Stingy on Financial Aid?

ioolie · 04-15-2009, 07:40 PM

Our son will be a junior at Bucknell in 2009-2010. This is the first year we qualify for aid (Bucknell took all our money in years 1 & 2). Bucknell has offered a remarkably stingy aid package, way below the FAFSA EFC. What's up with that? Is Bucknell known for impoverishing its families? (Our son does LOVE it there so transfer is not an option.)

ericatbucknell · 04-15-2009, 08:29 PM

bucknell, like most selective private schools, does not award institutional aid based on fafsa efc calculations, which are only used to determine eligibility for state and federal funds (like pell grants). that said, i would recommend that you go to finaid.org and fill out the full efc calculator (the first option under needs analysis when you click on calculators), being sure to select 'institutional methodology' instead of 'federal methodology' within it. this number should be more in line with what bucknell is offering you. if its not, you may want to contact financial aid and make sure that something hasnt been mis-entered somewhere.

that said, i was very pleased with the financial aid award i received from bucknell. many others have expressed similar experiences to mine on this board over the years. and, of course, there are others yet who have not been pleased with their awards.

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the other 'x factor' in this situation is that schools are facing increased demand for aid from both prospective and returning students at a time when available funds are limited. i have no specific knowledge of how bucknell is handling this process, but i would not be shocked to find out that an emphasis has been placed on spending the majority of the schools limited additional funds on prospective and freshman students. simply (and in your case, unfortunately), schools know that upperclassmen are much less likely to walk away from a school theyve grown to love over $10,000. but, again, i have no knowledge of bucknell doing anything of the sort. its just a thought.

MADad · 04-15-2009, 11:28 PM

Both of my daughters were accepted at Bucknell, and both are attending other schools because their fin. aid offers were both 15K below those of similar private schools.

Who offered 15K more than Bucknell? URochester, Colgate, Lafayette (2 fellow Patiriot League schools), Mt. Holyoke, Clark.

Cmain · 04-17-2009, 09:46 AM

My finaid package at Bucknell was also very good. My friend on the other hand got an oddly low package compared to his other choices. I'm not sure what accounts for the differences.

MADad · 04-18-2009, 11:25 PM

There was a recent NY Times article mentioned in another section of CC discussing the financial aid office at Boston University. Boston U does not meet all need (like Bucknell) and did not hide the fact that they gap students they accept but don't really care if they enroll or not. If they really want you, they will sweeten the pot. If not, be ready to dig deep into those pockets.

Unless you're a public college guided by FAFSA EFC, you can pretty much make up any number you want and say 'this is what we think you can afford'. That would explain the large differences in fin aid packages, given the same financial info submitted.

aoconnor09 · 04-19-2009, 11:10 AM

my package is also low at bucknell. my mom and i talked with them yesterday and brought my other package (from loyola) they said we should appeal it and send them basically every fact and figure and situation.

ioolie · 04-19-2009, 04:30 PM

I saw the NYTimes article on Boston Univ. That was enlightening. We are in a situation where my son has been there 2 years already so maybe the financial aid office assumes we have no options. Unfortunately, he may have to take off a semester to ease the burden a bit. He has enough AP credits that he can use in lieu of Bucknell classes. It seems a little short-sighted on the part of Bucknell.

fbusch · 07-28-2009, 09:16 PM

We were given a financial aid package with an $8,000 gap between our FAFSA EFC and what we were expected to pay. As my student received outside scholarships, they took away the Perkins Loan and substituted an Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. His original package included $1,800 in work study and over $5,000 in loans - so reallyalmost $15,000 in debt or work required above our EFC.

Every other school my student was accepted at gave him a full ride or an amount less than our EFC. We appealed based on high medical expenses, included the other offers and got nowhere. The Bucknell Financial Aid website has the least amount of info of all the sites I have looked at and little helpful information. Without the outside scholarships we could not afford it - we got lucky.

Bucknell federal data reports indicated they went down from meeting 100% to 95% of demonstrated financial need as of 2008, but our aid award is nowhere near 95% of need. They obviously use a formula wildly different than the FAFA or CSS Profile. Other Profile colleges offered much better packages. Bucknell is also the stingiest college of those we reviewed when it comes to inclusion of $ for books, supplies and travel as part of cost of attendance.

MADad · 07-28-2009, 11:11 PM

fbusch--

For my older daughter, there was a miscalculation where a one-time payment of savings bond interest was interpreted as annual interest on 40K of savings they thought she had!!

We brought this to Bucknell's attention, and got basically a shrug of the shoulders. Other schools apologized profusely and corrected her fin. aid.

I think Bucknell is a fantastic school, but they seem a little full of themselves. "We are so great, you should be willing to pay anything to go here" is the attitude that I get from them.

fighterflea · 07-31-2009, 12:31 PM

I have just the opposite impression from MADad. I find that the financial aid office is very timely and responsive to requests for particular attention. I was very impressed with the outcome at a time when I was concerned that Bucknell had priced itself out of our consideration for my S.

In fact, the more experience you have with other colleges' financial aid offices, the better BU's looks.

SeattleBU · 07-31-2009, 03:17 PM

I'm going to be a second-year student and I'm pretty happy with my aid package. When I sent in a letter for circumstances I'd like them to consider, they were responsive in giving me my requested amount of FA. later circumstances also came up which negatively impacted my family's ability to pay for the following year--I didn't even ask for more financial aid but they increased the package without my knowledge.

I'm pretty happy about it.

MADad · 07-31-2009, 11:48 PM

Nice to her that fighterfkea and SeattleBU had better experiences with fin. aid than we did.

The financial aid miscalculation that I mentioned above in post #9 was corrected by Colgate, URochester and Clark, but not Bucknell--they insisted there was no error! In reality, their attitude made us feel like they were irritated (how DARE you question us! We're Bucknell!! Sell your blood if you have to! )

markham · 08-01-2009, 02:50 AM

MADad,

I have to ask how these issues are influencing your daughter's choice. Where is she going to enroll?

MADad · 08-01-2009, 11:01 PM

markham--All this happened two years ago. She loved Bucknell but couldn't afford it.

She got GREAT offers from Colgate and URochester, ultimately chose Rochester, and is thriving there.

swissmiss3 · 08-06-2009, 10:02 PM

I was admitted to Bucknell but got no financial aid at all. My parents couldn't afford $50K a year, so I'm going to the University of Arkansas this fall because it'll cost just under $10K a year. Wish I could go to Bucknell, but (as my parents say) "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

Congrats to all who can attend this marvelous school!!!