Parents are double depositing? Any advice in this situation?

Parents Forum
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<p>So, I was accepted to my top choice university (George Washington University) and I am beyond excited about this. Both my parents are esctatic, but the main contention point is money. When we submitted out FAFSA, we based it off of last years earnings, and as my mom is a freelance I/O psychologist, her business has gone down significantly for this years taxes (read as: down about 50% if not more). Thus, the EFC we were given by FAFSA is about 20,000$ more than we could plausibly afford.</p>

<p>I was given $8,000 in financial aid from GWU, and $5,000 in subsidized and unsubsidized federal stafford loans (can someone please explain these to me?)</p>

<p>I also was accepted to the University of Delaware, and given a $6,000 scholarship, but no other financial aid.</p>

<p>My parents are trying to figure out if we can afford GW. We were supposed to go up and meet with the Financial Aid office at GW next week, however, my Grandmother passed away on April 4th and we have been in England (where all my family lives, and where I was born. My sister is the only American-born person in my family. We moved to the US when Iw as very young. I have duel citizenship) since April 5th, and will be here until the 23rd.</p>

<p>Because of this, we are basically unable to get in contact with anyone from the Fin Aid office at GW and haven’t been able to do much with working it out. </p>

<p>So, my parents are considering double depositing at GWU and UDel, keeping options open. Does anyone know exactly what I have to do in this situation? Do I do both housing forms, take all the placement tests, etc? If I decide to attend, say, GW over UDel, how do I inform UDel that I am not going to be attending? Has anyone had experience in such a situation? I’m really concerned, and my parents are dealing with a lot (my grandfather has since fallen ill, most likely because he has no idea how to cope without my grandma) and haven’t been able to talk to me about it much. With the May 1st deadline approaching quickly, I am full of questions and not getting many answers.</p>

<p>Help? :(</p>

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<p>Can you do the GW meeting by phone? skype?<br>
DO NOT double deposit - if you can’t get info from GW and cant afford it then pick UDel.</p>

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<p>Phoning from UK to US is beyond expensive, unfortunately. Skype might be a possibility, I will suggest that to my mum. Thing is, my parents would also love for me to attend GW and they don’t want to make this decision without having exhausted every option. We are unable to really work with it because we are away from home. What are the negatives associated with double depositing?</p>

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<p>Do NOT double deposit. You have extenuating circumstances that have taken you out of the country. Contact both schools and ask for an delayed decision until your updated FinAid is given. This doesn’t happen a lot, but concessions are made. If you double deposit you risk loosing your spot at both universities. In the meantime are your parents, or you, able to communicate with FinAid via email to make sure they have all the information they need? You are currently two weeks from the May 1 deadline. A one week delay would give you three weeks, or two weeks from your return. This should be enough time to work with FinAid, get an updated offer, and make your decision.</p>

<p>I am sorry for the loss of your grandfather. It is a stressful time during your life without the added sorrow. I hope that you will be able to work something out without putting yourself in jeopardy (double depositing). Also, you may want to post your questions regarding stafford loans in the FinAid forum. There are some very, very knowledgeable members who post regularly. Good luck to you.</p>

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<p>

Not compared to the thousands of dollars you are talking about. You can buy a phone card and make the call. You need to call.</p>

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<p>Hunt, you are right. I’ll speak with my parents about them phoning GW. Out of curiosity, why does double depositing put me at risk for losing my spot at both universities? </p>

<p>Otherwise, thank you all for the information and advice!</p>

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<p>I have no problem with people double depositing unless the college itself specifically prohibits it. You will likely lose one deposit but sometimes it is the best way to resolve some problems. I blame those schools that do not get financial aid offer out by the same date as the admissions offer and cannot get a timely resolution to financial aid appeals. Also if they feel strongly about double deposits, they can state this with their penalties as some schools do. Otherwise, if you want to buy the time, go right on ahead.</p>

8

<p>Sometimes one (or both) of the colleges involved find out that a student has double-deposited, and then they are so ticked off about it that they rescind the offer(s) of admission. Whether or not these two institutions are in close enough contact to find out about a double deposit is something that you don’t know, so the conservative advice is to avoid this if at all possible.</p>

