Sharing College Info

[horseshowmom]

sbclifton, I personally believe that applying early entry/early decision does limit aid offers. I don't think that you were imagining it. It seems to be so hip to apply early entry these days...my mother was telling me about how this friend's daughter got in early entry to this school, and that friend's daughter got in early entry to that school...I told her that I think that it will hurt their chances at good financial aid. It's playing your hand to say "you're my first choice" in that way, KWIM? I can't blame the student for wanting that acceptance in hand earlier in the year. It's a load off their mind. However, from an aid perspective, I just can't believe that it doesn't affect the package. BTW, it's just stupid that a school wouldn't come way up in aid for a young woman with your daughter's grades and scores who wanted to major in what is essentially a hard science.

I agree completely. In our case, we looked at it as a trade-off, because her Early Entry is different than just the regular college early entry. She has actually been admitted to the School of Pharmacy.

Normally, students apply at the end of their sophomore year to get into Pharmacy School (which starts the Junior year). Not only is there a huge number of pre-pharmacy students applying for a small number of openings, there are many with bachelor's (and even higher) degrees also applying (there was a chemical engineer who started with this year's regular entry class - I couldn't believe it!).

She won't have to go through that process, because she's already been admitted.

Some students who don't make the first cut are put on a waiting list. IF they enroll at this university, they're eligible to be considered for any openings that develop (so far, several students have had to drop out of DD's EE group). That puts the students in the position of having to decide whether to chance it here (and "maybe" get into EE) or to go somewhere where they might get more money (but would "have" to go through the regular entry process).

The whole process is much more frustrating than it was when I was in school.

 

[Mary Anne]

We received our first acceptance letter today. It was not early entry, we have to April 1st to decide. He was awarded a base $$ amount based on his current SAT score. Once the results come in next week on the last set he took on December 3rd. that basic scholarship will go up assuming he scores higher. Once we fill out the FAFSA we'll be contacted by the finance office of the school and it is expected that amount will be increased yet again. This was a small private catholic school in Reading, Pa. We are still awaiting acceptances letters from other schools (two more private schools and one NYS school) that should be arriving within the next couple of weeks. Once we have all the letters and financial offers in place we'll make the decision.

It is nice to have that official acceptance letter in hand. Does take a lot of stress out of the waiting.

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

FYI,

My son (now in grad school) was #1 in his class of 500 in hs.. DD also had good grades. She is nnow a senior at UM.

We are a one income middle class family who never got a dime from FAFSA. Very disheartening.

herc.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Too bad she's not a minority...I had average (3.5 gpa) grades in HS and a 32 ACT score, but I got a full tuition scholarship to my school because I'm half-mexican. I don't really think it's fair, but I wasn't going to turn it down just to have another person snatch it up.

Hi LightBurnsBlue. I'm half-mexican too, by the way. It's against the law for schools to offer these now for the very reason you mentioned. But some schools do offer grants/scholarships for students who are the first generation going to college (no matter what race/ethnic background).

Feralpeg, I'm a financial aid advisor for a state university in California. The most important tip I can give is to involve your daughter in this process. I love to see my freshman students bring their parents with them when I counsel them. Then, once the students learn the ropes, they seem to handle things on their own from there. But it's very sad when I see parents continue to fill out papers, etc year after year. The student never learns that way. I believe that I'm not just counseling my students on financial aid/scholarships. I believe the entire process teaches them about responsibility, budgeting money, etc. So it's important for the student to learn how to handle all of this.
Also, it's very important to watch the deadlines. So many students don't get the money they deserve because they missed a deadline. Don't forget to fill out the 2006-2007 FAFSA in January. You can do it on-line at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ beginning January 1st. Even if you think your income would not qualify your daughter for aid, still do the FAFSA. Some colleges require the fafsa for some scholarships (although they are not need-based).
Peggy, congrats to your daughter! What an exciting time. And kudos to you for taking an active part. I love to see Parents showing an interest! Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Hi,

FYI,

My son (now in grad school) was #1 in his class of 500 in hs.. DD also had good grades. She is nnow a senior at UM.

