<p>I remember my hubby’s frustration at one of the (admittedly overwhelming) college fairs we attended a few years ago. When the rep from School A offered him a packet, he flipped right to the tuition and fees, and audibly gasped. The rep was very quick to say, “Oh, but ‘no one’ pays the full price…there are scholarships and grants and aid…” To which my logical husband asked what it would cost for D to attend his school…and he shrugged, saying no one really knows until the packages come in.</p>
<p>That was very frustrating for us all. D was a high-stats kid, so on some of the school’s websites (and this was a couple of year ago, before the net price calculators were up and running) she could plug in her stats to see about guaranteed aid. But what about talent scholarships, based on her audition? Nebulous. Competitive awards? Other aid?</p>
<p>We ended up keeping a separate spreadsheet with columns for “sticker price” (yes, we used that term, too), then guaranteed awards offered for stats, the potential for competitive awards, etc.</p>
<p>In the end, her packages from each of her schools varied widely. The big thing for hubs was the uncertainty of needing to wait until packages came in (loooong after academic and artistic acceptances, in some cases) for d to really finalize her decision.</p>
<p>One school, which had been on her radar for a while, started to pursue her in July with unsolicited offers of more scholarship aid. (Ironic, because she contacted them before rejecting their original offer, to see if they could up their scholarship offerings, and was told no. So she committed to the school she now attends, where she was awarded one of those highly-sought-after competitive scholarships. and which is so right for her. As she returned home from freshman orientation, she opened her mail to find a letter, suddenly awash with more talent scholarship.) </p>
<p>I feel your pain. Keep your spreadsheet, and update it as offers/awards come in.</p>