I am a senior right now, and I have already heard back from a few of my colleges, namely WashU and UMich. From the need-based financial aid, they have offered me $8,000 and $5,000 a year, respectively. My family makes about $150,000 a year before taxes, and I have two younger siblings. So I would be paying about $50,000 a year, plus my family isn’t planning on contributing anything at all towards my tuition. Since this amount is quite ridiculous, could emailing a colleges financial aid office lead to them increasing the amount of financial aid they give you?
You can ask…but the likelihood that they will increase your need based aid from $5000 or $8000 to $50,000 or more is zero.
Hoping you have an affordable option in your acceptance pile.
Your siblings are probably already factored in. I wouldn’t expect a significant change unless parents die, lose job, or divorce.
Yes, for example you should tell Umich that it’s your #1 choice, but you can’t possibly afford it, and can they give you more money? Someone posted here that they did that and ended up getting an additional $20,000 scholarship at Umich. Unless they were lying, it can happen.
Divorce won’t make a difference for those schools. Non-custodial profile is required for both.
Nothing at all??? In that case, neither of these schools, nor many others, will be affordable. Just because your parents have decided not to support your college education doesn’t mean any institution will take up the slack. Your alternatives at this point are to attend a school that you can afford by combining merit awards with financial aid and a Stafford loan, or, if there is no such school on your list, take a gap year and apply more strategically next time.
If UMich is giving OOS students $20k just because they asked for more, I am not a happy Michigan taxpayer. Just sayin’ …
Sounds like an urban myth to me… unless the poster had financial info that had not shown up on the FA forms that was relevant (medical bills, job loss, etc).
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Someone posted here that they did that and ended up getting an additional $20,000 scholarship at Umich. Unless they were lying, it can happen.
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If this is true, then there is likely more to the story…such as an error in the calculation, job loss, NCP waiver was granted, or something. Someone doesn’t just call UMich and say, “I need more aid,” and suddenly $20k more per year is given.
Where is that post?
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plus my family isn’t planning on contributing anything at all towards my tuition
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You dont seem to understand. Your problem isn’t that you just need these schools to give you more aid. Your problem is that even if these schools somehow gave you $10k more per year, YOU can’t cover the rest.
Do you realize that YOU can only borrow $5500 for freshman year? You’re looking for increases when you really need almost a free ride.
Who advised you on your college list when you have high income parents who won’t pay anything???
I looked over your past posts, and you don’t seem the least bit concerned about how college will get paid for. Schools don’t give more aid because parents won’t pay. You can’t borrow more than 5500.
You need to stop worrying about sending updates to your schools and figure out how ANY school will get paid for.
Are you a NMF?
What are your stats?
What is your major?
How did you think you were going to pay for college???
What is your financial safety school? How much will you have to pay at your safety?
If your parents won’t pay, your budget is the ~$5500 federal student loan plus ~$3k if you work summers. Unless you qualify for merit aid somewhere you’ll likely have to commute to a 4-year college or start at a cc.
What are your GPA and CR + M SAT score?
Please be realistic. Even IF the school throws a bone…it’s not going to be a $50,000 bone.
Its definitely possible to change the amount of aid, but usually not drastically…you should call and advocate for yourself
Right…it’s one thing to hope for $5000 worth of additional aid. But $50,000 worth? Not likely.
Oh, fooiey!
What’s ridiculous is applying to schools that you and your parents can’t or won’t pay for.
Sorry to burst your bubble, @dbach415, but a phone call is not going to generate $50,000. I agree that maybe the OP needs to make that call anyway, just so she can hear this directly from the college, rather than a bunch of strangers on CC.
In this case, it’s not the college that holds the purse strings, it’s the OP’s parents, and if they can’t (or won’t) help pay for college, then she needs to rethink where she can attend college. And if none of the schools she got into are affordable, then she needs to take a gap year and reapply strategically. She can use that year to earn some money to help pay her expenses. It’s not the end of the world - it’ll just be more challenging than the OP anticipated.