The title basically says it all. I was accepted in October, and I’m wondering when UMN typically starts sending out financial packages. Their website just says “early spring” but I was hoping to get a more exact estimate than that.
I’ve heard mid-February and I really hope it’s this week because we’re visiting again on Friday and it would be nice to have that info in hand by then. We received the Duluth campus aid package about 3 weeks ago already now.
We had gotten a letter confirming they received the FAFSA, stating “We will begin sending estimated financial aid offers in mid-February.” I think they must be in the process of working on it because some things (cost of attendance, EFC, merit scholarship) are now filled in when we look at the Finances tab of the MyU portal.
The MyU portal is showing what is probably all our aid now. It’s pretty much exactly what the Net Price Calculator kicked out honestly.
Same as ours. It’s making me a little sick to my stomach the full price when all is said and done. He has about $1200 in grants. That’s it. We are not wealthy people. The only reason he doesn’t qualify for a lot in Pell is because in the last couple of years we started making a liveable income. At no point when my son was growing up was I in a position to save for college, I could barely make my bills for us to live on.
I truly thought he would have been offered something…anything. I don’t know how we are going to pull this off. I thought at the very least there’d be something for being a first generation college student.
Apologies for sounding whiney…it’s really disappointing and I had gotten my hopes up that he’d get even something small. He’s filling out multiple scholarship apps per week elsewhere, so hopefully some of those come through to soften the blow a bit. Today is a new day 
Are you OOS for UMN?
Or is the instate cost unaffordable?
I believe pp is from WI so gets the reciprocity rate, but I feel her pain. We had to cross UW-Madison off our list because even with reciprocity it was going to be too much.
We are WI and with reciprocity, the COA was listed as around 29k, I believe. 7k/semester tuition plus everything else. He’s got around 5k between the grants/work study/ subsidized loans, brings it down to 23-24k/year. Cappex had COA sorely underestimated and gave us a ballpark 12k/year.
We were comfortable with 10k in student loans…but the thought of potentially over 20k in a student loan for one year makes my stomach turn. I knew sending him to college would be expensive, but I was not prepared for this. All I can hope for is that they haven’t processed scholarships yet for UMN and he can get even something small that can help offset things in addition to the debilitating carpal tunnel that child is going to get filling out even more outside scholarship apps than he already has.
He has already worked so hard to make something of himself and I can’t let this stand in his way of accomplishing his goals. We might not have accomplished much ourselves, but he’s got the potential to do some pretty great things in life.
@mamadtb - Does he have any in-state options that are more affordable? I know WI has a grant system for it’s residents similar to what MN does.
Our financial aid award letter is visible now, through the “Communication Center” part of the portal. It’s probably being done on a rolling basis, but those who are waiting might want to start checking for it.
@mamadtb I’m sorry about the lack of scholarships. I totally know what you mean about just starting to make more money in time for the college to think you can afford it, when income was lower throughout their childhood.
And if you are from OOS…oh boy!!! I just logged into the portal and I saw the projected 2020/2021 tuition rate. of $17,980 per semester. Basically another 10% increase from the already 10% increased from this year. Add another $1000 CSOM per semester fee and it wipes out the small merit scholarship I received. Basically, It just puts me back into the “thank you but no thank you territory”. Whether you are instate of out of state, I feel everyone’s pain
Higher education in this country is completely out of hand. Before you know it, all these schools are going to be left with very few students. Those who are left are going to be either the rich ones or the ones sinking in loans. The middle class will not be able to “play” at these Flagships. I get the fact that these major Flagships’ first priority should be to educate the citizens of their own States. But even the Instate rates are ridiculous. Out Of State Diversity (geographical, ethic, etc, etc) is a very positive thing on so many levels. It is just hard to justify such a 3 to 1 premium, especially when UMN just continues to raise its OOS rates. I just don’t see how they can continue to do this without turning off so many applicants. This might explain the free application waivers.
@Setter4life , Gotta agree just ran the numbers tonight for OOS at the business school and assuming they continue to raise OOS tuition at the same rate and the business school will hit very close to 60 K esp when adding in airfare from the east cost. Rutgers is about half the price for roughly the same ranked school. Or as I put it to my son you can go to Rutgers , our instate flagship for your undergrad and a MBA or go to Carlson at UMINN for your undergrad. We were looking to tour UMINN and Macalster next month but unless I am missing something I do not think we will be boarding the plane.
The grand total for us OOS was projected at $51,560 for 20-21. The number was $48,402 for 19-20. The projected is based on what the board/regents? decide in their meeting in July. In our case with the 15,000 national award it comes down to 36,560. At our home school Univ. of IL cost would be $32,728 which is about 4,000 difference. The difference was only $1,000 with the 19-20 numbers. According to the website Liberal Arts incoming Freshman are eligible for a collegiate award which would be worth 1-7K a year. Decisions to be made by the end of March. The $1000 difference would be easy to take. The $4000 not so much. I do see the logic with the OOS increases compared to in state but it certainly going to make people not go OOS.
@Cole2020 - Isn’t there some kind of a “lock” in the tuition for OOS? I know I saw that with the larger increases the past few years that there were different rates based on what year you started.
The chart doesn’t have the class of 24. I talked to someone in admissions (not about this specifically) and he mentioned none of the tuition or room and board numbers are decided till July. What is sort of deceptive is on the U of I website they have projected 2020-2021 rates. Minnesota does not. My numbers for 20-21 are from what I received in the mail and posted on the Communications Center.
I misinterpreted you. I thought you were worried about potential future increases after starting, not about what the incoming cost will be.
Actually I was with increases too and I reread the chart you linked and you are correct. I’m a little slow today.
The other problem I see is that all this gets decided in July which is also an unknown and when your figure the double-digit increases from the past 4 years, one has to assume the same for next year.
@Cole2020 It seems that the cost difference to attend UMN vs U of Ill. is somewhat more palatable at $4000 than for us at $20K. Within the world of attending OOS schools for sure not too bad of a premium. Then again, the cost to attend Illinois is ridiculously high for all of you In-state students. No wonder a lot of Illinois residents choose to go OOS. Either way, $4000 or $20K is a big financial decision, especially when you have to multiply that number times 4. Both Rutgers and Illinois have amazing Business schools and present compelling options. It seems like the warmer weather schools will end up as being our options.
Illinois certainly would be #1 for not the $15,000 National scholarship from UMN. Can’t see paying 20k more. Interesting though I believe I read that out of the big ten schools Illinois has the most instate attendance. Engineering and Business is a big deal there.