I’m going to an event for Davidson tomorrow and they allow us to have optional drop-in meetings for financial aid. My dad wants us to go to one and see if we can get an increase in grant aid. We technically don’t need any more money, but I didn’t get a merit scholarship from this college while I did receive a large one from a similarly selective one. That’s pretty much all I have to make a case for an aid increase, + my dad plans to “just talk” about how his business wasn’t making as much before 2016, the year we sent in forms for, and not having savings that would cover all four years at the college.
Is this just a waste of their time and ours?
What could I do to potentially make this meeting actually be successful?
If the college has met full need, they are unlikely to offer more. They will consider certain types of individual factors, only those that fit within specific categories that are recognized by FAFSA or part of their financial aid policies. That could be things such as unusually high medical bills. Your father’s business history isn’t relevant – the college already knows what your family savings are and factored that into the financial aid award. If savings were higher, your need would be even less.
That being said, there is no harm in going to the event and attending the meeting – I just think that your Dad is taking the wrong approach for need based aid. I’d suggest that instead you simply go in to ask the staff to go over your financial aid award with you and answer questions you may have. If Davidson is meeting your FAFSA EFC… then probably that’s the best you are going to get. But if, as is typical, there is a gap between FAFSA EFC and the college’s determination of “demonstrated need” – it may help you to clarify where the difference is coming from. Sometimes a discussion will bring up things that hadn’t been considered before.
Here’s an example: I always made a point of having the informational / go over the award talk with financial aid each year. One year at my daughter’s college I had called about something else, but I happened to mention to the financial aid rep that I was reluctant to borrow too much, because I was still making student loan payments for the older sibling. Well, it turned out that the college was willing to factor in required monthly payments on that debt to reduce my income. (Usually they don’t consider debt, but apparently for that college student loan debt was one of the exceptions to that rule). So they asked me to send in my loan statement to document that – and then reduced my income & increased the grant. It wasn’t a lot of money – it only came down to a few hundred dollars in increased grant money - but it is something that I wouldn’t have discovered unless I had made that phone call. (I had listed the information on the CSS Profile, but somehow it had been missed).
Your dad has a business, so it’s lilkely that he submitted the Business Supplement with the CSS Profile and perhaps more information. A good question to ask is whether the college made upward adjustments to income or assets based on that supplement. Very often colleges disallow certain types of business deductions and add them back in-- knowing what decision the college made and what their general policies are could lead to a favorable adjustment being made.
I think your chances of getting an improved award are much better if you are courteous and politely ask for explanations rather than argue. You can always frame a question as, “would it make a difference if?” rather than being confrontational. Make it your goal – and your Dad’s goal - to better understand Davidson’s financial aid process and policies, both for the coming year and for the future.
If you still haven’t decided on whether to attend Davidson, there is also something to be learned from the general attitude of the financial aid staff at that meeting. If you depend on need-based aid, then you will be needing to work with that office for the next four years. If they are friendly and willing to take the time to provide helpful and informative answers… then that’s a good sign. If instead you find yourself meeting with a staffer who is dismissive or impatient… well that could be a problem down the line - because it isn’t just the financial aid award this year that counts. Future years are important as well–and even if there is not a good reason to increase your aid this year, there could be issues in the future.