<p>My child is a freshman at a public university, where, after scholarships,
grants etc. my out of pocket expenses are about $14,000.00 per annum, excluding
student loans (Annual fees at this university are about $42,000.00 p.a.). </p>
<p>My child applied for transfer admission & has been accepted to Boston University,
(Annual fees ~$59,000.00 for resident, $50,000.00 for commuter) where my out of
pocket expenses will exceed $24,000.00 per annum, excluding student loans.
(BU gave a Financial Aid package similar to the one my child is getting at
the present school). This expense of $22,000.00 to $29,000.00 to per annum is
not affordable by me.</p>
<p>On asking BU to revisit the award, their Finanical Aid office informed me we
need to “accept” the Financial Award first, and then write an “Appeal” letter,
before they can make changes to the award. If we accept, it is not binding. There
is no impact to Financial Aid at other schools, or Financial Aid at my child’s present
school.</p>
<p>Is this true that "accept"ing this B.U.'s FA award would not put my child’s
current FA award at risk? Is this standard practice?</p>
<p>If we “accept” B.U.'s Financial Aid award, we need to do so before May 01, 2012.</p>
<p>what would be your basis for an appeal other than you feel that you need more money? Remember that it is the school that determines your need how they see fit when it comes to disbursing their money.</p>
<p>Do you have any extenuating circumstances that are not accurately reflected on your FAFSA/CSS profile? Remember, that when you ask for an appeal/reconsideration, you are asking them to go over your paperwork and look again. There is always a chance that they may find something that may work for or against you in the review?</p>
<p>Then go right on ahead and accept unless you have another school in the waiting that specifically tells you that you cannot do this; CMU being one of such schools. More of concern really is in accepting BU’s offer of admissions that often requires enrollment deposits that can be quite hefty. If there is a deadline for that coming up, you need to talk to admissions about getting an extension on it.</p>
<p>Some schools, and I don’t know if BU is one of them in this situation, have a number of contracts that have to be submitted at various times which makes life very complicated. Some schools will tell you outright that if you want guaranteed housing, or housing NOT in Outer SIberia, you had better send a deposit and form to Housing which has nothing to do with accepting the admissions with the May1 deadline which may have its own process. Sometimes, however, they are linked. Financial Aid and Admissions are often not linked and one department might not give a fig about your dealings with the other and be completely in the dark about what is transpirings. So you have to coordinate all of this and let all parties know what is happening and abide by their respective deadlines or get specific extensions. </p>
<p>Your student is a transfer student, so s/he may have more time than the May 1 deadline that undergrads have, or maybe not. THat is the big commitment, and there are circumstances when one has to commit and pay to get other unfinished business resolved, or just throw up ones hands and say, it’s over. </p>
<p>But in direct reply to your question, the colleges do not share that financial aid award and there is plenty of time to go with another school if BU does not work out on appeal, from what I have seen. However, if BU does look through the paperwork and finds things that were mistakes where under their policies should have given your student less, yes, they will change it. But that could happen anyways if the award is reviewed later in the year, too.</p>
<p>sybbie719 and cptofthehouse: Thank you for your responses. </p>
<p>sybbie719: There are extenuating circumstances which are mentioned in FAFSA/CSSprofile, which I can only re-iterate in the appeal, and await their decision.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: We are not aware of any other school that specifically tells we cannot do this (accept only FA award, and not admission at this stage). </p>
<p>All: A clarification on my earlier post: “If we accept (Financial Aid award only), it is not binding. There is no impact to Financial Aid at other schools, or Financial Aid at my child’s present school.”… the above are words of a BU FA officer I spoke with. </p>
<p>So my question is: "Is this true that “accept"ing this B.U.'s FA award would not put my child’s current FA award (at the college my child currently goes to) at risk? Is this standard practice (followed by many schools to ask people to accept FA award, before agreeing to review it)?”</p>
<p>No, it would not. You aren’t even going to really be applying for some of those funds until closer to the next school year. You can’t even if you want to do so. There will Master Promissory Notes and other things that you will have to sign for federal funds, for example. I see no issue with this.</p>
<p>Where I would see the problem is if you have a large deposit and Enrollment contract due at BU Admissions. THose tend to be non refundable. If that is the case, you need to let BU Admissions know and request an extension. I know some families that took some sizable hits on waitlists doing multiple enrollment checks, and you do not get that money back.</p>
<p>As for standard, practice, I do not know. Every financial aid office has its own set of rules. At a school the size of BU, also being a private with high tuition costs, they may not be able to service everyone who wants another look-see and have placed the rule there to discourage those who are not serious. I have seen a number of schools that do not have their fin aid packages finalized by the May 1 deadline for the enrollment contracts and deposits, putting kids in a quandry, and having to ask Admissions for an extension AND having to pay another school’s enrollment costs so they are not left out in the cold with no school if the offer does not pan out. Being a transfer, having the option to stay where your student is, makes it so s/he does not have this problem. </p>
<p>ALso policies often don’t “fit” transfer situations, since the bulk of a school’s “business” is with the freshman class. That is the priority and transfers tend to get fit in where possible.</p>