<p>I'm just curious how much people worry about the costs of college during years 2-4 when the FA you received is based only on year 1. (I know there's a similar thread sort of about this already, but I didn't want to hijack that one with my question!)</p>
<p>2 of the 3 schools my son is considering offer either no merit scholarships or very few, so all of his $ is coming from what are basically FA school scholarships. We're pretty happy with the packages he got.</p>
<p>The 2 schools he is not considering offered him decent merit scholarships, which is nice because you know at least that's not "going away" (assuming he keeps the grades up). The 2 merit schools would cost less than any of the 3 non-merit schools, but not enough to really influence his decision.......except I do worry that "something" is going to happen and we won't get the same FA package in future years. (I understand that because he has a sibling in college the first 3 years, his final year will definitely change - because our EFC will change.) I wish I could feel more secure about years 1-3 though.</p>
<p>Back in the last century, my undergraduate college awarded only need-based aid. The policy was very firm, but very clear: if you were awarded need-based aid you were guaranteed it for all four years provided that your need did not change, and provided that you continued in school. Taking a semester or year off meant that you might not get the same kind of aid package when you came back. This meant no junior years abroad or leaves of absence for other than medical reasons for those of us on aid.</p>
<p>You should contact the colleges/universities that your child is considering and verify the exact policy. I entered college in the fall of 1974, just before the economy took a nose-dive. My college honored its commitment to my class for all four years. However, it was unable to support the same number of students with the same level of financial aid in the classes that immediately followed mine. I do not know how long it was before they admitted a class with our demographics again.</p>
<p>You need to investigate this carefully. And yes, parents worry about this all of the time. It is very possible that awards are not continued or do not keep up with future increases in costs. I’ve had friends burned that way many times.</p>
<p>As a general rule, colleges expect the student to take a greater responsibility in paying for college each subsequent year, so the awards usually cover a smaller % of the cost. More loans, work study, jobs are expected on part of the student. </p>
<p>Awards should stipulate if they are for 4 years or a one time thing even if they are financial aid awards. You should also be clear on what stipulations there are for renewal of the awards. There could be gpa requirements. All of this goes into deciding which offers are the best.</p>
<p>There have been stories on this board over the years of kids whose large finaid packages were grants for the 1st two years, then became mainly loans, and that was for years 3/4 when a kid is not likely to want to transfer and when you don’t even get your package until the summer, too late to change in the fall.</p>
<p>It is smart to ask, maybe by email so you can keep a copy of the response</p>
<p>Is it possible that if your family is very low income (less then 20,000/year) and you have very good grades, that you will get all of your financial needs met by the school in question?</p>
<p>otoh, if a college takes away a scholarship and the parent can’t/won’t pay the extra money and the kid has to leave school, then the school is LOSING a paying customer (assuming that the parent had paid for the first couple of years).</p>
<p>If NYU took away my son’s scholarship just because they felt like it, he would have to leave because there is no way on earth I could come up with the extra money and they would LOSE a student</p>
<p>icedragon, it is definitely possible but very much depends on the school you applied to and it’s location. An instate public in a state with a good aid program for residents can be one good place to look. My D received such a package this year with a higher income, but still Pell eligible, and the only loans she will take are subsidized ones. She got good, but not full, aid at several of the private schools with costs under $40K. Those over $40K would have required more loans than we can handle.
Look at the thread at the top of this forum for schools with good merit aid too.</p>
<p>To answer the OP, yes, I have a spreadsheet plotting out the 5 year cost with projected aid, down to including a projected FAFSA and tution along with other need based aid and scholarships that are state and federal programs, and the schools’ individual financial aid policies. I know that a lot of things can change and it might all mean nothing, but it’s at least worth plotting out. D has projected 4 year costs (loans) after EFC between $13K and $50K spread out over 4 years. The first year difference was only $6K for the first year between the top and the bottom.</p>