<p>Almost every article I’ve read strongly suggest that one should apply for financial aid even though your EFC calculated through online sites like collegeboard.com is higher than the total cost of tuition, room and board, etc. of the college you are applying to just in case your financial circumstances change during the year. I believe this is sound advice but I was wondering if anyone has been pleasantly surprised and gotten grant aid (not merit, not loans, etc.) even though they had initially believed there was no way they would get any?</p>
<p>The EFC calculators I ran (Princeton’s, finaid.com & College Board) all showed us as borderline for getting FA, maybe 5k need tops. When it came down to actual offers, our FA packages ranged from $0 to $20k in grants. These were all top 20 schools.</p>
<p>My advice, take the time and apply for FA, you don’t know what you’ll get or whether your situation will change in the future.</p>
<p>entomom, I will do so. I’m glad to know that these EFC calculators are not the end all. By taking the time to apply for FA, at least I’ll find out rather than wondering. Thanks.</p>
<p>mountains,
At least for us, FA was more variable than either merit aid or admissions results. Hint: FA was directly proportional to the size of the school’s endowment, not really a surprise when you think about it.</p>
<p>unrestricted institutional grant, no gpa maintenance requirement. Top 25 school. Received as a competitive award when shown merit & grant money of another (near) peer (top 50) school. The grant was <40% of the other school’s offer to attend, so will did give up a substantial bucks. </p>
<p>Received another grant in senior year, although I think it was an by accident, and we told them (school’s FA office) that we didn’t need the money, that we would not hold it against them if they rescinded the grant. </p>
<p>I will say that in our son’s time, 2002-2006, we had enough funds set aside for school, although it was a very near thing after 9/11 and thru market recovery 2005. Given the investments that we have and market conditions today, I do not believe that we would have had enough $ to fully fund son’s college education. Looking back at the records, in 2002, total cost at his school was $36,000/Yr. His graduation class of 2006, those costs were $42,000. Fall 2007 costs for entering freshman are now $51,000. </p>
<p>We are very grateful.</p>
<p>These responses really help. We have been fortunate to have been able to make certain choices to set aside a college fund knowing that we may eventually fall in the category of middle income families that will need to cough up 100% of college costs. We will be very grateful for whatever we can get. Again, thank you.</p>