We are a one income middle class family who never got a dime from FAFSA. Very disheartening.

herc.

Yes, it's sad when I have to tell someone they didn't qualify. Can I make a suggestion to all of you Parents? Read the FAFSA carefully. Just answering one question wrong can make the difference. For example, if you fill out a 1040 tax return, but qualify to fill out a 1040a form, make sure you answer that quesiton on the FAFSA.
The government uses a formula when determining eligibility. Some of the questions that have an impact are # of people in the household, # of people in college, whether or not you can file a 1040a/ez (even though you may have filed a 1040). There are other questions too. It's all very complicated. But the formula does come from the government.
You know the situations that really make me want to cry? The parents who make a good amount, but who refuse to sign the fafsa so their child can take out a student loan. Or the foster children coming into college with no family to support them financially or emotionally. I've seen it all, and it's so hard not to cry for some of these kids.

 

[Puffy2]

DD has a 4.328 GPA

This is something I don't get - what is a 4.328 GPA? I thought GPAs only went to 4.0. And with different schools having different ways of computing GPAs how do colleges sort all of that out? I'm assuming some of this has to do with AP classes, but in some states, they don't give extra credit for an ap class.


ALSO, is it possible to have an FAFSA filled out before the parents taxes are done ? I know you can fill out the form starting Jan. 1st, but we usually don't even get a w-2 till the end of January. Any tips on that?

 

[pjshaff]

Puffy2:

You can get a higher GPA by taking Honors or AP (Advanced Placement) classes in high school. They are weighted greater on the scale than your "normal" classes. When I was in HS, for Honors classes you got a 5.0 if you got an A, or 4.0 if you got a B. In AP classes that was raised to 6.0 and 5.0. We had kids graduating with 5.+ GPA's because all they took were Honors and AP classes and passed them with flying colors. Made my 3.+ look rather sad since I had transferred in from a private school.

 

[Feralpeg]

Hi LightBurnsBlue. I'm half-mexican too, by the way. It's against the law for schools to offer these now for the very reason you mentioned. But some schools do offer grants/scholarships for students who are the first generation going to college (no matter what race/ethnic background).

Feralpeg, I'm a financial aid advisor for a state university in California. The most important tip I can give is to involve your daughter in this process. I love to see my freshman students bring their parents with them when I counsel them. Then, once the students learn the ropes, they seem to handle things on their own from there. But it's very sad when I see parents continue to fill out papers, etc year after year. The student never learns that way. I believe that I'm not just counseling my students on financial aid/scholarships. I believe the entire process teaches them about responsibility, budgeting money, etc. So it's important for the student to learn how to handle all of this.
Also, it's very important to watch the deadlines. So many students don't get the money they deserve because they missed a deadline. Don't forget to fill out the 2006-2007 FAFSA in January. You can do it on-line at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ beginning January 1st. Even if you think your income would not qualify your daughter for aid, still do the FAFSA. Some colleges require the fafsa for some scholarships (although they are not need-based).
Peggy, congrats to your daughter! What an exciting time. And kudos to you for taking an active part. I love to see Parents showing an interest! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Terrific information. Thank you! We have been trying to do this process together. DD will definitely be accompanying me when we visit the financial aid folks at the colleges. We've printed everything to do with the major she is interested in from both schools along with housing and tuition information. We will be sitting down very soon to look things over to list pros and cons. We will add what we learn from out visits to the school to the lists.

I am also concerned about filling out the FAFSA since I know I will not get the information for filling out taxes until the end of January. Last year, I had a huge income even though I wasn't working due to the receipt of money from my employer upon my retirement. This year, my income will be very small. If I were to use last year's return, I know she wouldn't qualify. This year, because I am retired and we are basically living off my savings, I think she has a much better chance. Will it be detrimental if we don't file the FAFSA until February?

