<p>Ok, if I’m doing my math right, the list price is about $57,000, they gave you $18,000 for a merit award and $5500 in loans. Is that correct? When you did the Net Price Calculator, what was the final number it said you had to pay–was that the $33,000 you are seeing now as well or was your final number on that $19,000 listed above. I’m not following what you are saying here I guess. How much do you have in your pre-paid tuition plans/529? In your first post you list a gap of $33,000 and the second a gap of $18,015. Can you run the numbers down on a list maybe? Start with the list price then merit aid, financial aid, loans and then do the same for the numbers you got on the NPC–list price, merit they said they would give, any financial aid they said they would give and loans. Maybe we can see where the disconnect is??</p>
<p>SteveMA - clearly I am the one confused, but here goes: </p>
<p>offer is $57,000 (list) minus $18,000 (merit) minus $0 (financial aid) minus $5,500 (loans) = $33,500</p>
<p>Of that $33,500 our prepaid tuition plan will pay $8,500 per year with another $3,200 from a savings account, leaving $21,800 cash out of pocket.</p>
<p>Regarding what I called a “gap” - I was using the term in two different ways, one to describe the difference between the offer amount and our total pay amount, and then later the difference between our EFC and the offer amount. I forgot in my haste that “gap” likely has a specific meaning in discussions of financial aid.</p>
<p>Regarding the EFC, I see now that it was accurate except for the $1,000 reduction in merit.</p>
<p>I also see now that the problem here is my misunderstanding of need based financial aid, and the erroneous expectation that it would be calculated and added once FAFSA was filed. </p>
<p>I guess the only good news here is that when I sell my house and use the proceeds to pay for DS’ college while living in an apartment, at least I won’t have to worry about a future year’s FAFSA causing a reduction in financial aid.</p>
<p>I think technically the “gap” is the difference between your EFC and what you really have to pay. In your case it looks like you will have to come up with $33,500+/year, plus loans, for your son to go to college. Is that really feasible? Are you really comfortable with using all the equity in your house to pay for college? Are your retirement accounts fully funded?</p>
<p>onesonmom, when you sell your house that shows up on your tax return, and it will of course, be reflected in that year’s FAFSA. For that year in the eyes of the FA Office at your S’s school, you will appear to be wealthy especially if you gain some $$$ because you happen to have equity in your home.</p>
<p>Merit aid does not reduce your EFC, the school could have given him an institutional grant for the same amount of the merit award, if they chose to do so. I really do not care for merit awards, all it takes is a bad grade, a flunked exam, a case of mono, a car accident which results in an injury, a case of depression etc. And the merit award disappears because the GPA to maintain it is not met. If there is no GPA requirement to keep the merit award then no worries!</p>
<p>All good points, SLUMOM. Minimum GPA in this case is 2.0 so not so bad. Unless I’ve also misunderstood this 
looking wealthy for one year on my FAFSA won’t make any difference since there’s $0 in need-based aid other than the $5500 in federal loans offered.</p>
<p>I’m still wondering if this is the “real” offer though. Did it come with a form to sign saying you accept or reject this offer? We’ve gotten a couple “this is what you can expect to see” letters but they aren’t the official “we’ve reviewed your FAFSA and don’t think you need to eat this year so here is what you owe us” letter.</p>
<p>This was on the college’s student account site. Acceptances are due by Feb 15, and yesterday DS logged in on his account to check, and this information was included on what we printed from the Financial Aid link there. The actual acceptance will be mailed. Looks kind of final to me.</p>
<p>"Award Summary
Federal Aid Year 2013-2014</p>
<p>Federal Loan-Subsidized $3500
Federal Loan-Unsubsidized $2000
President’s Scholarship $18,000"</p>
<p>and out to the right are two columns labeled “Offered” and “Accepted”</p>
<p>FAFSA still has to be finalized with the IRS retrieval tool, which the college’s website says will not be available until two weeks after filing, so the 22nd for us. Also, we’re marked for verification. Still don’t understand why no work/study offer included, as they do offer it.</p>
<p>So I plan to call the FA person I spoke with earlier a little later today, or may wait until we receive the package by mail. </p>
<p>Any suggestions for what to ask and how to ask it?</p>
<p>I would ask if this is the final financial aid offer or an estimate until the FAFSA information comes though. Also, by acceptances, do you mean he has to let them know by Feb 15 if he is going or not? May 1st is the date ALL colleges must use.</p>
<p>Hopefully, then, onesonmom, you will not trigger “contribution from assets” for that one year.
There is an Asset Protection Allowance, which is subtracted from your total of your assets.
