I mentor a bright kid through an inner-city youth program, and he has a situation. He just got accepted to his top choice college, but did not receive nearly enough money. Here are a few stats on his family situation (posted with parents permission):
-2 parents (both Caribbean immigrants), 4 kids (All first-gen college), 1 income
-next year, 3 kids will be in college, 1 will be in senior yr of high school
-the 2 kids currently in college pay about $5,000 total, with about $90,000 in aid
-my mentee's school offered only $20,000 in grants, and his family is supposed to come up with the remaining $20,000 either out of pocket or with loans.
-1 son has many medical issues, some of which are not fully covered by insurance, so med bills are high
- the mother is working towards her bachelor's at a public university and pays part of that tuition.
Clearly something is wrong here. How do they go about appealing the aid? My mentee's heart was SET on this school and was CRUSHED about the situait
I'm working with him on several scholarship applications. I'm just confused why if all 3 schools received the same tax info, 1 of them interpreted it so differently than the other two.
And believe me, I see how much this family struggles, even to send 2 of the kids to college. $20,000 would be impossible for the family.
Has anyone else every been in a similar situation? How do you get the school's financial aid committee to realize that my mentee literally will not be able to go to the school without more help?
Each school will give him a different "financial aid Package" than the other school offered to him. This is especially true at private vs. state schools and community colleges. He should shop around at different schools and apply for lots of scholarships. If he isn't given enough to cover his costs, he should make an appointment with the school to go over his award with someone and see if they can give him more free money.
Also, he might want to provide documentation of the "High paid medical expenses" to this school and they might be able to adjust it as well as take into consideration his mom is in college as well. (A students fin aid award used to take this into consideration, if his school used to do this in the past, perhaps they will do it now). Also be sure to check that the "number in college" is correct on his fafsa application. This really does make a huge difference.
Again, he needs to make an appointment and go… and take all the documents with him, but if they can't help him he should be willing to go to another school who offers him a better deal. A lot of kids do this… their HEARTS set on a school and finally do manage to scrape up the money to attend a year or so, but don't ever think about having to do this all over again next semester, or the next, or the next for the next 4 years and eventually drop out without anything to show for it except debt.
He needs to tell the school he has unusual circumstances and would like a fin aid counselor to do a "professional judgment" adjustment to his financial situation and his award. Its all about asking the right questions and knowing what to say. Not that they always will do it… but the next school might!
Good luck. Here is a good book.