<p>Hello,</p>
<p>Why is it that transfer students are offered much less financial aid than incoming freshmen?! </p>
<p>Is there any way to convince a financial aid office that giving freshmen more aid than transfer students is unfair in order to get more aid?</p>
<p>Back-story: Last semester, I transferred to a new college but received much less financial aid at my new college compared to my previous college. However, I had great grades and extracurriculars when I transferred, so the less aid is not due to my grades and extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I think a lot of the aid and scholarships offered to freshmen is too attract students who have higher stats than the school’s average, thus increasing that average. Schools publish their average stats of incoming freshmen - average incoming ACT, SAT, GPA etc etc and want to increase those stats where possible to make the school more attractive to prospective students (bragging rights). Transfer students don’t really do anything for the schools stats.</p>
<p>My school, the top scholarship for a transfer is a partial tuition waiver of $2500 that just requires a 3.25 GPA. If yo have a 4.00, you don’t get any more money. As far as need based aid, their aid is about the same for transfer and freshmen because all they offer in need based aid is federal aid anyway.</p>
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Very doubtful.</p>
<p>Filing that freshman class is a big deal to a college. A lot of time and work go into it ,and a college give it all it’s got in terms of money to get the best one crafted each year. The transfers are often after thoughts. Few school have very many transfer openings, nor is there the deluge in apps with transfer. It just isn’t as big of event. So when you give your most and best to your priority there isn’t much steam or money left for the few transfer applications. A lot of times the school doesn’t even know how many transfers they can take in a specific discipline because their kids have not yet transferred out. It’s still too early in the processs to know who they will be losing.</p>
<p>Schools that are need blind and meet full need for their first year students often do not do the same in following you. The freshman are courted, the Upperclasmen are wed to the school, so to speak and are a foregone conclusion. No more courting.</p>
<p>I think it has a lot to do with college ranking system, which looks at college selectivity for freshman, high school GPA for freshman, SAT scores for freshman. Transfer students have no effect on this and therefore do not raise school prestige, hence colleges do not need to work that hard to attract transfer students with generous financial aid.</p>
<p>That is my theory, but I don’t know for sure.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse you write:</p>
<p>Schools that are need blind and meet full need for their first year students often do not do the same in following you. The freshman are courted, the Upperclasmen are wed to the school, so to speak and are a foregone conclusion. No more courting. </p>
<p>I write:</p>
<p>Are you referring in general or specifically to transfers? Are you saying that generally the best financial aid you will receive from a school (that you begin and end at) is during your freshman year (for need blind/full need schools)?</p>
<p>Also consider the business side. A freshman who stays 4 years, even with a generous scholarship, still produces revenue for 4 years (or maybe 5). A transfer does not. An 18 year old freshman may be more likely to live in the residence halls and have a meal plan, another revenue stream. Transfers could live in the halls, but many do not.</p>
<p>If you accepted the aid and began at the school, little chance your argument will fly.</p>
<p>Yes, most of the time the best financial aid package is offered to freshman. It usually goes downhill from there. Even top school often have the philosophy that students should take on more of the responsibility of the cost of their school, and their contribution often goes up or is met more in the form of loans. The Staffords are even scaled so that is possible. Upper classmen are permitted to borrow more in those funds. Also the cost of upper class housing is usually more, and costs overall tend to increase at schools.</p>
<p>There are exceptions. My son was hit pretty hard sophomore year since he had an outside scholarship his first year, which was not a whole lot, but did make a bit of dent in the cost. He did not get a good pick in the upperclassmen room lottery and ended up with a single which was cheaper than a number of the apartment style options for upperclassman. His college also increased its tuition and room and board by about 4%, proud that they were able to hold the line to that point. He got a job on campus that year to keep up with the increase, and we were all pretty depressed about the prospects of further increases.</p>
<p>Well, the next year, he found an inexpensive off campus apartment with 4 others and they all made a concerted effort to keep food costs down, and they did do pretty well. DS had his job and he won a departmental award that really took the edge off the increases. ALso the school did not increase the tuition that much that year. He was fortunate in that he has gotten some nice grants from his department and in working with some professors which has kept his costs down. But that is not typical, nor can you count on it for upperclassment. He happens to be an outstanding student, excelling in a niche area of research and his college and professors have some grants that they can share with him. That is not something predictable and few kids get this. </p>
<p>My next year sophomore is glumly looking at increased costs. Again, he did not do well in the room lottery, getting a late pick, so his room will be less convenient and more expensive next year. If costs rise, he will definitely have to take out a loan. Thank goodness he left that leeway when picking a college.</p>
