<p>Fallen, hopefully you didn’t deposit at Rice yet.</p>
<p>Just got UVA FA package today, but I got a bigger, no-loan award from elsewhere, as well as other merit offers. So I will decline (Echols too). It coulda been sweet. Oh well, maybe I’ll be in Charlottesville for grad school. </p>
<p>BTW, how do you decline? I can’t figure out how to do so on the ISIS page. Maybe this means I’m not smart enough for UVA anyway…</p>
<p>@UVAorBust - I did, actually, but I’m thinking about filing an extension for UVa and seeing if the aid works out. If so I’ll visit and if I like it more than Rice I think I can switch (like a person does if they get off a schools waitlist in May).</p>
<p>That would be nice :D</p>
<p>@Fallenangel9 I couldn’t help but read that you applied to Truman State. Are you from MO? I’m the only person I’ve met going from Missouri and I’d love of you pm’d me so we could discuss how you’re going to go to UVA.</p>
<p>I guess you could always Facebook me too. (if you remember who I am)</p>
<p>I rejected UVA because of the financial package. It’s a great school and I would love to go there, but it wasn’t worth asking my family to contribute that much for my undergraduate study.</p>
<p>
Fallen, I’ve just emailed you. Had you gotten the documents in back at the beginning of the month when Student Financial Services contacted, they probably would have packaged you with time to spare. I’m afraid it’s too late now to meet the May 1st deadline.</p>
<p>I am turning down UVA tonight and it will be bittersweet. UVA was my dream school for a long time and the day I got accepted was one of the happiest of my senior year. I picked UNC over UVA for several reasons. First and most importantly was the disappointing financial aid package. UVA offered me $4000 in work study which works out to around $20 hr/week if I am getting paid $8-10hr. I called the financial aid office and they told me that they only expect students to work a maximum 10-12 hours. Needless to say after going round and round in circles we were finally told that if I didn’t work 20 hrs./week to get the full $4000 (impossible for a college freshman with a heavy course-load) it would be up to my family to make up the difference. That’s no small chunk of change; If I work a more reasonable amount of $2500 per year that’s still $6000 dollars difference alone over four years that has to come out of my pocket. Its incredibly frustrating to learn that UVA’s work-study offer is in essence a lie if they truly expect student to work no more than 10-12 hours per week, because it is impossible to earn the $4000 with those hours unless you are paid $20 hour!!! In addition UVA gave me unsubsidized loans which means higher interest. One last financial aid blunder is learning that the much hyped about AccessUVA loan cap is actually a Federal Government policy and NOT a UVA policy. The government caps loans at $23,000 unsubsidized (25 percent of U.Va.’s in-state cost of attendance over four years) but UVA could and would (with their FA current offer) make me take up to $31,000 total (the government cap amount on a combination of sub/unsub loans) with the additional unsubsidized loans. I was really angry that on my tour this was touted as something unique to UVA when it is not! UVA’s offer left me feeling rather hurt and frustrated. Basically if I had gotten $4000-$5000 more in gift aid from UVA I might have been able to swing it financially but I can’t ask my parents for the extra $25,000 it would cost. UNC also has a public health major, and just more variety of majors in the science fields. UNC also seemed more relaxed, although I was head over heels for UVA’s rich history, school pride, and unique college town. Its going to be really really hard to click the decline button this evening.</p>
<p>You’ll have a great time at UNC. Enjoy Time Out Chicken for me :D</p>
<p>@Dean J - I did respond, though. I actually sent the documents shortly after (within the next couple days), which should be evidenced by the fact that the household size confirmation form they received is dated just a few days after April 6th.</p>
<p>I also had my father send the other two forms, though only the first page went through; a fact of which I was not made aware until yesterday. Had I been told this a couple weeks ago when my father had sent it, I could have had him promptly re-fax the forms.</p>
<p>Finally, I was told when I responded the first time that they would not have my aid package ready by May 1st no matter what.</p>
<p>I understand that this might turn into a “he said, she said” type of ordeal, and I really don’t want to cause all this trouble, so if it is too difficult then it may not be worth all the effort. I’m really sorry for the complications. 