 

[Nik's Mom]

Each school has their own priority deadline for the FAFSA. For example, I went to the University of Southern California. Our FAFSA deadline was February 15. The University I work at has a priority deadline of March 2. But, I always encourage my students to do it in January or February. The reason being that grant money is usually awarded first to those who meet the deadline. In the case of the school that I work for, we run out of our state grant money by the time that we get to those applicants who apply after March 2. But to answer your question, yes you can definitely apply if you haven't filed your tax return. For those of you who work and there was no change from a previous year, you can use your 2004 tax return to answer the questions. If there is a drastic change, as in Feralpeg's case, then you can still estimate your income. When the fafsa asks, "have you filed a 2005 tax return", you will check the box that says "will file, but have not yet filed". Then you can estimate the info based on your last paystub or w-2. Feralpeg, in the case of your daughter, it may get tricky. You will have to list any savings that you have. If that eliminates her from need-based aid, your daughter can speak to a financial aid advisor about the possibility of doing an income adjustment if that savings is now gone. The same thing may apply to those of you who may have lost a job this year, or took a pay cut.
Hope this helps. Good luck to you all. I know it's so confusing.

 

[Heather Smith]

Hi,

FYI,

My son (now in grad school) was #1 in his class of 500 in hs.. DD also had good grades. She is nnow a senior at UM.

We are a one income middle class family who never got a dime from FAFSA. Very disheartening.

herc.

We were a family of 5 one income family and NOTHING! She did get an offer of a 1/2 scholarship to a private school, but the state school was still cheaper.

After getting there she did apply for every scholarship she coud find and ended up with about $8,000 in scholarship money over 4 years. However, none of it was Federal Aid money. Love to know who qualifies for that money.

What angers me about the federal formula is that it does not take into account the cost of living where you reside. We had what would have been considered a good income for most of the US, but trust me living in Northern VA, we were definately not living the high life.

 

[Lars624]

Puffy2:

You can get a higher GPA by taking Honors or AP (Advanced Placement) classes in high school. They are weighted greater on the scale than your "normal" classes. When I was in HS, for Honors classes you got a 5.0 if you got an A, or 4.0 if you got a B. In AP classes that was raised to 6.0 and 5.0. We had kids graduating with 5.+ GPA's because all they took were Honors and AP classes and passed them with flying colors. Made my 3.+ look rather sad since I had transferred in from a private school.

I wish all schools weighted their AP classes....my DS is taking AP courses but our high school does not weight the AP courses....his highest possible GPA is a 4.0

 

[Puffy2]

We were a family of 5 one income family and NOTHING! She did get an offer of a 1/2 scholarship to a private school, but the state school was still cheaper.

After getting there she did apply for every scholarship she coud find and ended up with about $8,000 in scholarship money over 4 years. However, none of it was Federal Aid money. Love to know who qualifies for that money.

What angers me about the federal formula is that it does not take into account the cost of living where you reside. We had what would have been considered a good income for most of the US, but trust me living in Northern VA, we were definately not living the high life.

This was 100 years ago, but when I went to college I was the youngest of 5 - my dad made $24,000 a year and was in debt. The Feds estimated that he could afford $14,000 towards my education. It was laughable.

So, unless you are housing-project poor, I wouldn't expect anything from them (there are plenty living on the poverty level that do qualify) - but the forms have to be filled out for most of the other private aid, so it's still important.

 

[froglady]

When we were looking at schools for DD, none of the top tier schools were giving merit based scholarships, as they felt EVERY student accepted would qualify. Some offered need based or special interest based scholarships (they really, really wanted that female wrestler) but the majority just handed you the financial forms. According to the first one I filled out, we could afford to send 4 or 5 children to school.

DD is attending a small private school which is giving her a 1/2 tuition merit scholarship, AND has every course/opportunity she wants. She has a good relationship with several department heads, and was hand-picked for a special assignment over the summer (which has lead to two more similar projects since she did so well); this is something that relates to her future plans, and is a real gold star on her resume. This probably would not have happened at some of the other more prestigious schools, or at our state universities. Another school did have semesters abroad, but only a limited number of students are chosen. Her current school encourages EVERY student to go abroad, and she considered her semester in India to be a highlight of her college education.

