YES! It kills me that some don’t even want updates or first semester grades! It absolutely makes my student feel like working hard this Fall was for nothing!
I felt your pain with deferrals two years ago! We ended up converting our deferral at Miami to ED2 for two reasons: 1) If we didn’t get the aid that we needed we knew there was an out of the binding nature of ED due to affordability and 2) We knew there was a possibility that we could get accepted for a Spring start and that the binding nature of ED would be released in this regard. In the end, ED2 worked out for us because of the latter reason and my son was able to select Miami over the other colleges that accepted him without being obligated. Demonstrated interest really counts at Miami. Just something more to consider.
It is all about the money.
That is what I’ve concluded about the deferrals.
They want to know who can afford full pay.
My daughter has already been accepted (with merit!) to schools with better Engineering programs than U Miami.
Well I’m sorry but if you are going to make your tuition + housing $97,000, then MOST people will need aid. We make a very good living, we can pay cash for college due to saving for the last decade, but asking anyone not upper class to pay $400K for an undergraduate degree is nonsensical.
This whole system is a mess that has led to the student loan fiasco, ruining tens of thousands of lives and negating any opportunity to build generational wealth—which has long been thought one of the advantages of a college degree.
I feel ya.
Not checking the “we would apply for financial aid” box in the common app doesn’t preclude you from applying for aid later…I’m sure they know that. So just relying on whether that box was checked or not to make an admit vs defer decision is unlikely. My guess is it mattered a little.
It is a private school, so it is by definition about the money. What else is there to be about?
Saying that private schools are “by definition about the money” is quite the blanket statement. Some private colleges end up costing less than state schools, and not always just for out of state students. it just happened to us.
Furthermore, if applying for aid at U of Miami, students are required to submit the CSS. The deadline IIRC is early November. Without the CSS, it is impossible to apply for aid at Miami later in the application cycle, so your hypothetical “we can leave the box unchecked and apply later” is wrong.
U of Miami also will deny admission if a student asks for aid but has incomplete paperwork. Aid is very much a factor in admissions decisions at the U.
Also, most colleges granting merit awards require the FAFSA, with deadlines in later winter, even for students who don’t qualify for aid. Again, that isn’t something a student could change their mind about and pursue in April.
Not sure I’m understanding the problem, if any, here. If they rejected someone who has incomplete paperwork and happened to need aid then most likely the reason was the missing paperwork, not the needing aid part. Either way, it seems that you may be basing a hypothesis about admit/defer decisions on a few posts…that’s not a large enough sample. Hard to compare apples to apples across candidates.
Typically a school not as need aware would reach out to the student and indicate that they are missing a tax return or something, not just flat out reject an otherwise outstanding student.
You are also making an incorrect assumption that I am only getting my information from here.
Admittedly my assumptions may be incorrect…although apparently the school being this need aware didn’t stop many from applying to it
It is a private school, so it is by definition about the money. What else is there to be about?
You understand that it being private doesn’t mean it isn’t a non-profit… So no, it is not by definition about the money - that is ridiculous and counterfactual.
Is U Miami a non-profit? I mean technically yes, but that doesn’t preclude revenue/cost optimization other things being equal
Yes, it is a non-profit. They don’t look at admissions as a revenue optimization exercise - full stop…
It’s really a ridiculous almost conspiracy-theory level of rationalizing adverse admissions decisions.
I hear you. I’m not the one making this rationalization.
Is HPM only available for incoming freshman or can students be invited to join at a later time?
Does UMiami accept LOCI from students deferred from EA who move into RD? The deterral letter only mentions sending grades. Don’t want to annoy them by sending something not requested.
U of Miami is need aware, not need blind. While correlation is not causation, when deferrals overwhelmingly go to students asking for aid, there might be something to that.
We didn’t check the box saying we would seek aid and my student was deferred. I don’t think there’s a strong cause-effect relationship between ability to pay full cost of attendance and deferment. I just think a lot of people were deferred and those people were offered ED2 consideration, which then becomes a soft test about who can pay full cost of attendance. It’s not direct; it’s sneaky. And tbh, leaves a bitter/slimy taste in my mouth.
Did you submit css ? Outside of ED their yield is under 20%.
Some play the long game - will this person stay in or drop out.
Miami is a rich kid’s school. Only a little more than a third get need aid. Very low.
It’s a business and they are taking advantage of maximizing full pay families.
Same here, no aid and deferred
Did everyone deferred get a request to upload fall grades?