Anyone deal with DeSales U (Allentown, PA) Financial Aid office? Seem not very helpful thus far

Paying for College
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<p>Hello. My D was accepted for 5-year PA program at DeSales. I have filed a preliminary FAFSA and will amend when we file our taxes soon. Their FAO is preparing the first round of financial aid award letters now.</p>

<p>In the meantime, I notified the FAO that we just experienced a loss of income from a second job (jobs terminated) and would they account for this since the FAFSA reflects the income of last year’s two jobs rather than the one. The FAO person said they could not adjust it downwards since they don’t know if my husband will again find employment and resume the income we had last year. This doesn’t seem right. Anyone know if they should be adjusting their package with the info I’ve given them? I intend to furnish them the letter of termination and pursue the matter.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone have experience asking DeSales to reconsider a merit scholarship. Her stats are a hair away from the top level merit scholarships and we are thinking of making a case for reconsideration. Not sure if anyone else has been successful or not. She’s top 5% of class, over 3.9 GPA with dual-enrollment college courses (all A’s there), etc.</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

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<p>“we just experienced a loss of income from a second job (jobs terminated) and would they account for this since the FAFSA reflects the income of last year’s two jobs rather than the one. The FAO person said they could not adjust it downwards since they don’t know if my husband will again find employment and resume the income we had last year. This doesn’t seem right.”</p>

<p>This is what many schools do. WHY does that not seem right? It makes complete sense. What if the school adjusted your pkg right now, and then your H got a job next month? They would not know that until you filed FAFSA again next year, and yet they would be giving you more aid for this next school year without the big income loss. </p>

<p>Schools are very aware of this. They know that if they award you more money for next fall, and the parent finds a new job rather soon, that the families do not then contact them and say, “hey, we no longer need that extra money since the parent has found a new job.” </p>

<p>They also don’t want to go thru the gymnastics of recalculating/etc when it may not be necessary if a job is found rather soon. </p>

<p>So, schools usually want to wait a few months or so, to see if new employment is found. </p>

<p>Also…was your H given any severance money? Was he paid for any unused vacation? All of those things may “bump” your salary for this year…along with any new employment. </p>

<p>You need to ask what the timeframe is that they’ll reconsider? 12 weeks? 16 weeks? what? And, hopefully, your H will have found a new job by then.</p>

<p>As for merit, that may be a different office that awards those. It may be the Admissions office or the Scholarships office…probably not the FA office, so contact them about that issue.</p>

<p>“Her stats are a hair away from the top level merit scholarships …She’s top 5% of class, over 3.9 GPA with dual-enrollment college courses (all A’s there), etc.” h</p>

<p>her rank and GPA are less important than her test scores. What are those? Those are what many merit schools really care about.</p>

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<p>There is probably a special circumstance form that is likely not to have yet been updated for next year. Look on the fin aid web site and print out the current year’s so you can see what info they have been asking for such a request.</p>

<p>You can then send a letter and email to the FAO reiterating your situation and the loss of income you are currently undergoing each month without a job to replace the one from the previous year. </p>

<p>When a parent loses a job, there is generally a request for all other income sources such as what Mom1coll has brought up. The FAO will make a decision as to how this will impact current year fin aid. The schools generally have a wait period before they make any adjustments to aid. Change to displaced worker would lower the EFC, but DeSales does not guarantee to meet need, so what difference this will make, I don’t know. Sometimes they just give a larger asset protection allowance so that you can draw on your assets while out of work.</p>

<p>You can have your DD write admissions asking about merit awards and scholarships that are available to her. Send a copy of the email/letter to FIn Aid as well. </p>

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<p>Thank you for your quick and informative replies. I cannot imagine not informing them if we have a change (either up or down) in income, but I know many people would not tell them if they did get a new job.</p>

<p>Jobs are very tight in my husband’s field and he was very fortunate to have the 2nd job (part-time). No severance, it was helping us meet expenses for our family of 7. We do not anticpate him finding a replacement. The loss of income would decrease our EFC by $2000 when I run the numbers through FAFSA Forecaster. That means a lot to us.</p>

<p>Regarding tests, yes, it seems the test score was the most important, and her weakest stat. Her highest ACT was a 29, but superscored 31 (out of 3 sittings). The Financial Aid info sheet that came with her acceptance stated the cutoff was 29 ACT for the Presidential scholarships but when DD called, she was told the info is outdated and is now 31. That was a bit disappointing, but again, we’re still thankful that she qualified for something.</p>

<p>Is it reasonable to expect that since she was overall very close to the Presidential level that they might consider awarding something between the two levels? I guess what’s hard for us parents to understand is that behind all the numbers and stats and such, the real purpose of these merit scholarships is to shape the incoming class and the desirable qualities (extracurriculars, interests, other hooks) of each candidate are different for each school.</p>

<p>I was trying to get a feel for how willing DeSales might be to reconsider the scholarship or offer other merit-based award through FAO. I hear schools vary in their willingness to help a student afford the school.</p>

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<p>Is this the PA program? They will most likely not up the merit award because they do not have to encourage applicants for that program. </p>

<p>I did not find their admissions people or financial aid people at all helpful. </p>

<p>If for the PA program, did she apply to Kings or Marywood - same part of the state? Marywood was great about upping my daughter’s aid when we hit a hardship after the initial merit scholarship and financial aid packages were issued.</p>

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<p>I agree that the PA programs and other such programs that get a lot of applicants are not going to have the schools jumping to fund those students. They simply can replace an accepted student with another on their list because there are more folks who want to get into these programs than seats. Congrats to you DD for getting into such a competitive program.</p>

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<p>@KKmama: Yes, it’s for the PA program. I get the feeling they’re not very “hungry” so to speak and do not seem very eager to help.</p>

<p>She was also accepted at King’s. We’re planning to visit later this week and she is planning to interview for a scholarship there. Our dealings with the admissions office so far has been very positive. She did not apply to Marywood. I imagine the schools in NEPA might be a little friendlier overall?</p>

<p>BTW, any experience with King’s? Glad to hear about your good experience at Marywood.</p>

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<p>Many schools’ financial aid offices have a minimum length of time someone has to be unemployed before they will do a special circumstances review for loss of income. In addition, many schools are not ready at this time of year to entertain such requests - April or May is a more likely time that they will consider them. </p>

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<p>Good luck with the scholarship interview. Kings was my kid’s first choice (she wanted a school with a football team ;:wink: but Marywood gave her a lot more money.</p>