 

[chrissyk]

This was 100 years ago, but when I went to college I was the youngest of 5 - my dad made $24,000 a year and was in debt. The Feds estimated that he could afford $14,000 towards my education. It was laughable.

So, unless you are housing-project poor, I wouldn't expect anything from them (there are plenty living on the poverty level that do qualify) - but the forms have to be filled out for most of the other private aid, so it's still important.

We weren't housing-project poor (my family was middle class, actually), and I still got a decent grant and Stafford loans from filling out the FAFSA. This was back in the early '90's. What helped me was that I am female and that I majored in something that the school needed females to major in at the time (engineering). I guess that you could say that I filled some sort of quota. IMHO, this does matter. I doubt that I would have gotten as much money as a female liberal arts student at the state U.

Also, I took it upon myself to visit the financial aid office of my school and to plead my case for more aid. This is called a "professional judgement review," and anyone can request to have one with their financial aid office. I've advised a few friends to try this, and most of the time it's been pretty successful. You don't have to be dead broke to get financial aid.

 

[msdznyduck]

So I, for one, am still confused. We can fill out FAFSA forms beginning Jan. 1. Deadlines are somewhere in March or so? We won't even hear from his first choice college 'by April 1'. I thought you had to know where you were going to college in order to fill out the FAFSA forms. While he has already been accepted at his second choice, the first is a better school and we (including him) would rather go to 1st choice school. Can you put 2 schools on them? (I have not even seen the forms, so I guess I don't really know what I am asking... )

 

[chrissyk]

So I, for one, am still confused. We can fill out FAFSA forms beginning Jan. 1. Deadlines are somewhere in March or so? We won't even hear from his first choice college 'by April 1'. I thought you had to know where you were going to college in order to fill out the FAFSA forms. While he has already been accepted at his second choice, the first is a better school and we (including him) would rather go to 1st choice school. Can you put 2 schools on them? (I have not even seen the forms, so I guess I don't really know what I am asking... )

Yes, I believe that the FAFSA works for all the schools that your child applied at. Once you have all of the FA offers, you can make an appt. with each school for a "professional judgement review" to try to bargain up the aid. Pit one school against the other and see what they come up with. This works very well if your child is a desirable student, has a desireable major, etc. I did it extremely successfully for my younger sister when she was admitted to a college that my family couldn't afford w/o a lot of financial aid.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

My son is a freshman at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. I remember we started with his high school guidance counselor and FASFA. We went from there. He had gotten accepted into the 3 colleges he applied to. FAFSA mailed us a very nice awards package for this school. Then he applied for other scholarships. There is alot of money out there for kids that really want to go to school. We have a small student loan. I am very proud of him.

 

[Snowysmom]

My older DS got the financial aid package (including any scholarships) along with his acceptance from private colleges. From the public university, it came about a month later. We fill out the FAFSA every January and have never received any aid and we are soldily middle class. UMass is one of the highest costing public universities in the country. At UMass, if the student wants to be considered for any scholarships including departmental scholarships, you need to fill out the FAFSA so that is why we do it. He is a junior this year and has won some academic awards so we are hoping for an academic scholarship. Another place to look for scholarships is at the high school your child attends. At my kids' high school, there are many scholarships students can apply for and there is a scholarship night just before graduation when the scholarship awards are made. DS got $5700 that way. Best of luck.

 

[Feralpeg]

What a great thread! Thank you all for your input. This is such a stressful event in both our children's and our lives. It is not a time to make mistakes. You've all been such a great help!

I'll be so glad when everthing is finalized and I can get down to missing my baby when she goes off to college!

 

[Mary Anne]

I agree this is a great thread. We need to continue it throughout the whole process so we can learn from each other. Last year there was a thread on the CommunityBoard about "Sending out Babies off to College" we need one of those threads for us. Maybe the original poster could edit the title of this one so we'd have all this great information and more in one thread.