<p>My D got a similar FA package. She got in Commonwealth Honors College, but they didn’t give any scholarship or grant. J.&A. Adams tuition waiver is a piece of joke… URI gives her 10k toward her OS tuition, UVM giving 14k of scholarship and grant. Makes me wonder what I’ve been paying MA taxes for.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the reply back!
To arabrab, I’m seriously thinking of just going to Umass Dartmouth now, even though 8 eight months ago I would totally never gave though of even going there. Two of my other friends are going there, and the three of us are planning some sort of carpooling that switch every other day. More to save money rather than stay in a dorm ( I live approximately 45 min away from Dartmouth)
Although I’m still planning on calling Umass Amherst to see if I could do at least something. It was a really nasty surprise when I learned about the bait & switch Mass schools do to students like me. I was relying to much on my state school as a safety, that I pretty much did little research on it. Hoped I did, so I could have applied to a more F.A friendly state school on another state. It was such a nasty trick, but I guess that Mass.
To collegemom2kids: Thanks for the little charts you did.</p>
<p>While I also think this is a crappy thing to do, this isn’t a “bait and switch”, a “deception”, or a “trick”. If one gets a scholarship to cover their tuition, then the scholarship covers…tuition. All universities’ websites I have ever visited have their cost of attendance for at least the current year listed, usually broken down into estimated costs for each expense (tuition, fees, room, board, transportation, personal, and miscellaneous) and some have it for the next year. The scholarship description clearly says “The scholarship covers tuition only; fees and room and board are not included” which should then prompt the student to look on the website to see what the cost of attendance is and realize that the tuition is low. Why one would expect it to cover a substantial chunk when the website clearly lists tuition as the lesser cost, I don’t know.</p>
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<p>Because most people assume that tuition is the big bill. And it would be in MA if the legislature did not limit the increases state schools were allowed. I attended MA state schools in the 90’s (grad school) and I can attest to how the fees started off as a very small percentage of the total bill and ended up being the largest portion of the cost to attend. Unfortunately most GC do not talk money to HS jrs or srs. I know few kids that age wise enough to know to go look. I know many parents who wouldn’t know. </p>
<p>I am currently pulling my hair out because my nephew who just finished the college admissions process now does not know how he and his family will pay for it, even though I gave him links to CC and places to figure out EFC. His parents kept telling me their S was taking care of it and their S and the parents assumed: smart kid will get lots of merit money. Well he would have if he applied to the right schools. I think HS GC do these kids a disservice by not being upfront on the COA.</p>
<p>Juliet, it is a ripoff, without question…As a follow-up mentioned,nobody expects “fees” to be 4 times the cost of tuition…</p>
<p>Yes, still call UMass-A and find out if they can give you more - or at least give you some W-S to help close the gap.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that sometimes kids can cut costs by buying used text books, moving off campus with friends, etc. </p>
<p>BTW…when did you apply to UMass-D? I think you might qualify for a scholarship there. Have you received your acceptance?</p>
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You mean like this page?</p>
<p>[UMass</a> Amherst: Financial Aid Services - University Costs](<a href=“Financial Aid : UMass Amherst”>Financial Aid : UMass Amherst)</p>
<p>Oops, no tuition+fee breakdown here. You have to go dig for it, you can eventually find it buried on the Bursar’s page in a (IMO) deliberately confusing pdf, it’s not even on a web page.</p>
<p>For <em>every</em> other school we looked at when S was searching, tuition was 85%+ of the tuition+fee pile. I don’t think it is an unreasonable assumption that UMass would be the same, and they sure don’t go out of the way to spell out that tuition is only 15% of the tuition+fee pile.</p>
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Maybe you can find a better web page on the UMass web site that spells out the fact that tuition is only 15% of the cost, but I couldn’t.</p>
<p>I think the publics in Mass need to rename tuition as “fees” and name fees as “tuition.” </p>
<p>BTW…only a public bureaucracy would have that many line items as “fees” for a college. I got dizzy looking at the list. However, they did miss one thing that they can still charge for…a fee for breathing their air.</p>
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You are not thinking like a politician.</p>
<p>This system allows the politician to tell his constituents “we’re making higher education affordable, we’ve kept tuition the same for 10 years” while knowing full well this is a crock of sh**, but it’s ok because 99% of his constituents will never find out the real story so he looks like a hero to the working man.</p>
<p>Thanks, notrichenough – it boggles the mind how they hide it when they could so easily break out tuition from fees on that front page.</p>
<p>I hope that CCers in MA choose to let Umass and their legislators know just how misleading this is, particularly for low-income kids and families who wouldn’t necessarily think that a “free tuition” scholarship would cover so little of the “tuition and fees”.</p>
<p>(To mom2college2kids* this answers your questions in regards of Umass D<em>)
I have more “good” news! I applied to Umass Dartmouth way back in January, and got my acceptance on February. I applied for FAFSA on Jan 31 ( to meet a deadline for another college at the time).
