I will have two kids in college this fall. A Junior and a Freshman. They will both be attending the same, small Maine public University. They have not yet sent in their deposits yet as I understand it is best to wait to get the financial aid package before making the deposit because if they know you are definitely coming they are less apt to give you the best financial aid package as they do not need to entice you to come. My DD (freshman) has also applied to another small state university and in the experience with my son (Junior) the financial aide packages were nearly identical.
My main question I am looking for experience on is for my son. He is transferring going into his Junior year. He was told that out of state transfers, Canadian transfers and Maine students from Maine community colleges are all eligible for scholarships as transfers. However, because my son is transferring from an in state school he is not eligible for any of those scholarships. These scholarships are based on academics and extracurricular activities. My son carries a 3.9 GPA and has been active in extracurricular, being president of one campus group, being named male runner of the year for his conference and running at the national meet. Even though he has decided that he will transfer to this school (for a number of reasons) he is rather offended that essentially all other transfers equal to him are offered aid except for students in his situation. Has anyone ever had any luck appealing a financial aid package and gotten scholarships that were at first not open to them? How do you go about this and what advice can you give me? TIA
The school policy is not to award these scholarships to students with your son’s status. You would be asking them to change their policy of awarding these scholarships. To be honest, I don’t see that happening. They set these policies for a reason.
You might be better served asking them if there are any other types of scholarships that are available to students like your son.
It sounds like the state of Maine does not want to encourage transfers from one Maine college to another.
At many colleges no transfer students receive scholarships.
Thanks for your comment. Interestingly, Using the NetPrice Calculator on the school site filling out the one specifically for transfer students and selecting in state transfer, the scholarship in question appears as being eligible. So it seems like there is some inconsistency in how this scholarship is “advertised.” I guess we will see when we get the official aid package which way they are going to go with it. I am curious why would being a transfer student exempt one from scholarships if on all other counts they are an outstanding student? We haven’t dealt with transferring issues before so this is new terrain.
We contacted them to find out what types of scholarships/financial aid would be available to him as a transfer and were told none. Aside from such as Pell Grants and the Stafford Loans. He had applied to this school when he was a freshman but chose to go to a different school. We had done the NPC at that time. I didn’t realize until last night that there was a separate one for transfers. When I used that last night I noticed that the scholarship we had asked about showed up in the NPC and stayed even after noting that he is a transfer from Maine. Yes, I will need to contact them about this as the NPC result skews the price by five thousand dollars . That is a big difference to us.
Contact the school…but do realize that the NPCs are not an exact science.
Good luck.
Did he have sufficient aid at his old school? I know you said there is a good reason for transferring, but if it is cost prohibitive…might need to rethink this option.
You might want to talk to Admissions about this matter. A lot of times they control the scholarships, and financial aid controls the need based awards.
Because this is a public school, there may be less latitude for going around the set rules. THe NPCs are estimates only and there are a lot of things not in them. They tend to give averages, and assume average situations. Not at all surprised that they do not have a filter for those transfering from one instate school to another.
What is the EFC attributable for each son? That will represent a minimum contribution that you have to pay before getting need based awards, particularly any federal ones including subsidized loans and work study. The way it often works is that scholarships replace the aid, so unless the award will “swallow” the need based aid, it might not have such impact. But it is worth while asking if that transfer situation cannot have exception. Just make sure you are asking the department that has control over this.
For Son Junior EFC is 3665
For Daughter Freshman it is 3535
Here is a question last year, with a higher income our EFC with one kid in college was 4578
Give that the the amount that FAFSA determined we could contribute, how does it work out that with a lower income we will be expected to contribute 7200 between the two kids. It doesn’t make sense to me how that formula works. Why isn’t the EFC divded between the two students? I mean it isn’t like we suddenly had more money because we now have two kids going to college. I don’t understand how we are now “able” to pay more with a lower slightly lower income. I see per person the EFC went down but combined it is just over 2600 more.
This school doesn’t meet need. It doesn’t care what your EFC is, beyond qualifying for Pell. Most schools don’t meet need. Their prices are their prices, whether you can afford them…or not.
Only the most affluent schools can charge a “sliding scale” based on need. Most schools do not have a treasure chest somewhere to fund their students’ needs.
If your son’s other school is more affordable, then he might need to stay there.
[QUOTE=""]
Why isn't the EFC divded between the two students? I
[/QUOTE]
Fafsa efc is divided.
What you’re seeing is what the school expects you to pay. The federal gov’t’s EFC is often worthless. The feds aren’t ordering schools to meet need…nor could they…
You’re right that you ‘don’t suddenly have more money’…neither does the school. The school doesn’t suddenly have more money to give out either.
Each year families everywhere learn that their child’s schools aren’t affordable.
The parent component of fafsa efc is divided in two, the student component of fafsa efc is individual depending on student income and assets. If the parents had lower income than last year and the same assets and both students had incomes and assets similar to what the son had last year, then you may have made a mistake somewhere on the fafsa to have a $7200 total efc. Or you may have made a mistake last had had a lower efc than you should have. The parent asset allowance did drop between the two years.
You can work through the formula manually for the two years if you care to.