<p>Does anyone know when f.a. pkgs will be mailed from Bentley? My son rec’d admittance on Monday, but, $$$ is a big issue, and I want to know how to steer him to other schools if the bucks aren’t coming.</p>
<p>mainermom, Welcome to cc and congratulations to you and your son! This is the question that I was asking a few days ago. Frankly, I read somewhere that it was to be mailed on 3/25 (which is today, a Saturday, and I doubt that it would go out on a week-end). I did check and was told by the financial assistance center that they will mailed on 4/1. I also wish that I knew if my son could attend. He would like to, but it has to be financially doable. According to the collegeboard, Bentley meets 91% of need based aid on average. On average, need based aid is split 62% grants, and 38% loans. The average graduating student debt is one of the highest that I have seen, which gives me cause for concern. It is over 27,000 for an undergraduate degree! Just as a financial comparison- 2 other expensive private schools- Boston University-graduating debt is around 21,000; American University is 19,000+. Those are very expensive schools, yet at Bentley while meeting 91% of need, debt is 27,000+ (I do not understand why, and that concerns me).</p>
<p>Anyone have an idea about why student debt at graduation averages 27,000?
With 30 people who have read this thread, perhaps someone has a better understanding than I do.</p>
<p>financial aid packages were mailed out today.</p>
<p>S got his package today. It was disappointing, so he is not going to go to Bentley.</p>
<p>northeastmom did it meet all the requirements? It looks like either Bentley or NU right now. may I ask what was your EFC and what they met?</p>
<p>I'm going to see if NU can provide any more aid.</p>
<p>Technically it does, but here is the difference- At Bentley they tack on another 4500 for the student to carry. They believe in the student being responsible for a portion, so that amount is added to EFC. For example, if EFC is 20000, they will meet, I think, 15,500. The other packages that my son got did not have this component. We feel very very stretched to meet the efc. This was just too much, and the 4500 more that our family needs to come up with, makes it too uncomfortable for us. If they granted us that 4500 we would feel very squeezed, but we would probably allow him to attend. We were planning on having our son work summers and using that money to help with our original efc number, not that number plus another 4500. It makes it completely overwhelming for our family.</p>
<p>Also, look at the average 4 year debt of graduates. It is 27000. That is high. It seems that other private schools have an average student debt of 18000.</p>