For those who’ve already been through the process of applying for admission with FA and were offered acceptance with an aid package by school(s):
did the family contribution estimated by NAIS come close to what the school(s) ask you to contribute?
how much did the aid packages vary from school-to-school?
did you go back to the school(s) to discuss adjusting the aid? And if so, how was that discussion received? What was the outcome?
Note:
I am not asking for any specifics to be disclosed (i.e. your financials).
I do know that each school calculates aid differently and that endowments vary greatly school to school.
Thanks for sharing first-hand experience with this process.
The NAIS calculator just said “LOLOLOLOL” when it calculated what we could afford. While our package was quite hefty, it is nowhere near a full ride. I was not aware you could appeal. And, we only received an offer from one school. The schools might say they are need blind, but we were told by an AO that they talk about who is going to offer what to whom.
We received offers from several schools that were in line with what said we could afford. One school offered more (full ride), but that was the school DD decided she REALLY did not like at revisit time!
I really have a hard time believing that this happens on a widespread basis if at all. Besides being unethical for the AO’s to talk to each other, just think about the sheer volume of applications and the amount of time it would take to coordinate with each other about candidates. It just does not make sense to me. They are looking to create the best class and community for THEIR school.
I’d heard the above elsewhere too. But wondering how they know who to talk to (beyond whatever info was shared between applicant+ parents in interview.
@cameo43 “We received offers from several schools that were in line with what said we could afford.”
Was “what we could afford” different (higher or lower?) than what was calculated by PFS?
So, here’s a weird one on the PFS/NAIS. We get an email checklist from a school helping us with potential questions on filling out the PFS. NAIS tells you to use box 1 for wages yet this school is telling us to use box 5. What is the correct answer?
@mathmusicmadness: Each school was different, but as I recall (this was 3 years ago), in our case those offers were either exactly the amount of the EFC or within $2K of that number. You really cannot predict how it will go. We expected very little from the school that offered full ride; and DD was waitlisted (due to FA, according to the AO) at a school we expected would make a generous offer. Other strong applicants I know who applied that year did not receive enough FA from any school to enable attendance. We were very, very fortunate.
@cameo43 Thanks for that. I know (from my son’s experience in applying to college) all about “preferential packaging”…that is, if they want you, they let you know through the FA package. And if not, it might not be a “no” but they also won’t dip deeper to make it happen. Thanks again. Really helpful.
Your mileage will very. I’ve thought about making an extensive post regarding my experience with financial aid something similar to the wonderful post by sevendad chronicling the “one admit cycle”. The differences are stunning from school to school. Here is what I experienced last year:
Expected Family Contribution - was greater than tuition room and board.
Applied for aid at Choate, Andover, Milton.
Choate contacted us and asked us to consider being a full pay. I said yes and DD was wait listed.
Andover - Admit with $30,000 in FA.
Milton - Admit with $22,000 in FA.
Above was for DD last year. I had somewhat similar experiences in previous admit cycles with DS
@RedSoxFan18 Are you saying that the family contribution (as calculated by NAIS/PFS) was, across the board, greater than what each of those three schools expected you to contribute? (NAIS makes two calculations: one for tuition and a second number to be added on for room & board). Thanks so much for sharing your numbers. Very helpful + much appreciated. I’ve been in touch with several families who’ve also experienced varied mileage…sometimes wildly variable.
I don’t remember if there were two numbers, but my final EFC number was one number and did not depend on the school. It came out close to the whole boarding tuition, something like $50K, and we were offered admission without FA from couple schools and other schools rejection a few years ago.