Fool’s Gold
A few days ago, a friend asked my opinion about a dilemma that had come upon one of her advisees. A young man she had been advising had been accepted Early Decision to his first choice school, a highly selective institution in the Northeast. Upon receiving the acceptance letter, he withdrew the applications he had submitted to half a dozen other elite institutions in order to honor his Early Decision commitment. He was understandably elated because he had been admitted to the college of his dreams.
Weeks later, however, the elation turned to shock and dismay when he received a financial aid award based on an expected family contribution that was much greater than he had anticipated. Instead of the $10,000 he thought his family would need to pay out of pocket, he was told their contribution would be closer to $17,000. He was in a bind and didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t afford his ED school and he had withdrawn his applications to what had been his other options.
From what I could tell, the student had completed an online FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) forecaster prior to applying to any of the colleges. When the information he provided projected an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of $10,000 for the first year, he and his parent were confident enough in their ability to come up with that amount that he had gone ahead with the ED application. Now, the school to which he was committed was expecting more—much more.
During the next two Web-Side Chats I will provide insight into how this situation and others like it might be averted and/or rectified. See below to learn how you can join the conversation.
Unfortunately, this is not likely to be an isolated incident in the coming weeks as colleges and universities stretch their diminished financial aid budgets to accommodate the students whom they have accepted. In some instances, institutions will use the “need analysis” of the College Scholarship Service Profile to justify EFC’s that can range anywhere from $5,000-$10,000 greater than is projected by the FAFSA. By doing so, they can claim to meet the demonstrated needs of their admitted students without ever having to reconcile the differential in the respective need analyses to the families involved.
In other cases, colleges will simply elect not to meet the full need of the admitted student. Instead, they will provide a basic financial aid award that covers a fraction of the demonstrated need and fill the ”gap” of unmet need with additional loans for the student and/or the parents. However it is manifest, expect this type of gapping to be prevalent in the days to come.
As you weigh your educational options in the coming weeks, it is important that you understand the terms of the enrollment agreements you are considering. Sometimes in the euphoria associated with “getting in” it is easy to overlook the details and, in the case of managing college costs, the “devil may indeed be in the detail.”
The good news is that, even in these days of deep recession, there are good deals to be found. To find them, though, you need to manage expectations and focus on finding the best “fit.” The next two Web-Side Chats (interactive webcasts) will help you interpret your options and give you the confidence you need to make the best possible choice among your college options.
On Wednesday, March 25, the topic is “Admission Decision Letter Preview.” We will take a look at the range of admission decisions that are likely to come your way. The April 13 webcast, “Evaluating Financial Aid Options,” lends insight into the various financial aid awards you may have received and helps you make “apples to apples” comparisons. Both hour-long webcasts begin at 7PM ET and are interactive so audience members can submit questions throughout. (All webcasts are archived for member access.)
|
