What is going on!?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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<p>[Re-posted from Financial Aid forum. I want all the insight I can get.]</p>

<p>I need help figuring out what went wrong with my financial aid at Emory University, aid which I anticipated to be extremely generous.</p>

<p>I'm an incoming transfer student whose family has an AGI of a little over 15,000 and a 108 EFC. One of the huge reasons I applied to Emory was because of its policy of meeting full demonstrated need as well as eliminating loans for families who make less than 50K through Emory Advantage.</p>

<p>I put down the deposit without even seeing my financial aid award yet because I believed so strongly that my financial aid was going to be satisfactory. However, my financial aid award (posted yesterday) says I'm eligible for only 29,000$ in aid, with 10,000$ of that being loans. The estimated cost to attend is much higher at 55,000. Of course, for a lot of people that aid is generous but for my family it's too little. (By the way, my sister is also attending college at the same time!) At this point, I can't go to Emory. It's horrifying- I love the school and have been excited about attending for months.</p>

<p>I think I've made a fatal error interpreting my financial information and would like help understanding exactly what is happening. Here is part of an explanation from the Assistant Director at the FA office, which I still don't really get:</p>

<p>"There has been no mistake in our award. Yes your FAFSA EFC is low because of your family’s tax information, but it is important to understand that Emory uses our own institutional policy to make our final award determination... As a professional I have to use my years of experience to formulate a reasonable level of income to better account for the average income that is needed to sustain your family and their needs."</p>

<p>So wait. They did away with the AGI/EFC on my forms and came up with their own number? How is it possible that an EFC of 108 as determined by FAFSA becomes an 'EFC' of 20,000+ according to Emory policy?</p>

<p>Together, my parents actually make 83,000 a year (this is obviously where the problem lies.) However, if I understand correctly (and I probably don't), the AGI indicates how much a family has left, after mortgage/debt payments, to spend on things like other bills and college tuition. My family's financial history is confusing and even I don't understand it very well. But basically, my parents' AGI is so low because they are tied to numerous failing properties and debts. They invested in real estate years back and are paying for it now. I think the low AGI and the EFC of 108 accurately reflect our miserable financial situation - the 2010 tax year alone the power was cut off several times due to unpaid bills. We're always borrowing from friends and family, and my parents fight about whether or not to file for bankruptcy all the time. Though I'm not a financial expert, I <em>KNOW</em>, living in this house, that we are poor as hell. But Emory doesn't seem to think so...</p>

<p>Basically, have you guys an inkling of what happened? Please enlighten me! Again, the main question: How is it possible that an EFC of 108 as determined by FAFSA becomes an 'EFC' of 20,000+ according to Emory policy?</p>

<p>Sigh. I kept hearing, on this board and elsewhere, that with an EFC of near-zero I should expect almost a full ride at Emory. I don't have an entitlement complex - it's simply what I was anticipating given Emory's posted commitment to meeting demonstrated need. I want to go this school so bad you don't even know. I'm hoping, by coming to this forum, I can better understand my financial case and maybe appeal successfully.</p>

<p>Thank you!!</p>

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<p>You did CSS right? I really hope you did CSS profile. Either, I really can’t help w/that I don’t know. I have Emory advantage so I have never experienced that. You may need to legit talk w/someone there (fin. aid/administration), because I don’t know, sorry. I have no idea how they calculate this stuff.</p>

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<p>Yes, they have my CSS information. I did call and was referred to the Assistant Director, whom I’ve been e-mailing with. I’m waiting for his response atm to the same questions posed here. I just want insight from CC members because I doubt he’s going to recommend appealing, which I really feel like doing. Thank you, though!</p>

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<p>If your family’s AGI were also near $83k a $20k EFC is in the right ballpark, and my best guess is that’s what Emory is using here to compute your EFC as they see it (remember private universities dont strictly go off the fafsa EFC and in many cases can use their own method, either a more or less generous one, to compute how much that want you to pay). The assumption w/ financial aid in general is that a minimum amount of money must go to essentials (food, utility bills, primary house mortgage/rent) and that portion should not be forced to pay for your education, while any extra money beyond that is considered discretionary and thus a large portion of it should be used to finance your own education (this is why EFC increases exponentially w/ income). Since the debts your parents are paying that resulted in the low AGI are for things considered non-essential (like the extra real estate your parents bought), in Emory FA’s view they could easily be used to finance your education and thus your low AGI and EFC are essentially considered to be invalid, and my guess here is that FA awarded you the amount based the assumption of a $83k instead of $15k income.</p>

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<p>Wow, you guys have to go through this? That sucks. That’s so confusing (seriously, the difference from being at the 50k line and 83k is that large? wow!). Then again, I suppose it would be nice to be in high enough position to argue whether 83k accurately reflects how much we should pay (seriously, I’ve never seen or heard of that much money). Universities screw over the middleclass (smack dab middle and upper). Private universities w/huge endowments are no exception.</p>

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<p>Collegegestu816: Ah, that makes sense… I think you’re right that Emory believes the other properties could be used to finance my education. What if I proved this otherwise in an appeal? My parents have tried to sell the properties and failed (even if people wanted to buy them, their worth is much less than what my parents paid for them); additionally, no one wants to rent them. They literally just suck up all our money and do nothing for us. In this situation, is Emory expecting us to foreclose on these properties?</p>

