@bearlife - the amount of aid is somewhat tied to the degree being sought at CMU. Vocal performance majors are a prized commodity at CMU, CMU knows their post-grad income will be significantly less than someone studying one of the STEM disciplines, and they are competing with other top voice programs for these students.
My D is admitted for theatre design, not a high paying STEM job. Was also admitted on the spot at her portfolio interview, but maybe this isn’t as uncommon as we thought.
@CollegeDadofTwo Huh. I’m not self employed. I’m actually not employed at all. Why would they want it?
@hungryteenager why not just call them and ask them? That is how we resolved our questions.
I received my financial aid review reply anyone else ? I guess they’re reviewing it early
I don’t know if I got mine or not because it says revised but it’s the same and my EFC went up by 2000…what does yours look like
Looks the same they just sent me an email that they looked at my request for review and there response is unfavorable
I did not get an email so I don’t know…
Choosing between Carnegie, Boston University, and Northeastern University for chemistry (pre-med). Any input?
@Arurei Check each schools stats re number of students getting admitted to med school from their respective undergrad programs. That should at least be your starting point. Factor in cost as well…med school will cost you, are any of these schools offering $. How much will each cost over the next 4 years (unless money is not an issue for your family).
Does anyone know if the financial aid you receive your first year at Carnegie stays about the same every year?
If your families finances stay roughly the same each year, you should get roughly the same package year to year.
Be wary, however, if you have brothers/sisters leaving college before you as that will greatly reduce your aid.
That is exactly what we are afraid of. CMU is the only college we are considering where all our aid is not renewable. How do you commit to a school if you may not be able to afford it after year one if your aid drops significantly.
I just spoke with FA - they recalculated my aid without a second kid in college, and yes, our 8K of grant money goes away. Unfortunate - but the theory is that money freed up by son graduating is available for D, which - well, makes sense. My D does have the scholarship thankfully which won’t be affected, if it were all grant money then I agree that would be harder to accept. One other thing to consider - both profs who D reached out to last night responded (immediately), dispelling the notion of a huge attrition rate, no internships etc. and both pointed out that CMU grads tend to not go on for their MFA but straight into industry - they are that well trained. If this is true then the tuition may be worth it? I think she is pretty much ready to commit. I feel queasy.
@upstate13 I feel exactly the same. Didn’t sleep all night. Most of our aid is grant money and we would lose $15000 of it because she would have two brothers leaving college. They gave us a small scholarship to help, but losing that grant money would kill us, and put us in an even worse situation than before we appealed our FA. We’re trying to talk to someone today because our income will go down at the same time when my husband retires. Just feeling frustrated that CMU doesn’t give out more in renewable scholarships. My D wants so badly to go there, but being uncertain about FA in the future is very scary.
@bearlife: I have been reading your posts. How did your FA appeal go?
When we commit to a college, we will be committing for 4 years financially. If you do not feel comfortable in paying CMU, consider choosing other institutions which you feel financially comfortable and secure. I would suggest you call CMU FA office. Ask the question that if your financial situation stays the same as this year, will there be any projected changes in the 2016-2017 financial aid package? If you anticipate a change in financial situation, like D/S will graduate from college, what will be the projected impact or changes in FA package. Just bring this upfront and erase your concerns whatever your college decision would be. Have them to send you an email for your answers so that you might need it for a starting point to negotiate if anything goes awry.
CMU uses 60% to calculate your EFC if you have 2 children in college. There will be a change in EFC if one of the children graduates and goes to job market. However, CMU also counts children in graduate school as “in college” (in contrast to some schools which only count undergraduates).
I think you need to consider, as you have already seen, there is some room for negotiation, though this should all be so much more transparent than it is. The FA office told me they only handle the first year FA, then it is transferred to the HUB (to which my reaction was, so what?) seems you still should be able to have a frank conversation about something so financially material to your household and be able to project the impact, but they really had to be pushed to do so, and said there is no effect on this other than need, which we all know isn’t quite true, all kids are not offered the same need based aid.
@bearlife - how could your FA be WORSE after the appeal though?
It’s not worse this year. It would be worse after next year when her brothers are out of college, basically making it unaffordable again. The thing is, we are not really paying much for them now because one is working and one has scholarships. Our financial situation wouldn’t really change, but it will look like it has when they leave school. For a school to not be more transparent and to not help you understand the aid in future years is not good. I want to be able to do this for her, but going through this every year would not be fun.
About the “Mandatory” forms, I have a couple of observations:
- CMU is a tech school. Why would they have paper forms in PDF format that have to be printed out and filled in by hand or typewriter instead of fillable PDFs or online forms that can be filled out and submitted?
- One of the mandatory forms is the parent information form. My first assumption was that this was an emergency contact form, but then they asked questions about employers and foundations/boards parents are on. If you google the name of the person it is being submitted to, that person is in the Development office. Why then, is this form "Mandatory." Why do they not disclose, up front, the purpose of this form? I do not want them contacting my employer to ask for money or constantly asking me for donations. The cost is already high enough!