What is NPC?
I also did my taxes and corrected fafsa and the pell grant went up to $1580 and my EFC down to 4133.
NPC is the Net Price Calculator that can be found on every school’s financial aid web pages. You enter income, asset and other info and you get an estimate of aid and final cost for that school. It is only an estimate but is the best estimate you will be able to get in advance of final award letters.
Miami has some scholarships beyond that - might he get one of those? The Pell will stack on Miami’s merit scholarships - or on all of them, actually, except schools include it in need-based aid if they offer it.
Be aware that NPCs may not be as accurate for business owners, divorced parents and other “irregular” situations.
Indeed. NPCs are almost useless for - what - 50% of families in the US? It seems a pretty glaring omission for something that is required by law to be on every college’s web site.
Not really. NPC for FAFSA only schools work fine with just the custodial parent’s info.
@twoinanddone I suppose that’s true. Since no, or almost no, FAFSA-only schools meet full need, it’s not much help, however. An accurate reading of “we are gapping you by a ton” isn’t all that useful IMO.
I think it is helpful to KNOW that you aren’t getting money, or that loans are involved. My kids are both at FAFSA only schools, and the NPC were very accurate. Both showed the merit aid they’d get from the school, the state aid, the loans, and that there would be no need based aid.
Since most schools do not meet need, the NPC is working to show that there just isn’t going to be a lot of aid, a fact that most people need to know much earlier than they seem to be getting the message.
That’s a fair point.
NPCs were not particularly accurate for S12 - he applied to all FAFSA-only schools. One school predicted to be the least affordable gave the second-most affordable offer, and moved to most when they agreed to match the better one.
I’ll report back on D15’s round but so far NPCs don’t even offer a number. A couple suggest adding the two parent’s amounts run separately but that doesn’t take into account certain grants and loans that may only be offered once per student, so that’s a basically useless suggestion. Also, schools don’t share their NCP formulas…do they assume the same contribution from both parents or less from the NCP or…whatever.
If a school does not meet full need and/or has a lot of merit money, or merit within need policies, the averages shown by the NPC are not going to be useful. Though a school might come up with an average of meeting 80% of need, on average, it doesn’t mean every single student is getting 80% of need met, or that any student, for that matter is getting 89% of need met. It’s just an average.
Our schools showed the merit (pure, no need component) We put in scores and gpa, and the merit showed correctly. In fact, it showed that DD should get $18k, and when the offer came it was only for $14k. It turned out the school had the wrong scores so had her in the lower award bracket. If I hadn’t used the NPC, I would never have known that she should have had more money.
My other DD’s school also had the merit correct, but to be honest they have a chart and anyone can figure out what the merit is going to be even without the NPC.
My son received the packet from Miami of Ohio today with acceptance letter and no mention of merit scholarship. I was very surprised as he received one for every single school he has applied to. I was a bit disappointed as this is an Evans school and I suppose they look favorably as a merit scholarship would mean less they would have to pay out for the Evans Scholarship. Marquette is the exception…they dissolve the merit aid if you get the Evans to their school. I sent an email to Miami asking about any merit aid. I don’t know if that is ok to do or not…
Schools don’t usually know about the outside scholarships until they are awarded. Did you indicate on the application that you are applying for an Evans Scholarship? I really don’t think it will have anything to do with admissions or school merit aid, but if he gets the Evans scholarship, the school’s merit aid will be revoked because it would put you over COA (since Evans covers everything).
The admissions letter came from admissions, and sometimes the merit offers are included and sometimes they are sent in a separate letter. One of my daughter’s came in a separate letter from admissions, maybe a day or two later. The other daughter’s came quite a bit later because it was combined with the financial aid letter so admissions sent it to FA office and that office sent one letter. At least that’s how I remember it - there were so many things going on some of them are starting to blur.
My D applied to Miami of Ohio. I am sure that we had no notification of any merit aid until the financial aid package came out later, I’m thinking it was the middle to end of March. I remember because we were suprised and she received a few merit scholarships and was admitted to the honors program. Which we didn’t know until the scholarship showed up on the FA letter.
Here’s the timeline that I found for the Evans Scholarship. http://www.wgaesf.org/atf/cf/{adad6519-79a3-4dd1-8611-c3e89a1c78ce}/2014%20SCHOLARSHIP%20APPLICATION%20INFORMATION.PDF or this http://www.wgaesf.org/site/c.dwJTKiO0JgI8G/b.6086583/k.499/Application_Process.htm
Not sure if that’s any help. I know (very little) about the scholarship. I thought that the houses were for residents of the state the house was in. We had a good friend who was one and that’s what we were told.
@batmom96 - D was accepted to Miami in November sometime, then in late December she got merit scholarship notification by mail. (She applied EA).
If your son is in the range of the stats they post on their site, he should get something though they don’t guarantee: http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/index.html
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His ACT was 25 twice…28 in English 27 reading but then flip flopped math and science with scores between 20-24.
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He’s not likely going to get any merit from Miami O. His ACT is LOW for the school. An ACT 25 is at the BOTTOM of the school’s middle quartiles. MIddle quartiles are ACT 25-30.
Schools tend to give merit for those whose scores are well-within the upper 25% of the school. for Miami…that would be students who have an ACT 31+.
Your child’s other merit awards are likely from schools with lower upper quartile scores, or from over-priced privates who offer nearly everyone merit. It’s a game to them…overprice the school, then flatter the applicant with “merit” for stats that aren’t’ outstanding for the school.
I didn’t post on here in awhile because I was very despondent that I wasn’t going to be able to help my son go to college, but I am ecstatic to announce that not only did he receive the Golden Apple scholarship, but he received the Chick Evans Scholarship for his dream school Marquette!!! Dreams do come true!! Hard work does pay off!!
Thank you for the update! Glad it all worked out well!! Congratulations to your son.
Thank you Thumper! I appreciate your help and advice you gave me.
Congratulations! It is nice to read good news like this on CC!