I applied ED2 to Bryn Mawr and got in… yay!!! it’s definitely a blessing i got in at all because my stats were straight buns (i have a 3.3.. not sure if this correlates to fa at all cus i know bryn mawr is need-aware). I got their beacon grant which eliminates tuition costs, but I still have to pay about 21k in housing/other fees. I also received 5.5k in unsubsidized loans, but my mom and I don’t want to utilize them because the difference isn’t meaningful enough to be worth putting me into debt for the degree I plan on pursuing. My mom is retired and makes a pension of 60k/year and the FAFSA/CSS reflected our 2024 tax docs which had 4 months of work (jan-april) before she retired, and the money on the tax forms is about 1.5x what she makes now. We could technically make it work because my mom pays a similar amount for my boarding school but it’s a big financial drain and as long as my mom is supporting me she tells me i’m not allowed to get a job until i’m 20 under any circumstances, so my own employment is out of the question. I’m not sure why but let’s just ignore that. Anyways, I know ED is probably going to make it harder for me to get any extra money— is appealing even possible at this stage? I emailed the FA office regardless after I received my decision (Monday I believe), but I really want to pay my deposit so I know I’m fully committed and start the fun stuff, like looking for roommates. Could i confirm my enrollment before they get back to me? Do i just need to wait? What are even my odds here? Please let me know!
Are you saying that your mom’s income now (including any retirement income she receives) is way less than what was on your financial aid forms? If so, and you have sufficient documentation, you might be able to ask for a special circumstances review…because your family income is quite reduced…if that is the case.
You don’t mention a second parent. What is the status of that parent income?
Can your parent pay $21,000 for the upcoming year? Or would $16,000 be easier in terms of cash flow?
I don’t have a second parent, and I was waived for NCP. 16,000 would be certainly easier, though, Bryn Mawr’s financial aid offer was the best I’ve gotten. I heard back from 8 other schools, the second best of which I received was Sarah Lawrence, though I received 50k in merit and only 10k in grants. 21k would technically be doable and I think is around what we said was the max affordable per the CSS, though it would be an immense strain on my mom (she makes 60k, so 1/3 of her income, though we don’t pay rent). Originally she told me not to worry about finances, but now that we know where I’m going, I have to worry. 16k would be easier, and I would take all of the additional help I could get. However, I don’t have tax forms because the last ones we had were reflective of 4 months of extra income. I don’t know what other forms I would have and my mom just tells me to figure it out myself, which I also don’t know how to do because I am neither retired nor have any experience with finances. I am also kind of irrationally afraid of them telling me Sike sorry we admitted u by accident Bye! so Ya
Your ability to pay was already considered when they admitted you. You aren’t going to have your admission taken away because the costs are higher than you hoped.
What PROOF does your mom have that her income for this year will be substantially less than last year. Does her 2024 income tax form (the one used for the 2026-2027 academic year) reflect 12 months of income or 4 months of income?
If it’s a full 12 months, and her new income including any retirement income she also receive and/or severence pay is substantially less you can reach out to the financial aid office and ask what to do.
If the 2024 tax form you used had only 4 months of income…I am not sure what has changed financially.
The 2024 tax form had 4 months of income, which was around 47k. The money made through the pension for the remaining 8 months of the year was 45k, and the income reported was 92k. Since then, the total income has decreased by 30k. I have documented proof of my mom retiring, but I’m not sure if there’s any kind of official documentation for the pension. My mom wasn’t making a lot to begin with, so a decrease at that level is pretty substantial.
It’s February. Your mom should have received a 1099R for her pension for the 2025 calendar year. Required to complete her taxes. If she is collecting Social Security, she would have received a 1099 for that too. Ask her if she has received these forms. They would document the amount of pension and SS received in 2025.
The forms needed to complete tax returns are supposed to be received by the end of January. I collect a pension and social security, and I have all of the necessary forms to file my taxes already.
You have UNTIL April 15 to file your federal income taxes, but can do them sooner…and should have the necessary forms now. So…ask your mom if she has these forms…ask nicely. Some parents are reluctant to share this info!
What does this mean? If you can’t afford the school without loans (i.e. if they deny your appeal) then it seems like a modest amount of debt is your only option. What am I missing? And what degree are you pursuing???
I would also suggest a respectful conversation with your mom about you getting a part time job NOW and a fulltime job if you can over the summer. If she’s worried about the job interfering with your schoolwork- heck, you’re a senior, you know how to balance your responsibilities. And what would you be doing over the summer that’s more important than saving some cash to help with incidentals, travel expenses, books, etc. once you get to college?
We don’t receive FA except for the federal student loans, which my kids took every year. They also worked part time starting at 14, full time summers, and all throughout college, full time summers. Since they’ve always worked, they found employment very easily, including after graduation.
I could afford it, that’s the thing— it’ll just be relatively unideal for my family, and we may have to ask my grandpa for help, which is why I’m appealing. I’m pursuing a creative writing degree, which I wouldn’t like to be 20k in debt for. My mom just doesn’t want me working. I don’t know why, I’ve tried to have the conversation with her and she simply refuses to budge until I’m no longer supported by her financially. She’s open to me maybe getting a part-time job over the summer, but I also can’t drive and she wouldn’t be willing to drive me; I don’t live in a walkable area. Genuinely none of this was my choice, but I feel really guilty nonetheless and I don’t know what to do otherwise.