Buy the book, “Paying for College Without Going Broke” Princeton Review, by Kalman Chany.</p>
<p>The whole FA is confusing. We have received three FA offers - two schools so far have offered S13 work/study & 1 has not. I can’t understand how it works & they won’t tell me what it is based on as the 1 school that did not offer work/study has a no negotiation policy. Out need based is very low as well & DH was let go from his job mid November. S13 has gotten some very nice merit awards so we will just wait & see.</p>
<p>In all the discussion of the finances, didn’t want to miss a shout out to your son, Oneson, on his acceptance to his top choice school!!! Congrats! Even if the school doesn’t come through with enough aid to make it feasibile. he can feel proud of that acceptance.</p>
<p>Thanks, Joisy! He is so happy! And for all the right reasons (major, fit, size, location) and not prestige. I spent yesterday revising possible budgets and it looks like I can do it, if just barely, which is not ideal I know. </p>
<p>I also spent time looking closely at his other choices, especially those with more merit and need aid, comparing everything and not just the $$$. This really is the best college for him, I believe. It’s a tough choice, truly. </p>
<p>Many cutbacks and compromises elsewhere, beyond even what I thought was a pretty aggressive downsize for me, which is actually good timing, so I’m thankful for the flexibility to be able to make those changes when I most need them.</p>
<p>I had planned for him not to graduate with any debt, but $22,000 isn’t terrible for a science degree headed to grad school. Looks like about a 4.5% year-over-year increase in direct costs, so still planning out four years.</p>
<p>But last night I helped DS draft an email to the FA person, very polite, explaining some special circumstances and asking for another look. </p>
<p>Also, he spoke with his counselor to make sure that the estimated gpa (converted to 4.0 scale from 100 point, unweighted) we plugged into the net price calculator was somehow off, resulting in the lower merit award (nope; same, and the ACT didn’t change, which the FA person confirmed determined the award level ???)</p>
<p>So, we’ll see.</p>
<p>Yes, colleges can choose to give need based aid, or not. Some colleges indicate that they will meet the forecasted need for accepted applicants (there have been various discussions on CC about that), many others “gap” the student. This means even though the tuition and fees = $50K, and your EFC is calculated at $20K, the school will not provide the difference in combined merit/need based aid ($30K). My D had the same COA for all but one of her schools, both the privates and public (SUNYs) came out to about $19-21K per year after the FA packages were analyzed. But some gave no work study and had unsubsidized loans factored in, and others were merit/need (including only subsidized loans). One school ended up being the outlier at $9K more per year for COA (and of course that’s the one she ended up at. 
)</p>
<p>There are a lot of FA savvy folks on CC who can answer more in-depth questions.</p>
<p>Remember the colleges determine your need and they do not have to meet it. There is '“preferential packaging” where the applicants they want to enroll get a high percentage of need met, and are making an offer that they hope that the applicant and his family cannot refuse. The “Enrollment Manager” works with Admissions and FA to help identify the desirable applicants. The “Enrollment Manager” also tries to determine how to get an applicant to enroll with the least amount of FA… If you are an applicant who is very desirable you are probably on the Enrollment’s Manager’s list. If the family asks for a second look then you will probably receive more FA. Now with all this going on behind the scenes you can see why ED is not such a great idea if you are applying for FA. They already know you want to enroll!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the informative post SLUMOM. I had no idea there was an “enrollment manager”. I just finished using the IRS retrieval tool for DS’s FASFA and am wrapping up the IDOC verification process for the 2 schools that requested it. If a school requests IDOC verification does that mean that DS has a good chance of admission? (jumping to conclusions here). In other words, why would a college bother requesting verification for an applicant they know they are going to reject?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that the IDOC process is kind of automated and they just automatically send out the request for the tax return documents if you have filed a CSS Profile. Probably doesn’t have anything to do with the separate admissions process.</p>
<p>I’ve got a separate question off the financial aid topic.</p>
<p>My daughter got a 4.0 on her mid-year transcript (yeah!!!) and nudged her GPA up to 3.55. One of her top schools where she has been accepted did not offer merit aid with her acceptance, but does offer merit aid at GPA 3.5 (we checked using the Net Price Calculator). Has anyone ever heard of a college re-calculating GPA and granting merit aid after acceptance?? </p>
<p>It really would make a difference on whether she can go to the school or not, but it’s not like she is one of their top candidates that they are trying to woo.</p>
<p>Yep, something close to that scenario happened with our oldest kid 3 years ago. We had to ask, but they doubled our D’s merit scholarship, based on the new GPA. We only had to tell them the school was in her top 3 choices at that point. She ended up not attending there, but I will always have a fondness for that school because of their willingness to take a second look and adjust her scholarship.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for that ray if hope!! Ill give them a call next week when I’m sure they have received the new transcript</p>
<p>SlumMom–sorry what is a enrollment manager. I was asked to do verification for my S at his school. My HD and I file separately but we are married.</p>