Really crappy aid

sarahhs · 03-24-2008, 01:25 PM

I just got my financial aid package today, and its really bad. They expect me to pay $42,000 a year, which doesn't make sense to me, since I think FAFSA estimated my EFC at less than $20,000 a year. Am I missing something here?
I thought Smith guaranteed to meet 100% of demonstrated need, but maybe I'm wrong.

Anyone else in this situation? Please help!

Lara90 · 03-24-2008, 01:42 PM

I haven't received anything at all. It's bothering me... But I spoke to them and they said that I could re-apply this fall. Hopefully then I'll get what I want/need.
Have you tried talking to the financial aid services? I think a part of my problem is that I was accepted ED-fall, so they really didn't need to give me any incentive to go since I was legally bound anyway.

arjgn · 03-24-2008, 02:35 PM

Smith uses the CSS Profile. From what I understand, the FAFSA and CSS look at things differently. Our FAFSA EFC was higher than our CSS EFC. That could potentially explain some discrepancy.

D received a fair package - nothing more or less than we expected. Smith is an expensive school, there's no other way to put it. Outside scholarships may help bridge the gap.

ttyy · 03-24-2008, 05:28 PM

Sarahhs, Your aid packet seems strange, my packet is really sweet: I pay less than the EFC with no student loan.

sarahhs · 03-24-2008, 07:07 PM

seriously? lucky you. maybe i'll talk to financial services. thanks guys!!

ttyy · 03-24-2008, 08:17 PM

The difference is not significant (about 1K). I believe Smith meets 100% of the demonstrated need. Link below explains the loan policy.
http://www.smith.edu/finaid/selfhelp.php
You should definitely call the financial aid office. Good luck to you!

sarahhs · 03-24-2008, 08:29 PM

is it better to call them myself or have my parents call? I don't really have anyone to impress since I'm already accepted, but maybe they'd be nicer if I called & seemed sincere.

citrusbelt · 03-24-2008, 09:44 PM

sarahhs,
My D just got FA in the mail today from Smith, Dickinson and Bryn Mawr. Smith was "really crappy aid" for my D, too. I know she was a very strong candidate for them, but they must have been looking for something different then she had to offer. They look at the class as a whole, remember. Also, some people with the exact same efc as we had probably were given giant grants. They are a private school and can do whatever they want with the aid, whatever they say. They say they meet 100% of need, but they were way off even figuring the higher profile amount. We have a lot of home equity. If you live in an expensive state and apply to a school that takes home equity into account (Smith does), that can bite you. Smith is known to be very generous with grant to lower income students and not so generous to middle and upper middle students. Me thinks you are probably in one of those categories as we are. Dickinson gave her a huge merit scholarship and Bryn Mawr met more then my D needed in grant plus a free plane ticket to visit. Lewis and Clark had earlier given her a nice merit, also.

Sadly, we can not afford to send our D to Smith. She still has three more schools to hear from, but right now she has three real choices (Lewis and Clark, Dickinson and Bryn Mawr). If it wasn't for the terrific aid packages those three gave her, she would be in serious mourning as she really liked Smith. Luckily, those offers boosted her morale and right now she is saying, "Their loss!" You should adopt that attitude, too, and not bother FA about it. I am sure you will have other choices because if you were admitted to Smith in the first place, it means you are a terrific student.

Good bye and good luck to all you new Smithies!

sarahhs · 03-24-2008, 11:48 PM

thank you so much for all the help!

bellaSealle · 03-25-2008, 02:37 PM

yep- got my forms today and no FA from Smith. Did anyone here get any merit based aid?

apathy · 03-25-2008, 04:46 PM

I have a STRIDE scholarship, which is a merit scholarship of 5k a year. Unfortunately, when I got my envelope, it said my financial aid had not been processed yet, so I don't know how much FA I'll be getting, lol.

boogie_horror · 03-25-2008, 05:06 PM

My financial aid is $46,698, all i need to do is come up with $5,564 if I want to go there. It's a pretty sweet deal! My family can actually afford this. I was so scared, I thought it wouldn't be possible to attend.

borgin · 03-25-2008, 05:40 PM

Not sure of the specifics, but my sister got a merit scholarship (engineering) that replaced her student loans. My parents' out-of-pocket would be about the same as they were for me (I graduate in May), but my sister would have no debt of her own.

citrusbelt, I wish your D the best. I grew up in the town that Dickinson's located in - my knowledge of the school itself is limited to the very good library, the nice gym, and the nice dance studios (I spent a summer walking through the campus, traveling between dance classes). Oh, and the public library system (there's a branch not too far from the Dickinson campus - a fairly short walk) has a great selection.

hamtaro fan · 03-25-2008, 06:34 PM

@ boogie_horror: Jealous! hehe. My family contribution is 16,000 plus loans (around 12,000 after work study and minus health insurance), which is several thousand above my EFC from PROFILE.
So, I'm wondering -- was it some scholarships or all need-based grants? Hampshire and Smith offered me about the same amount of grants (~30,000), but I got a scholarship to Hampshire which put them a little ahead.

in any case, congrats!

boogie_horror · 03-26-2008, 06:03 PM

it was made up mostly of need-based grants ^_^