</p>
<p>@Dardyjoe - I’ll send you a Facebook message.</p>
<p>This is all incredibly fascinating (everyone’s experiences with financial aid). It’s actually the topic of my Master’s thesis that I’ll be working on next year- except I’m more interested in how aid/debt structures opportunity for new/recent graduates. </p>
<p>The whole loan/grant thing is somewhat surprising to me, since I received mostly all grants…I suppose that’s a somewhat skewed perception though as I had received $5500/year in sub. loans, which would have been 20k+ had I been at UVA all 4 years (instead of 2.5).</p>
<p>Regardless, I hope everyone who chose not to attend UVA has plenty of success at their school of choosing. :)</p>
<p>Ray7890 it sounds like we had identical FA packages from UVA. I will be joining you at UNC. From early on I expected to be in Virginia next year. But Carolina offered a 10k loan pkg after 4 years instead of 36k. Plus less need for work study. Go Tar Heels.</p>
<p>@UVAorBust Bleechhh. I hate fried chicken…but I will eat a panini at McAllister’s in your honor. Have a slice at Christian’s Pizza for me ok? haha. Luckily I saw a place on Franklin Street that looked like the same deal :)</p>
<p>@OhioOne Glad to hear I’m not the only one. 4 people at my school were accepted and not a single one will be going to UVA; solely because of Financial Aid. Mostly I’m upset about how un-transparent the whole thing was from the whole work study/loan cap deal to how their calculated EFC for my family was apparently $2,000 higher than the one on the FASFA! UNC is gorgeous though and I know we’ll be happy in the long run no matter where we go!</p>
<p>Ray - going through the posts on this string everyone listed FA as the reason for the rejection (although one poster listed multiple reasons). From my S’s school 4 kids were accepted and three are going to schools with better FA packages. It is incredibly difficult to turn down the opportunity for a kid who has worked incredibly hard for four years to get into a school like UVa, but in the end you can’t justify the extra cost. The FA policies make you remember that you are dealing with a state run school regardless of the academic reputation. We also got an FA package loaded with loans and work-study amounts that just didn’t make sense.</p>
<p>Probably going to have to reject UVA, I still have not received my FA Package. After having numerous talks with the FA office (even visiting the office when I went for DOTL) they assured me that it would be here by Friday (yesterday). Called back yesterday and they said it would be here by Monday… not worth rejecting my other schools to wait for UVA on Monday when I don’t even know how much FA they will give me <em>sigh</em>.</p>
<p>Go Sox, I highly suggest you ask for a deadline extension. If you are still intersted in UVA, just ask them to extend the deadline.</p>
<p>It was really hard for me to reject UVA…especially because I got Echols, College Science Scholar, am in-state, and got and a full tuition scholarship…but Duke has been my first choice since forever, I absolutely love the atmosphere, it’s so much smaller, and in my opinion a bit more diverse than UVA. I kept going back and forth on it forever but I think I’ve finally decided. Also, I already know so many people attending UVA from my school that I just wanted to start off fresh. I’m getting amazing financial aid from Duke and I know they have so many amazing things to offer their students so I’m pretty happy about my decision.</p>
<p>I just preferred the atmosphere and size of William & Mary to UVA. I’ve also lived right near the University for most of my life, so I wanted to get away for college. UVA is amazing and I understand why people love it so much, but the choice wasn’t too difficult for me :)</p>
<p>Have to agree with Dean J once agin, the cost issue looms large on everyone’s decision unless you have the coin to stoke the check no matter where you plan on attending. I think it is a myth that “there is plenty of cash out there” when it comes to financing higher education. You have to do what you think is best and I certainly agree that coming out of college with anything above 20K is a very bad idea. I’m also positive that there are many very bright students now at UVA that that were admitted to “their dream school” out of state or private and choose UVA when they received their financial aid package and did the math (see "I picked UVA over… " post). The only silver lining in all of this is that there may be a lucky student on the UVA wait list who might be getting great news.</p>
<p>I agree with Dean J and Gary614-financial issues are important to the great majority of people. If the finances are not going to work,most people just move on and find a school that they like and can afford. UVa has never been known for merit aid, yet somehow lots of people seem to apply ,hoping that the money will just materialize somehow. Gary614 is right that many very bright kids are at UVa that could have gone to “dream schools” out of state or private. My son was one of them. We paid full price for son to go there ED as an in state student. We really appreciated he could get a great education for less than $20,000 at the time (as opposed to places like Duke he was interested in which with an almost 30000 EFC would have cost us a whole lot more money ). I see kids getting Jefferson’s posting, low income kids getting good need based financial aid from UVa,etc. UVa is a public school and seems to be doing pretty well with limited funding from the state. If UVa does not work financially for some of you, I’m sure you’ll do fine at another school that you feel you can afford better. Everybody makes choices. Would I have liked to tell my son to apply anywhere he had a hankering for,regardless of price. Of course, but the reality was that cost was an issue. I’m glad we felt we could at least afford the instate cost and did not tell him he had to look for merit aid elsewhere. He had a great 4 years at UVa and was going to Foxfields with some friends today. Can’t imagine him having gone anywhere else.Good luck to all at whatever schools you choose!</p>