<p>Lucy - i think we got the same letter. Your son has some great choices! My son said this will help to make his decision easier. He got alot of acceptances with scholarships, so I am thinking it will be their loss. No way that I would send him with no scholarship money. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Still no letter! We’re in NJ only an hour away! I guess it’s a call to the Admissions office on Monday. Anyone else still waiting? Son was told they received idols so they have everything…</p>
<p>Oops - spelling correction from idocs to idols</p>
<p>@Lucy the Lakie- I doubt it was your inability to pay full price that kept him out. My D didn’t get the merit scholarship but was accepted with a financial aid package worth $15,000. Unfortunately, though it included a generous grant, there was a significant loan component and since D wants to go to vet school, I don’t want to burden her with undergrad debt. Maybe your son applied to a very competitive major? Lucky for us this school isn’t her first choice. A top choice, but not number one. </p>
<p>^^^Sorry, I meant “full price” for us–essentially the NPC price, which was about $15,000 a year more than we can afford without taking out a lot of loans and also about $15,000 more than Penn State or the more selective schools he applied to.</p>
<p>I guess it’s possible the major he applied to (engineering) was a factor too, but the professor who did the engineering presentation we attended said there was no benefit to applying as a potential obscure major and then switching to engineering since all freshmen are admitted to the college only and anyone can major in anything they want once they’re a student there, which was one of the big pluses of the school in our minds. </p>
<p>If we’d thought we could have afforded the NPC price, we would have allowed him to apply ED2 and the outcome may have been more favorable. That’s all I was trying to say, and to be clear, we were up front with the admissions personnel we spoke with about our situation, which may or may not have played a role in the decision to WL our son. As I said a while back, these are business decisions for any school and I can’t say I wouldn’t have made the exact same decision if I were in their shoes.</p>
<p>No worries, though. Lafayette was not to be. </p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you wherever your dear children end up!</p>
<p>LucieTheLakie–Same here. I don’t know how they expect people to live based on THEIR calculations of what we can afford. I am referring to all of the colleges in general. D has scholarships to her other top two choices so most likely will attend one of those. I am rather surprised in the difference in financial packages provided from each school. And no real pattern to the awards. This whole system needs to be overhauled IMO.</p>
<p>@crazymamaB, I think that is the reason the most selective schools are so very competitive. It’s not just a prestige thing; they are, for the most part, genuinely need blind and have made it an institutional priority not to saddle their students with loans. But they are few and far between. I’m just grateful my son was admitted to one of them. Otherwise, you go to the school that offers you the most merit money or choose an affordable in-state option. </p>
<p>
I would strongly encourage to voice your opinion in the [Financial</a> Aid](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/]Financial”>Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums) forum. You’ll find a lot of parents who agree with you - especially this time of year! But be careful what you wish for . . . if all schools’ financial aid awards were the same, who’s to say that Lafayette’s methodology wouldn’t be the standard? But this is a conversation that belongs in the Financial Aid forum, and not the Lafayette forum.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your daughter’s other options, and I wish her the best of luck!!!</p>
<p>@captainclueless have all the international students received their decision emails? because I still haven’t gotten mine.</p>
<p>@IamZeus I believe they all have. Check your spam box. Has anything appeared on your banner account?
If not … try a call on Monday.</p>
<p>@captainclueless my banner account looks the same. Nothing’s changed. And no email too. Thanks for all your help though, I’ll call the school on Monday :)</p>
<p>S finally got Lafayette letter - his only outright rejection. Everyplace else was acceptance or wait listed (which is it’s own sad state of limbo). We thought Lafayette was a good match and he really liked the school. But he got into Bucknell, and he’s thrilled with that, so Bucknell it is. Best of luck to everyone - we visited Lafayette twice and thought it was a wonderful school with a great vibe.</p>
<p>Ohh, I did not mean to come down on Lafayette’s package specifically. It was actually better than expected given what I know about the financial aid process. We haven’t ruled Lafayette out yet. It is just hard to justify given the free money she received from other schools that she likes almost as much. We love Lafayette, we just need to figure out what is the best overall decision. Tough choices facing everyone, but it all works out in the end!</p>