Now, after 3 months Umass D had NOT sent me any information or whatsoever, and since I was waiting for RD to come out, I left it to side. I recently just made a call to the school asking for my F.A packet ( since I don’t have it yet ) , and lo and behold they told me why I don’t have it. Apparently I’m missing a citizenship status approval ( i.e passport or greencard) and since I don’t have it by their deadline of march I’m not eligible for merit, grant, etc.
No one told me that immigrants to the U.S need to prove their status with passports! Not even my guidance counselor and principal told me this when I asked them what I need for F.A in colleges. I’m still sending my passport now *via fax</em> but I’m now just utterly confused and scared.</p>
<p>Oh pooh!!!</p>
<p>Hmmmm…</p>
<p>I’m going to send you a PM…</p>
<p>I understand your frustration Redunicorn - yours is a cautionary tale. With kids submitting more and more applications, playing the admissions “game” how many can truly research, investigate and keep track of all the deadlines and requirements at all of the schools they’re applying to? Even if only a handful - you have to know all of the requirements and deadlines for that school. This is easier if they have a good interactive MyXXX sort of page but if their system is poorly constructed it can become a nightmare!</p>
<p>I hope everything works out for you - the MA system of tuition/fees is flat out crazy, but then everyone in my southwestern state thinks our system is messed up (legislature loves to cut education spending - can’t figure out why more top corporations don’t bring jobs to the state lol) so it’s nice to know we’re not alone!</p>
<p>^ Thank you for your concern. No one is ever alone. :]
As for me, I’m just going to keep on going and wait for the replies for both school. So, hopefully I’ll get something out of it.</p>
<p>Now that I finally understand this story I am incensed!</p>
<p>Massachusetts students and their families should remember this garbage when it’s time to vote.</p>
<p>Do you still have an opportunity to apply to one of the Massachusetts state colleges? My nephew attended Fitchburg State during his freshman year and was able to transfer into UMass Amherst. I see that Fitchburgs cost of attendance is $17,182, which is much more reasonable.</p>
<p>Also, have you been applying for outside scholarships? You needed to be top 25 percent to get the Adams scholarship, right? You should have a shot to pick up some additional scholarships.</p>
<p>The John and Abigail Adams scholarship is pretty widely known in Massachusetts as covering tuition only. When my son got this scholarship, we were told that it was less than $2000 per year, and not the $10,000 tuition costs. </p>
<p>Today my son and I went to an open house at UMass Iseberg School where we learned why the fees and tuition are so out of whack. Tuition is paid to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Fees are kept at UMass in Amherst. Massachusetts colleges aren’t strongly financially supported by the state. The dollars need to come from somewhere, I guess.</p>
<p>I was also very sad to see that UMass offered my son nothing in terms of merit aid, although he was accepted into a very competitive program and the Commonwealth Honors College. I guess they don’t have the money…</p>