Financial Respect 101

RCram22
Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:33:28 +0000

Since both of these situations are pending resolution, I’ll keep the schools’ identitiy confidential …for now…both are New York State, private, liberal arts/engineering schools.

ellemenope asked : “In example 1, why wouldn’t the new fees be included in the tuition/fees, etc. portion of the college bill and your account show a $200 credit? That would seem the correct way to do the paper trail.”

The answer: admitted miscommunication among the college’s various departments. They just blew it, they admit it, and now don’t want to live up to their written promise. They want to back date a charge. What an insult. It takes my son 4 days of his summer job to earn $200.

paying3tuitions says: “cause an older kid finished college, so the EFC spiked up since part of our finaid EFC understanding was that 2 were in college simultaneously. But it wasn’t a surprise to us.”

Yep, that’s what caused the loss of our grants, says the FinAid rep. But it *WAS a surprise to us, and here’s why. As Son #1 entered his senior year and was joined on the FAFSA by Son #2 in his freshman year, our EFC for each dropped significantly Did school #1, therefore, increase FA for Son #1? Heck no! Not a dang penny. It was his senior year, he can’t transfer, free market economics do not apply. Just pay! But when Son #2’s EFC for his second year, with no brother enrolled, showed a steep increase…college #2 sure had no problem dropping $6850 in grants.

The FinAid rep for son #3’s school is sure gonna have some pointed questions coming from this Dad:

“Sir, over the last several years, has it been the policy and practice of this institution to reduce a student’s need-based FA because a sibling leaves school and the EFC spikes up?” …And… “Sir, over the last several years, has it been the policy and practice of this institution to increase a student’s need-based FA because a sibling enters school and the EFC spikes down?”