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I repeat: do not let ONE parent’s bashing of a school cause you to remove it from your list. My daughter qualified for need-based and received a slightly stronger aid offer from Fordham than from U. of Chicago, which supposedly meets full need. I believe that Fordham packaged an award with about $7000 in merit aid and close to $12000 in need based grant aid. Of course my d. got a stronger offer, based wholly on need, from her current college – but that’s a different issue. </p>
<p>If you go back to the original post, it is clear that the “injustice” that the family is lamenting is in part because they don’t qualify for all that much need-based aid. Most posters on CC who call themselves “middle class” and complain about the unfairness of it all in fact have 6-figure incomes, and they don’t qualify for a lot of need-based aid anywhere. So their gripe isn’t that the school didn’t give them more need-based aid – its that they didn’t get the merit money they had hoped for. (Which, in their case, they did get from St. Joseph). </p>
<p>Merit money is entirely within the discretion of the college. It is not an injustice when the college chooses to direct its merit aid – or provide a preferentially packaged need-based package – to the students who are at the top of their applicant pool, or who meet their diversity goals, or who offer whatever else it is they want to attract. It’s just how things work. </p>
<p>If you took from this post that your daughter should avoid Fordham because someone else’s daughter didn’t get a good package – well, that would be the wrong message and her potential loss. The only way you will know what your own family will get is to go ahead and apply – of course, after having “the talk” with your d. about your finances and needs. </p>
<p>Obviously if you – or the OP – do not feel that you qualify for enough need-based aid because your paper income is too high and the system does not account for all of your expenses or needs – then you will have to look for colleges where merit aid is a possibility or where need-based aid may be enhanced with merit money. Colleges like that are definitely going to give variable packages, and some applicants will be winners, and some losers, in the competition for limited financial aid dollars. And all of those colleges are going to consider a variety of factors.</p>
<p>The problem comes when people start thinking of their college funding at a private college as an entitlement. It isn’t. It is the college’s dollars to dispense as they please. </p>
<p>But don’t knock Fordham. Fordham is an excellent school and a good addition to any list. Like just about any other college, it may or may not give your family the aid you feel that you need. </p>
<p>I understand how disappointing it is when the money situation requires a child to give up on their first choice – but that really is something that the parents need to discuss with their kids before the applications are sent.</p>
<p>And if you want good information about individual college financial aid packages, then CC is NOT a good source – the college’s own financial aid office is the best source of information about their own policies and practices, as well as available merit scholarships and the criteria for awarding them, and the common data set; or web sites that present statistical info based on common data set info, is the best way to get info as to how aid is typically distributed.</p>