So when DO you KNOW?? (financial question)

[justkeepswimming]

Springing off of my financial calculator question...

 

If the student applies in, say, November or December (to qualify for as much merit or need-based financial aid as possible) - when do the figures get sent to you? In black-and-white, plain-people-speak??

 

I've read so many timelines I am dizzy and would love to know what people here's actual experience has been. :)

 

The cost of all this is controlling every single aspect of dds decision - and it is beyond frustrating to not be able to get accurate, all-inclusive information.

[regentrude]

Depends completely on the school.

DD did not find out about her acceptance until late March, and it was another few weeks until we received the financial aid offer.

A school with rolling admission would make the admissions decision much sooner and thus be able to provide an earlier financial aid statement.

[Jen in NY]

My dd#1 applied ED and we found out in December with the offer of admission.

 

My dd#2 applied RD and received finaid offers with or very nearly with the admissions notifications. The schools notified on their own schedules.

 

She was offered the opportunity to apply for some scholarships/honors programs before the admissions notification date.

 

Unrelated to this question, my dds' school is one that applies outside scholarship to any loan amounts first, then to the school grant. IOW, the student benefits from outside scholarships. Also, the COA calculator was very accurate for us.

 

HTH

[dhudson]

 

 

 

Honestly, I had a pretty good idea in April but had no hard and fast numbers until Aug 11th or 12th and my ds started school Aug 24th. They gave extra scholarships in June, had a computer glitch that took a huge one away at the beginning of Aug and got it all fixed and in a billable form on Aug 11th.

 

It was stressful.

[JanetC]

Applying early will be good for merit scholarship applications, but the FAFSA does not open until January first, with the earliest financial aid deadlines tending to be in February, and the earliest possible notifications in March.

 

Nobody gets the final price after need-based aid until the very end of the process, hence the push to switch financial aid applications to using the prior year's income rather than the current year's. In fact, early decision plans often use prior year data, but in that instance you are giving up the ability to compare offers.

[Lolly]

Yep, because of FAFSA it will most likely be April or May.

[Jenny in Florida]

As I recall, we didn't see firm, complete financial offers from all of the colleges to which my son applied until early spring, maybe March or April? Most of the schools he applied to had financial aid application deadlines in February or early March, and complete packages came in sometime between then and official decision day on May 1.

 

He was notified before then of some merit scholarships.

[FaithManor]

Ds applied to Alma College, Northern Michigan, Western Michigan, U of MI Ann Arbor and U of MI Flint. He had all of his acceptances by Dec. 15th because he had his applications in by Oct. 30th and these schools decide fairly quickly. With Alma, U of MI at both locations, and Northern, he was notified right away of merit scholarships related to GPA or ACT or the combo. He had scholarship competitions at Alma in Jan. and was informed two weeks later of the additional $4000.00. But, the financial package did not come in the mail until around March 20th. The FASFA submission deadline for freshman financial aid for best consideration was Mar. 15th for most Michigan schools, and then they create the packages quite rapidly. Ds made his decision right away because he didn't qualify for need based aid. So despite the slightly more than half ride scholarship at Alma, both campuses of U of MI came in quite low because their price tags were much lower and he was awarded a decent amount of merit. Northern would have been quite cheap, but due to how much the bitter temps affect ds's leg, he turned the down right away when he realized that going 7 hours further north and extending winter by 6-8 weeks was just a deal breaker for his health. Western came in around U of MI for final price and the letter came in at the same time too, but he wasn't nearly as interested in them.

 

The only students I know of who knew any faster than that were some MTU students who competed for the full ride and won. That's the first week of December, so knowing that they had a four year tuition/room/board full scholarship, they accepted without seeing our the federal and state aid thing worked out for them.

 

I do know a few kids who didn't get their packages until the middle of April, and most had still decided by May 1st because the deadline for dorm deposits was looming.