Sounds like the FA offer did match the NPC that you ran before you applied, is that correct? And you and your mom thought the NPC number to be affordable?
And your mom retired last year, which you knew at the time you filled out the FA forms correct? Did you put that fact in the CSS Profile? (it does ask for any change in job/finance status) Did you run the NPC with the 2025 estimated numbers so you knew what you would be expect to pay for soph thru senior years (assuming consistency in pension and SS payout)? I’m just making the point that you and your mom did know at the time you applied that she had retired and her income would be $30K less moving forward…I don’t know how forgiving any school will be on that.
You can certainly ask for additional aid, and send in your mom’s pension and SS 1099s to document the lower income. I would also consider taking the direct student loan of $5.5K, especially if that is the difference of going to college or not. For now, I would recommend you leave your other apps live…do not withdraw them until you get the FA settled at Bryn Mawr and submit your deposit.
Even babysitting in the local community (when you are at BM) or a campus job? You absolutely should work in the summers to make income and gain real-world experience. Can you take public transport to any jobs? Can you get your license/have access to a car?
Working on campus is not just a great way to earn money – it’s a really good way to meet people and get to know the school. I suspect most students on campus will be working. You don’t have to overwhelm yourself with work, but even a campus job that requires 10 hours per week could be really helpful socially as well as financially. Your mom doesn’t have to know.
(Sorry, didn’t mean that to be a response to @Mwfan1921)
Does Bryn Mawr include work-study, term-time employment or summer employment as part of their expectations in the financial aid package? If so, I would think that you will need to work to be able to afford books, travel, and personal expenses (at least). Or is your mother saying that she will give you spending money for incidentals and books or do you have savings that you can tap into? If not, it is hard to imagine how you will be able to afford day to day life on the campus especially if she does not want you to borrow. In other words, you will need some cash –not much but some.
Does your grandpa actually have the money, is he aware of your financial situation, is he supportive of you attending college? Where I live, asking grandparents for help for education is VERY common. It’s almost expected among immigrant communities when the grandparents are able to. I’m not telling you not to appeal- just that it is probably more common than you think for grandparents to help financially. Especially when it’s a fixed sum- you aren’t asking for a blank check, just for X thousand dollars a year for four years.
There are many ways to turn a creative writing degree into a career where you can support yourself AND pay off your debt. Corporations hire writers- professional writers- and they don’t often care what the preferred genre is. The highest paying of these roles is in Investor Relations- the people who write the annual reports, write the scripts for the CFO on the investor/analyst/Wall Street calls, etc. Next down is what is now termed “Executive Communications” or what in politics are known as speechwriters. A talented speechwriter can earn a lot of money in the private sector (it’s not well paid in government, but that’s usually a springboard). Next is “internal communications” or employee communications- they write newsletters, profile employees for various publications, figure out a creative way to describe changes to the benefit or retirement plans, etc.
And on downwards. I’m not suggesting you do this forever if you really want to write screenplays or work on your novels. But most of the corporate writers I know have passion projects on the side and that’s expected.
The best writer I ever hired had a “secret weapon” (in addition to just being a well read, fantastic communicator). You could hand him a 500 page deck of dense numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (for example) on labor trends in the automotive industry, and a day later he’d have a 5 page speech for the CEO to be delivered at the Chamber of Commerce of Detroit. Perfectly crafted- a little humor, a few historical allusions (the CEO loved that- Civil War/Lincoln? General Patton?), a smooth narrative summarizing the Fed report.
He wrote historical fiction on the side under a different name. By the time he left the company he was earning close to $250K per year. A gifted writer, a highly analytical thinker, a tremendous asset.
You won’t make that early on. But if the only thing standing between you and a college education is a 5K loan…. worth thinking about.
–Congrats on the acceptance! And the grant to cover tuition!
–There is no downside to letting the school know your family finances have changed and ask if you may be considered for aid. (The case may be a bit less compelling since this information could have been provided upfront.)
-I’m not big on undergrad debt but the federal loans seem reasonable to take on.
–Nothing wrong with taking on some limited part time work as well – even if it gives you some spending money. Maybe start second semester so you have some time to adjust to college life.
-Someone should talk to your grandparents sooner rather than later.
ETA: Writing degrees can be employable – publishing houses, ad agencies, public relations departments, etc. D’s friend is at a publishing house as an editor and has written two books while working there.
I got work study for 2k annually but my mom doesn’t want me to do it first year and I guess she expects me to use her money, which we have established isn’t really the best option. I’m not really sure what to do— I guess I could do on-campus work, but it would be difficult because my mom calls me hourly (even at boarding school, LOL)
Thank you I’m definitely going to talk to grandpa about it soon. My mom doesn’t want to use his money because she feels bad, but she doesn’t want to do a lot of things that would actually allow me to go. I guess I don’t really have a choice because of ED though, lol, so i will try and suck it up.
You’re going to have to wean her off of this habit. Silence your phone, let her know when you’re available to talk, and stick to it. You’ll be in college, and you’ll be busy, and she doesn’t need to know with what. It’s my understanding that if work study is part of your aid package, you can’t turn this down. And I really do think that a low-commitment on-campus job is a great thing for helping you meet people, stay organized, and manage your time (not to mention earning a little money).
I’m definitely going to talk to grandpa about it soon. My mom doesn’t want to use his money because she feels bad, but she doesn’t want to do a lot of things that would actually allow me to go. I guess I don’t really have a choice because of ED though, lol, so i will try and suck it up.