<p>My d applied to 10 schools. Of the seven she has already been accepted, the one with the lowest merit aid award has now also sent her a financial aid report. What I find strange is there are no figures for either any costs like cost of attendance or tuition or anything else plus there is no mention of how much we as parents are supposed to pay or her as a student. This is a school she has already decided not to attend for other reasons so we aren’t going to pursue any appeals or anything else but I just thought this way of assigning financial aid was strange. Her report has the merit aid, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, and credit based alternative loans. The total loan package is 36998 so along with her 10K merit award, I guess that is the total price. I have gone through financial aid process with my oldest and also, a long time ago, with myself, and have never seen such a report. Is this normal now?</p>
<p>Most schools have NOT set their costs of attendance for the 2011-2012 school year.</p>
<p>Agree I’ve also seen a few financial reports that do not state COA. Last year my S2’s school sent his financial aid letter for freshman year in late Feb but there was a sentence that said that the tuition etc. would be set by June and also mentioned that the parent/student could view the current year’s costs on the website. Utlimately I believe the college raised tuition 3%…but this is also something to take into consideration…do not budget yourself so tightly that you can’t withstand cost fluctuations. The posted COA is usually generous about books, transportation, etc but still give yourself budget room.</p>
<p>I’ve seen more award letters that didn’t have cost info than the other way around. It’s very easy to get COA information though…it’s posted on every web site, IPEDS, and College Board. Tuition, fees, and R/B are always subject to change in spring/summer so perhaps that’s why the schools don’t care to give that information on their FA award letters.</p>