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<p>Depends on the school. A lot of public universities accept a large number of transfers, from CCs and elsewhere.</p>
<p>By definition, there should be fewer transfers than first year applicants. Yes, there may be some exceptions such as at schools where the number of freshmen is kept deliberately low in order for feeder campuses to send those who make junior status transfer into the schools, but generally, there are far fewer transfers than there are freshmen and one of the objectives in picking a freshman class is to hopefully have one that leaves little room for transfers coming in.</p>
<p>I don’t know about other states, but in our state if you go to a CC and get your associates degree, you are guaranteed a place in the 4 year state Us as a transfer. So they do get a lot of transfers, though probably nowhere near the amount of freshmen. ANd the tx scholarships are not generous.</p>
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<p>If you’re talking about need based FA, then this statement is not always true, as with most things, it depends on the school. </p>
<p>Some schools give less need based FA to transfers, while others have the same policies for fr and transfers. The latter are usually the schools that are known for generous FA.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.eiu.edu/~transfer/[/url]”>www.eiu.edu/~transfer/</a></p>
<p>m</p>
<p>The worse the college, the more transfer openings in general. Highly selective colleges have few who leave and therefore few openings for transfers. More marginal schools have many leave and many openings.</p>
<p>And some colleges, by design, are intended to support CC transfers.</p>
<p>It seems to me there are two (perhaps more) distinct types of transfer students: those who start at a 2-year school and then must transfer to complete their degree, and those who start at one four-year school and then for whatever reason (adacemic, financial, “fit,” etc.) decide that is not the place for them so they look to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>In general, do the 4-year schools treat all transfer students the same (as other transfers) in terms of admissions and financial aid?</p>
<p>Back-story: Last semester, I transferred to a new college but received much less financial aid at my new college compared to my previous college. However, I had great grades and extracurriculars when I transferred, so the less aid is not due to my grades and extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>It’s for this reason that we advise that students NOT cut ties with their former school until they’ve seen the aid pkg at the transfer school. for many kids, it’s a disaster to learn that their transfer school isn’t affordable and they didn’t re-register at their old school.</p>
<p>Rankings and those reported “middle quartiles” are influenced by the Freshman class, so the money is directed at them to seat the best class. Transfers don’t do much for a school except to take the spots that became open when kids either dropped out or transfered elsewhere.</p>
<p>Some states, like Calif, make it easier for needy to get aid when they transfer because they qualify based on their great need. It’s state aid and fed aid mostly, not institutional aid.</p>
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<p>Admissions: Not necessarily. Some colleges have transfer agreements with CCs. Also, depending on the colleges involved, academic rigor may be a factor in evaluating gpa. </p>
<p>FA: If you are talking about need based FA, it will be the same for both.</p>
<p>These are all great replies everyone and I really appreciate your input.</p>
<p>However, I can’t help feeling that giving students less aid because they transferred is completely unfair. Transfer students attend the same college as students who attend the college all four years and, therefore, deserve equality in all aspects of college, which includes financial aid. </p>
<p>Plus, giving transfer students less aid seems like discrimination. Students are not given any less aid based on their color, gender, and nationality. However, students are discriminated against in the financial aid process due to the fact that they are a transfer student.</p>
<p>*However, I can’t help feeling that giving students less aid because they transferred is completely unfair. Transfer students attend the same college as students who attend the college all four years and, therefore, deserve equality in all aspects of college, which includes financial aid. *</p>
<p>It may not seem fair to you, but you are only taking this tack because you are on the transfer end of the deal. In the college’s eyes, they have no reason to attract you: they probably already have all the enrollment that they need, and they don’t need to woo transfer students. So why would they offer you a competitive financial aid package when they can devote their limited funds to the students that they really need to woo? Besides, incoming transfer students’ stats do not factor into the school’s ranking or reputation. The colleges are not interested in being “fair,” they are interested in making the best class for their college and serving their own interests.</p>
<p>Plus, giving transfer students less aid seems like discrimination. Students are not given any less aid based on their color, gender, and nationality. However, students are discriminated against in the financial aid process due to the fact that they are a transfer student.</p>
<p>I certainly hope that you are not comparing gender-based or racial discrimination with ‘discrimination’ against transfer students. Being a woman or being Latino is not a choice; it’s a designator you’re born with, and it comes with societal disadvantages that colleges try to counter. There are no societal disadvantages attached to being a transfer student; it’s not even a label you have until your college years, and nobody cares about it after that. Yes, the college is going to treat you differently - but you are not a protected class of citizen.</p>