@sjlj01 My daughter is in the same situation. She was admitted, but her financial summary only showed $3K in federal unsubsidized loans. It’s so discouraging, because if you ask her she will tell you that Miami is her #1 school (a little far from home for mom). No way we are willing to pay $70K/year though! I am really hoping that what the admission office told you is true, but it’s crazy how everyone is getting such different answers. I also can’t believe your son received no merit with his stats.
Just checked CaneLink and I am no longer able to view my financial aid. When I click on “View Award” it says inquiry access denied…
@sloan4167 I really don’t know much about UGA personally, and I’ve only been there once. It’s now ranked a little higher than UMiami, and the Terry Business school is very good. It’s very large (29k undergrads) and in a small, rural town that is 1.5 hours from a large airport. It’s mostly girls (60%), mostly Georgians (85%), big on southern culture, conservative leaning, big frat/strat culture, great sports to watch, lots of school spirit. The campus was very nice, the town was cute, the tour guides were the best we encountered in touring over 20 schools (including older son).
I like that UM has the best of both worlds of a beautiful, medium size campus (10K undergrads), opportunities of a large city, wonderful climate, kids from all over the country, great sports, great school spirit, frats/strats not a huge thing there, open minded student body, beach near by, fun to visit, good business school. The freshmen dorms are old and musty, and my son complained about the food last year (GA dorms aren’t much better). The Arts & Science advising is terrible - TERRIBLE - but the kids are smart enough to figure things out. I’ve heard grousing about the FA office as well, but that may be everywhere. There are a couple of facebook pages for UM parents (one is called Cool Parents) and they are all very informative, helpful, supportive, and some get together for tailgates and games. They will answer any questions you have as parent of an accepted student. I’m happy to give all the advice/info I have too.
No clue where my daughter will go as of yet. Her first choice was UVa, but she was deferred last week. It’s really tough to get in from OOS non-legacy (the middle 50 ACT is 33-35, and D has a 32, 34ss). UGA has always been her second choice (was my S’s too), but you may tell I’m not crazy about it. We are from Arkansas, and I would like both kids to get out of the Deep South to experience a different variety of kids/culture. I don’t think UGA is much different from UArk (except for ranking), where she could go for almost nothing.
We toured AZ State last weekend, and I didn’t expect to like it so much. I was very impressed with Barrett Honors college and the support/perks the business honor students get. D said she would feel guilty from the better treatment/perks. 
Great weather, good mix of kids from other states, very friendly students, airport nearby, cute town, very large, but managed well and not crazy crowded.
@miamacaroni Same here???
@sjlj01, did you get only the acceptance letter or do you also have the Financial Aid summary page which specifies all aid being offered - both need based and merit? My friend’s son was accepted and only got the Decision letter, nothing else so is waiting to see about merit. For those who received the Financial Summary/COA letter - it’s a summary of all aid so if there’s no merit aid listed, then there is no merit aid being offered.
Accepted Early Action
4.06 weighted GPA
33 ACT
Lots of extracurriculars
State and regional awards
No Merit Scholarship of any kind :// unless they haven’t sent it yet?
@miamacaroni really hoping this is a sign that they will be offering more money. My financial aid is down too. I got a 1450 SAT and no merit
@caljw000, even if you didn’t get a letter indicating Merit award, you can determine if you got any if you received the Financial Aid letter which breaks down the cost of attendance. It indicates any merit award on there too.
Anyone got selected to HPM-Health Professions Mentoring ?
I received my financial eligibility letter with no merit aid. 1530 SAT and sent a first letter to AO. Not going to get my hopes up about this but I am unsure why the portal changed all of a sudden.
Unfortunately, there is no exact science, and this experience can be incredibly frustrating. The right school is out there and if a student gets rejected or deferred it is likely that it was not meant to be. I can tell you from first-hand experience. Good luck everyone and congratulations on your outstanding accomplishments!
Anyone know why FA went away on Canelink?
TY!!! I appreciate the info.
Prior to ever being interested in Miami, we ran the net price calculator to see if merit awards were a possibility. I am not going to pay 70K for a school! It was only then, that we applied. My issue is, how can the net price calculator show 23K in merit, but then kid gets $0. Not a lower amount, but $0! This seems to be very unethical to me. I have to wonder if they are just trying to get people to apply so their numbers look better! If so, the next class should be aware of this. When I spoke to admissions, they said that some merit based money had shifted to need based money. If this is the case, I think their tool to estimate needs to reflect this! At the very least, the admissions office is very disorganized and their communication is atrocious. Every time I speak with someone, I get a different answer. How hard would it be to explain the steps on the first acceptance/denial letter. Congrats, you were accepted…a second email will be coming out with the status of your merit and financial aid. And then on that second letter, put $0 or $XX for the amount! How hard is this?
@khill0131 - couldn’t agree more that admissions office is ridiculous and their communication horrible. That being said, it doesn’t represent the rest of the school which is amazing! Did you get the Financial Aid Summary/COA letter or only the acceptance letter?
I have since emailed with admissions and got another answer as to lack of merit $. According to admissions, they had a high number of very qualified applicants and made difficult choices. In other words, my S who has perfect ACT and 3.975 UW GPA plus very strong ECs/leadership was not deemed strong enough for merit. Sounds like all merit offers have already been given out at time of admission letter.
I am sure it is a very good school, I do not want to take anything away of those that are going. Again, my only issue is that of admissions. 1- Lack of communication, 2- I do not believe the net price calculator…this really needs to be accurate. People make decisions off of it. Obviously it was accurate for those that got the scholarship, but how many showed a scholarship on net price and it came back $0, not 25% less, but $0. Miami expects us to spend 70K (without merit) a year with them. You would think it would come with much better representation. I get better communication when I buy a car! We got her acceptance letter and then a financial aid form with a $3,000 un-sub loan. That is it. You would think the financial aid form/letter would at least have a line that says merit based scholarship -$0. We could have saved ourselves 2 days, multiple calls, and reading a post on the internet to find out what it going on!
How many people are normally considered for the Stamps scholarship and get to attend the weekend?
Is there anyone here who got an Acceptance letter and nothing else? No second letter showing the Financial Aid & COA letter?
My daughter was deferred - OOS NJ, SAT 1430, GPA 3.96, sister is a sophomore at UM - has anyone called admissions to ask about switching to ED2? I know the deadline to do so was Jan 1 but am wondering if they were making any exceptions.