Who attends a financial aid seminar being offered by a prospective college?

[shanvan]

One of the universities my Ds is considering is offering a workshop this weekend.  Ds has a class that day and can't go.  Is it weird if Dh goes alone?  Should I see if Ds can make up the class and go with Dh?  Ds has a large scholarship to this school which may make it possible for him to attend, depending on other factors.  

 

I keep going back and forth on this and wondering if it is worth giving up a Saturday or if it is mostly going to be info we already know.

[Myra]

I attended three financial aid seminars when my eldest entered college.  Two of them were a total waste of my time as they just talked in vague generalities.  But one of the seminars was on target.  It explained the process of how aid was determined - both merit and need-based. The speaker was very knowledgeable and provided the nuts-and-bolts of financial aid.  They even had time slots to talk personally with the college financial personnel. I came away from that seminar empowered with enough information to apply for endowment scholarships (netting an extra $2K per year for my son!) 

 

However, when it came to son #2 I only attended the seminar for the final college. But it was a rehash of vagueness!!!!  I thought I should attend just in case but no new info was presented that I didn't already know .....

 

As for whether your son should attend or not - I don't think it makes any difference.  My sons only attended one seminar and were bored silly - looking back, I don't think they grasped the financial end then as they were just beat from the application process!

 

Myra   

[shanvan]

Thanks, Myra.  I think I will just present it to Dh as an option.  Ds is giving a speech Friday night and I think he'd better go to class and then practice his speech.  

[hillfarm]

Be sure to check the details. Dh took dd to a financial aid seminar at her choice of schools and they gave away approximately $18,000 in scholarships as door prizes! Most were for $1,000, but the last three were for $2,000 each. Sadly, we didn't luck into any of them. Dh said that there was a huge crowd of attendees, many coming from several states away.