[Kareni]

My daughter applied to several schools that had rolling admission as well as to some schools that announced their decisions on April 1.  She applied to ten schools in all.

 

When she replied acceptances, they typically arrived with (or were very shortly followed thereafter by) announcements of merit aid.

 

Complete financial aid statements containing both merit and need based aid arrived in very late March and early April.  One school's financial aid offer did not arrived until the latter part of April.  (In that particular case, she was in the running for a big scholarship; my suspicion is that they were waiting to hear from the first person to whom they offered it.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[sassenach]

We got merit amounts with acceptance letters, which came January-February. We got full package info from March-April. There was a HUGE range in what was offered with the final package. Two schools with similar tuition had a 10k difference in their bottom line.

[Gwen in VA]

Mostly the financial offers came a week or two after the acceptances.

 

Dd1 did have one weird school that wanted her to accept a merit aid offer in January or lose it. She lost it! (This was not a ED school).

 

It's high stress, but mostly it seems to somehow work out. I do know a few people who have had to attend CC because finances didn't work out the way the families wanted, but that is by far the exception, not the rule. Every family has a different version of how the finances worked out, but mostly the do.

 

Breathe deeply. It will somehow work out. Breathe deeply again. And pour yourself a glass of wine! :crying:

 

 

[elegantlion]

For our school, ds was accepted shortly after applying in December. He had one scholarship listed based upon his ACT score. FAFSA and the institutional aid application were both due March 1, aid to freshman was posted (and mailed) about mid-April. 

 

Also note, returning students aid is offered later, like late May or June for my school. 

[justkeepswimming]

Also note, returning students aid is offered later, like late May or June for my school.

On that note- I have heard that sometimes financial aid (not Merit Aid... all of those I have seen are either clearly one-year awards, or guaranteed for four years provided that certain criteria are met by the student) is better for freshman year... And subsequent years the student qualifies for less financial aid, even if the financial "numbers" remain the same (or close to it).

 

Has anyone experienced that? Waiting until, possibly, late May or June to find out that the school is offering thousands less-than-the-previous-year in financial, need-based aid?

[justkeepswimming]

It's high stress, but mostly it seems to somehow work out. I do know a few people who have had to attend CC because finances didn't work out the way the families wanted, but that is by far the exception, not the rule. Every family has a different version of how the finances worked out, but mostly the do.

 

Breathe deeply. It will somehow work out. Breathe deeply again. And pour yourself a glass of wine! :crying:

I'm thinking it either HAS to work out or no one would be sending their kids off to college - or that everyone is secretly taking out second mortgages on their homes to pay for this!!

 

DH and I are gonna need *five-gallon buckets* of wine in another few weeks!! It's all we can think about! 😖😱 And to have to wait--- is going to kill us slowly!!! Lololol!! :)

[8filltheheart]

I'm thinking it either HAS to work out or no one would be sending their kids off to college - or that everyone is secretly taking out second mortgages on their homes to pay for this!!

 

DH and I are gonna need *five-gallon buckets* of wine in another few weeks!! It's all we can think about! 😖😱 And to have to wait--- is going to kill us slowly!!! Lololol!! :)

 

Well, I have a completely different perspective.  Multiple scenarios are going on beyond those that work out.....families are going into major debt by taking out massive loans, kids are living at home and commuting to their local CC with  plans to transfer, kids live at home and attend the local U, kids pursue trades, kids get jobs and do not pursue higher ed.

 

The gap between what many people can afford and what they are expected to pay is not insignificant for a lot of families.  Either the gap is filled by loans or the student doesn't attend those schools.

[Kareni]

Also note, returning students aid is offered later, like late May or June for my school. 

 

Yes, this is a good point.  It was something of a surprise to learn that financial aid awards for returning students at my daughter's college were not distributed until sometime in June.  We were on tenterhooks waiting to see how her sophomore year's aid package would differ from that of freshman year.

 

Regards,

Kareni