This is a new place I’ve found where I feel like I can vent my feelings. I hope I can get some advice, too.
I’m a prospective undergrad student. I’ve found a university out of state that I really like and I feel like it will set me up for success in my careers and adult life. However, there have been issues that have prevented me from fully committing to it. First off, my family has a financial issue. We’ve lost our main source of income, so my parents can’t give too much for my college choice. The school isn’t too expensive, but not cheap enough that basic scholarships will cover it. The aid the college has given is not as much as other colleges have given me. Maybe it’s because there were issues with my application and transcript, as well. I had initially sent in my application and transcript in October, but my transcript was lost in the mail, so it had to be sent again. It was finally received some time in December. This was very odd and frustrating for my family and my school counselor. Because of this, the university is lead to believe that my application was sent in December, making me ineligible for priority aid. And all the money for priority aid has already been given away. We’ve tried communicating with the faculties at this university, and we’re doing our best to be patient. But obviously, it’s not that easy to wait. I’m not asking for a huge amount of money, by any means. I’m just looking for clarification and answers. And I’m frustrated and upset at my situation and I just wish things were easier. I want to find a way to communicate why this college is important to me and why things are taking so long, but it feels like my family and I have already tried too many options.
My questions are, has anyone else been in a similar situation like this? How did it turn out for you? Can anyone help me out as to what to do? Does this college not see me as a priority, even though they’ve communicated otherwise?
This does sound very frustrating! Did you and your parents use the Net Price Calculator on that college’s website to see if it was likely to be affordable? If so, and if your aid package proves to be very different from the NPC results, that will be something to discuss with the financial aid office.
If you do find out that you would have received more money had your application materials arrived earlier, ask the admissions and financial aid office about applying again for 2021. You could take a year off, and apply then. That also might give your family time to recover a bit more financially.
Is this a public university? If so, understand that their primary responsibility is to provide affordable education to the residents of their own state. At most public schools, getting aid as an OOS resident is tough.
Has this changed from when you completed the FAFSA? If so, call the financial aid office with the updated information. Ask to speak to one of the financial aid officers, not just the person answering the phone.
Why didn’t you have your counselor upload your transcript via the common app? While unfortunate, it’s the applicants responsibility to be sure that materials are received on time, not the university’s.
Do you have other affordable acceptances? If so, my advice would be to get excited about one of your options.
- Does this out of state college guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students? If not, the only guaranteed need based aid you could receive even IF the college considers your parent lay off is the Direct Loan, and whatever part of the Pell you might be eligible for. That would be $12,000 total or less...depending on what your EFC was adjusted to. The only real guarantee is the $5500 Direct Loan.
- Mail? Aren’t most documents sent electronically to the colleges now? How did you apply to this school. Common app? Paper application (do schools even have these anymore?).
And agree…it’s the applicants responsibility to make sure all documents are submitted…and received on time.
- You mention that the main wage earner lost their job? When did that happen? You can contact the financial aid office and ask their process for a special circumstances consideration. Some schools do that, and some don’t. And they are decided on a case by case basis.
If your parent received a severance package and/or is collecting unemployment, these income sources will be considered.
Some schools will not do these reviews until a certain time after the job loss as the expectation is the parent is looking for a job and will secure one.
What about parent 2? Does that parent work? How much does that parent earn? It might be that you wouldn’t qualify for need based aid anyway.
- How much do your instate publics cost and did you apply to any? I find it hard to believe that an out of state public university would be less costly than your own instate options. I hope affordable options are on your application list.
- It might help if you shared the name of the college...as someone here might be familiar with their financial aid options.
- When did you submit your FAFSA form? What was your EFC on the FAFSA you submitted?
- How much can your parents pay annually...parents are first in line to pay college costs.
I am curious: You state that you have been in touch with their faculty. Have you talked to admissions? They would be the ones to talk to, especially if you are a “priority” in their minds. There is no guarantee you will get increased aid, but if you don’t talk to the right people, you definitely won’t.
Figure out how much additional grant aid you need. Email or call admissions to let them know how much you want to attend their school. Tell them that your family has discussed it, and that you will have to say no due to finances. Tell them that you would need an additional $x per year in grant/scholarship aid in order to be able to attend. They might determine that the amount you are requesting is worth it to keep you, or they might tell you they can’t help you. Either way, you’ll have your answer and can say yes or move on.
How did this college communicate to you that you were a “priority”?
How much more do you need? If it’s $3000, you might get it…might. If at $30,000 chances are low.
Also @kelsmom for need based aid I think the student would contact financial aid. For merit aid they would contact admissions. That’s been our experience.
Contacting both might be beneficial for this student.
Keep in mind, schools have different criteria for awarding merit aid so what you got at one college might not matter at all to this one. Schools also have different formulas for calculating their institutional need based aid…and again…what other schools gave you might not matter…unless it’s truly a peer school to this one. In the case of public universities…that’s not usually the case.
If you can’t afford the school, then scratch it off your list and move on. Arguing with financial aid to get more money is a losing battle for an OOS university. The priority is with their own state residents. You’ve been accepted to several universities with scholarship money, so you’re golden!
I suggested admissions rather than financial aid in this case because I don’t get the sense that this is necessarily a situation where there is a reason to adjust the need based aid. Call it intuition from years of dealing with similar requests, but my gut is that this is a case where the offered aid was correct but doesn’t meet what the family has determined they can pay. That coupled with the assertion by the student that they were made to feel they were a priority candidate led me to suggest getting admissions involved. It certainly doesn’t hurt to talk to financial aid, but I would begin with admissions. Just my two cents.
I would like to know what makes this student think they have a priority status?
I think this is just a vent. Student has not returned to answer questions.