<p>What if I wrote an appeal describing how the properties cannot be used to finance my education and that the only way to pay for college without more aid would be for my parents to foreclose on their properties, OBLITERATING their credit? They do that and I feel they could never get a loan again (which we’d still need even without the monthly mortgage payments.) Or would Emory not care and expect us to indeed go forward with the drastic last option?</p>

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<p>Look at what your alternate options are at this point. Are your able or willing to not transfer here if your financial aid doesn’t get more generous? Would you be willing to take out $20k in loans each year for the rest the time at Emory (assuming your family’s financial situation doesn’t change significantly) and pay them back yourself after graduation (and you’ll definitely need to working in a pretty high-paying field to pay off that kind of debt)? Any chance of merit aid/scholarships down the line? </p>

<p>If none of those options sound good, then yes definitely try to explain your extenuating circumstances to the FA people in your appeal in as much detail as possible and possibly provide hard evidence that your family is on the verge of bankruptcy (perhaps send them a copy of a statement/notice from a bank threatening to foreclose your property or something of the like). If you can really prove to them that your situation is much worse than they originally interpreted as they may let up and give u some more FA (but be sure to do it ASAP since they’ve probably awarded almost of their FA money by now and can’t give you more FA money no matter how bad your situation is if you they run out out it).</p>

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<p>hey museumgerm,</p>

<p>I am a transfer this fall and I am in a pretty similiar situation. Our calculated Federal EFC was like 1600-ish. However my dad owns his own company, and we also have a house that is a little above average. We know someone that works for Emory and he even tried to appeal for us but here is what it boiled down to: Emory allows $250,000 in assets (like a company, a house, etc etc) and anything above that is like “extra” assets that you should sell/whatever to finance your education. </p>

<p>We aren’t getting much actual income (significantly less than yours even) at the moment but because of the company (and in your situation, the houses) Emory expects you to take money out of those resources. They don’t really care how you do this. As a result I got NOTHING (zip, zero nada) from Emory and 100% of my aid is from the Fed (about 12k, mostly loans). However, I am still able to go (barely) so good luck to you!</p>

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<p>Thank you for the advice. We have a bunch of those letters! Damn, if it just wasn’t so late :frowning: I will have an appeal letter ready by tomorrow. (I’ve already called Emory, I just have to fax it in.) If I don’t get more aid I can’t go. This SUCKS.</p>

<p>Edit: Sorry you’re in the same boat, HeatFanNY. After thinking about it for a minute I’m willing to take out a bunch of loans to go if the appeal doesn’t work out. I can’t imagine giving up Emory for my state school…</p>

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<p>Exactly, its hard for my family because we have to put our money into the company, and im sure its the same for yours but I feel like Emory is worth it. There’s a reason I (and you) transferred right? I mean you might just have to work a little during the school year and summer.</p>

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<p>OP: definitly contact emory and go in person if you have to. this is very very weird. even if its 85k its still less then 100k which is the cut off for emory advantage. so you really shouldn’t have more then 5500 of loans this year. did you apply to aid late? emory had a very early css deadline. if you applied late for aid that means you won’t get as much as you would. the no loan policy is for people whose income is less than 50k. its doesn’t matter what it is after tax and expenses.</p>

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<p>The Assistant Director never responded to my follow-up e-mail. :frowning: Hoping he’ll do that first thing tomorrow.</p>

<p>Sorry, I rounded up, which was pretty egregious: the actual total for the loans is 7,500, though that’s still greater than 5,500. The two loans are a ‘Direct Fed Sub Stafford Loan 1’ (5,500) and a ‘Direct Fed Unsub Stafford Ln 1’ (2,000). Should that be less?</p>

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<p>you can’t have direct fed sub loan that is 5500. the maximum for first year is $3500. the unsub should be 2000. i think you read it wrong. total loan is 5500. that 5500 is composed of 2000 unsub loan. </p>

<p>if it does say that you have 7500 loan, this gives you a very good argument for miscalculation of aid. you can point to the emory advantage policy.</p>

<p>you should reemail it again and go there in person
school starts in about 10 days so you def need to sort this out</p>

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<p>By first year, do you mean Freshman year? I’m an incoming transfer student, does that change anything? With regard to your comment about the CSS deadline, as a transfer student I had much more lenient deadlines. As long as they received my documents within 30 days of my acceptance (and they did), my application was on time. However, my acceptance came really late (July 17).</p>

<p>I really, really hope you’re right that there’s been a miscalculation.</p>

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<p>oh… then never mind. if you are going to be a junior 7500 is about right. if you are going to be a sophomore, it should be 6500 but either way the max total amount of loan in 4 years can only be 15k</p>

<p>the sooner you apply for aid, the higher chance of getting more aid. wait… you did css after you got accepted? css is usually done as you are applying and before acceptance.</p>

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<p>“Together, my parents actually make 83,000 a year (this is obviously where the problem lies.) However, if I understand correctly (and I probably don’t), the AGI indicates how much a family has left, after mortgage/debt payments, to spend on things like other bills and college tuition. My family’s financial history is confusing and even I don’t understand it very well. But basically, my parents’ AGI is so low because they are tied to numerous failing properties and debts.”</p>

<p>AGI stands for Adjusted *Gross *Income, or income before mortgafe,debt and other payments. I’d go ahead with an appeal, and try to show how little discretionary (available) income there is. Your parents really should help you with all this.</p>