<p>My daughter recently applied and was accepted to Holy Cross, which was a dream for her. We were so excited, and believed the statement on their Financial Aid website that “nobody would be denied an education at Holy Cross because of financial need.”</p>
<p>But you need to pay MORE attention to the statement that (they will) “…meet 100% of their need, as calculated according to nationally recognized financial aid criteria.” The key here is is the last phrase: if the gonculator says that Daddy makes too much, it doesn’t matter if you have six kids in college and have maxed out financial aid, the office goes by what comes out of the gonculator. I tried three times to discuss the results with a human financial aid counselor to plea on behalf of my daughter with the hopes that the “nobody will be denied” statement was true, and each time was told in a very nice, polite way, “it is what it is.”</p>
<p>Good news is, she was attracted by another very good Catholic school, accepted, given a great packaged, and she is excited to go. To quote St Ignatius on the day of his Feast, “Teach us to give and not to count the cost.”</p>