if you don’t plan to finish. Take into consideration how much another college would cost also.
In the mean time, see if applications you have withdrawn are still in the system (sometimes students still get acceptances after they have withdrawn them because the school never actually did it.)