BU Changes its Initial Award THIS LATE

Paying for College
1

<p>Little background: I attended BU freshman year and took a gap year to make money for college. Now i’m applying to come back as a sophomore.</p>

<p>I received my financial aid award letter on JUNE 27th and was ecstatic to see that BU gave me a 12k per semester grant.<br>
Before I recieved this letter I was already committed to going to SUNY Buffalo. With this financial aid, I was now committed to going to BU. </p>

<p>I got the letter incredibly late though and there was no more room on campus. I spent a considerable amount of time finding the perfect apartment and planning my classes, only to find out today that the initial award of 12k per semester had been changed to 6k per semester on JULY15th, a $12,000 difference. The reason was, “human error”. Someone typed in the numbers wrong. </p>

<p>Like seriously? If I knew this sooner I would’ve never considered going back to BU. I haven’t paid for the apartment yet, which is probably going to be sold in the next few days and I haven’t withdrawn from Buffalo yet, which the decision is also due within the next few days. Just imagine, if I paid for my apartment and withdrawn from Buffalo already, i’d essentially have been tricked into going to BU. It’s JULY 15th, the only reason I didn’t do all those things already was because I procrastinated.</p>

2

<p>ug, this is a new one for me. Did you call them yet and tell them you switched colleges based on the award? Maybe someone will have suggestion.</p>

<p>It isn’t called gap year once you start college, it is just a leave.</p>

3

<p>Good that you didn’t withdraw from Buffalo…or sign the apartment lease in Boston. Even with $24,000 a year in aid, your cost to attend BU would have another almost $40,000 remaining. And rents in Boston are surely higher than in Buffalo. </p>

<p>I know you are disappointed about BU. But maybe this is all for,the better financially anyway!</p>

4

<p>Yes, good thing you didnt withdraw from Buffalo. </p>

<p>Wow…I think of all the times I have told kids not to cut ties with their old school until they have seen the award from the new school, gee, now what should we tell students? Should we tell them to keep all options open until the money has been paid out or what? ( I know that BU isnt new to this student, but the point is the same) </p>

<p>If you end up at Buffalo, do not hesitate to let BU know how their mistake impacted you and how it could have been so much worse. </p>

5

<p>Glad the timing works for you to still make SUNY Buffalo work. Very bad form on the part of BU. Very bad.</p>