Hi, College Confidential community! I hope all of you out there are done with the stress of the prep school application process .
I’m a student applying to three different schools: Phillips Exeter, Phillips Academy, and The Thacher School. I had a quick question regarding financial aid that I was hoping someone here would be able to answer.
In the case that one or more of these schools accept me, when would I be notified of my financial aid decision? Would I receive my financial aid package on March 10 if I were to be admitted to any of these schools (fingers crossed )? Or would I have to wait till past the admissions decision date?
Oh wow I guess I didn’t appreciate that it could be days later (and “earlier than A10” sounds like it could be a week or more even). What horrible limbo to be in, trying to plan revisits and such (which I think fill up quickly according to posters). Anyway, good to know that M10 will not be the magical day of knowing what our options really are.
Agree with @GoatMama It is usually within a week depending on how the snail mail goes. It’s definitely before revisit days, so you’re not really in limbo.
Super helpful — I didn’t realize it was a snail mail notification. @buuzn03 I meant in limbo in that I can’t book flights or reserve revisit days since there is no point revisiting a school that isn’t an option financially. Also, if DD gets into a few schools, we will definitely narrow it down for revisits and the $ piece will be a huge factor. It would just be nice to have that info sooner rather than later so that DD doesn’t create her own “top 3” list (or whatever) to go revisit that we then need to change four days later because the FA offer doesn’t support that list. None of it is the end of the world. It just means we will have to push off any potential celebrating and planning the revisit trip for a few days, whereas I was picturing it being a matter of hours.
^I used snail mail because it’s the slowest possible route. In our case we received our package 3-4 days after M10…still soon enough to figure out revisits but also allowing enough time for the confetti to settle and actual analytical thoughts set in.
I’ve known some schools to send individual emails same day or a few days later. I’ve never heard of anyone having to wait more than a few days…but I’ve not been privy to every school situation. I would expect that within the week to be the norm.
@buuzn03 In contrast, snail mail FA notification from an ED college can be a total nail biter for BS families. The college sends FA packet to the applicant, not to the parents, which means it goes to the BS address. The packet may arrive after the student has left for Christmas break. The student contacts the college to ask for a new packet to be mailed to the home address (colleges can be very unwilling to send FA info electronically). FA packet arrives home after Christmas. Deadline for acceptance of ED offer is December 31. Parents have literally 1-2 workdays to contact the FA office and deal with discrepancies. Not good. Keep in mind if you decide for ED next year.
@GoatMama I’ll count my blessings then with the BS cycle! @iusedtobesmart I meant metallic really. :). Like foily, shiny bits of floaty joy that ruin your vacuum cleaner and never really go away.
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