<p>You still have time to communicate with both universities about the aid issue. I know this is the very last thing anyone in your family wants to be thinking about and dealing with, but buy that phone card, and carve out a little bit of time so your parents can talk with the people at GW. </p>

<p>Wishing you and your family all the best at this trying time.</p>

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<p>They will tell you if that is the case. Some schools do say so. Otherwise, doing this is fair game, in my opinion.</p>

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<p>I’m hoping to be able to talk them out of double depositing. I’ll let you all know how it goes :)</p>

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<p>If you applied to either college via the Common App, you agreed to the following when you signed:</p>

<p>“I affirm that I will send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to only one institution; sending multiple deposits (or equivalent) may result in the withdrawal of my
admission offers from all institutions. [Note: students may send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to a second institution where they have been admitted from
the waitlist, provided that they inform the first institution that they will no longer be enrolling.”</p>

<p>I would agree with calling both admissions offices and asking for an extension for responding to the offers of admission due to extenuating circumstances.</p>

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<p>I applied to GW through their website, and Delaware via commonapp. That does put me in a bit of a pickle. I’ll speak to my parents. Thanks again :)</p>

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<p>Double depositing is discouraged because it messes with a school’s waitlist decisions, housing planning, etc. It is also unfair to students on the waitlist. </p>

<p>But it happens nevertheless. All schools experience what they refer to as the “summer melt,” when students who placed deposits back out. Much of this is do to the student getting off a waitlist somewhere, but some of this is due to double deposits. Many school sbuild the summer melt into their algorithims for determining how many students to accept. If you double deposit at two Ivies–there is a good chance you might get caught because there is a high degree of cooperation among them (although less since the antitrust suit against them some years ago). Frankly, with GW and UDel–I tend to doubt that anyone would ever know. I’m not recommending it–but thought you should have the facts if you are thinking about it.</p>

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<p>Given that you don’t have a final financial aid offer from GW, I see this as the moral (if not the literal) equivalent of a waitlist situation. If you can’t manage the financial aid negotiations long distance, it is hard for me to believe that a double-deposit in this case would be a criminal act.</p>

15

<p>OP:</p>

<p>I’m unclear. Did your fafsa/profile include your family’s 2010 earnings? Or was it based on 2009 numbers? If the latter, no school will do anything until the 2010 tax return is filed.</p>

<p>2) GW does not meet full financial need (which they make clear on their website).</p>

<p>3) If your mom’s earnings have dropped in 2011, GW will not likely change their $$ award for fall 2011, since it is based on 2010 earnings (and there is always the chance that her business will pick up in the latter half of the year). Any drop in earnings in the calendar year of 2011 will show up in your financial aid award for fall 2012.</p>

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<p>Happymom, I agree, but it should be done in the interests of full disclosure. The OP has a particular, personal situation and should move heaven and earth to make the requisite phone calls so that his actions are acceptable to all involved. He would not want to be in the position of double depositing, then finding out that his acceptance to UDelaware has been revoked because of it.</p>

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<p>FAFSA was based on 09 earnings. '10 earnings were significantly lower.</p>

<p>*She.</p>

<p>Thanks to all of you though. I’m discussing the situation with my parents and we’re working out a solution that will, hopefully, end in me depositing to only one school! :)</p>

18

<p>Happy updates! I was speaking with my Mom and after looking over some of the comments, we’ve decided that we won’t have to double deposit, and we’re going to contact the offices of the two schools to ask for a little bit of an extension. By the time we get back to the states we’ll have a week and a day for all the decisions and hopefully that’ll be enough :slight_smile: Thank you all so much for all the help and for all the information!</p>

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<p>So glad you were able to work something out! I am hopeful that the schools will give you a bit more time if needed. Clear communication with the FinAid and Admissions office as to what you need is very important. Good job! :slight_smile: Best of luck.</p>

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<p>I have not read these posts here, but under NO circumstances do I feel it is right to double deposit. It messes up with the school, it messes up those others on the WL, it messes up the school and those who need to hear about FA. </p>

<p>It is selfish and shows you can’t make a decision. And, if by chance you are holding out for “more” financial aide, you obviously have too much already, since you’re throwing it away to at least one of the colleges.</p>