What Is really a Financial Aid Appeal?
Second only to the all-important college decision letter may be the educational funding award letter.
For most families, this award letter dictates whether or not they can pay the cost of college.
It's crucial that families know their options once they receive their award letters, so it's better to bring along details about their finances even before the letter arrives in case you choose to complete the financial aid appeal process.
What You Need to Know Concerning the Financial Aid Award Letter
A financial aid award letter will arrive either with the offer of admission or shortly after your student receives their offer. Within the award letter you will find the cost of attending the college, what you should be expected to pay for or even the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and then any financial assistance the school is offering to bridge the space between what you're likely to pay and the price of attendance.
But lurking within the award letter is often some practices colleges use when filling their admission quotas. Colleges use their practices to lure students into accepting their offer of admission or discourage those students who have been only offered admission to fill their quota or inflate their numbers from deciding to attend.
Front loading
Front loading occurs when a college constitutes a generous educational funding award upon acceptance. When the student returns the following year, they will find the college has dropped their previously awarded grants and scholarships. That's why it's crucial that you ask these questions before accepting an award:
- Is the grant or scholarships renewable? What your student needs is perfect for the cash to follow him through college until graduation. Get the most of years the award will be renewable.
- Are there any terms connected to the grant or scholarship? Your student might have to maintain a certain gpa or maintain a certain number of credit hours. Ask about the eligibility requirements each year and if your student must complete additional paperwork in order to keep the award.
- If the grant or scholarship sheds, what will replace it? Colleges will most likely offer student loans like a substitution plan. However in to avoid additional debt, question other grants or scholarships that might be available and get concerning the application process. Your student should also intend to look for outside scholarships throughout college to supplement any awards which are lost.
- Will the college bill increase in future years therefore, by how much? If tuition and/or room and board increases, the renewable awards might no longer cover the increased costs. Ask if there is an increase, will the awards increase as well. This is important to know when you are planning future cost increases.
Gapping
Gapping is a expression used in reference to financial aid awards. It refers back to the gap between what you can afford to pay (your EFC) and just what colleges offer in educational funding. When there is a positive change, it creates a financial gap. When a college bakes an offer of admission and doesn't solidify it with enough aid to cover the difference between the price of college attendance as well as your expected family contribution, this is whats called gapping.
Colleges use this way to differentiate between your good applicants and also the average applicants. For example, in case your student isn't towards the top of the applicant pool, he might be offered admission but will 't be offered enough aid or gapped in the hopes he will not accept the offer of admission.
This is really because colleges offer admittance to more students than they can possibly manage to accommodate. If your family cannot afford to pay the extra money necessary to attend, the student will likely decline a deal of admission and proceed to another college.
Padding
Colleges will often pad the EFC amount with federal student education loans, federal parent loans and a work-study award. A lot of students qualify for federal student loans.
College aid should only be in the type of merit grants or scholarships. If loans are considered in the educational funding package, the college is padding your student.
If a university is applying any of these tactics together with your student, you should carefully compare other awards from other colleges who're offering admission.
How Would you Compare Educational funding Awards?
Before accepting any college's offer of admission, you need to carefully compare, analyze and question each item on the financial aid award letters from each college. As a parent, you understand the financial realities of paying for any higher education.
Your student, however, may want to attend a university which will mean incurring a substantial amount of debt. Because of this, you should carefully compare all awards alongside and determine which is the best financial fit for the family.
Using the Educational funding Shopping Sheet will help you evaluate the awards. Many colleges either use the government form or have adapted it to their personal information. Using this sheet allows you to judge the awards and find out easily when the award is sufficient to meet your financial needs. If the college does not provide this, it is simple to print a duplicate and transfer the data from the letter towards the form.
You should be able to locate fairly easily the scholarships, grants, student loans and also the overall costs from each college. The college's full cost of attendance should be clearly stated around the award letter. To find out whether this amount is accurate or if it's deleted from the award, you can visit the College Board's site BigFuture. Just type in the name from the college and also the search offers the pertinent information.
Once you've compared all of the financial aid information, you'll be able to find out just how much both you and your student are going to have to pay out of your own pockets to attend the school. If each college offers comparable awards, the decision will be easy.
But if one college provides more aid than the other, your student might choose this college. In many families, however, the decision is not that simple. If your student's dream college does not offer enough aid and his heart is placed on attending, what exactly are your options, and can you appeal an award?
When Can You Appeal an Award?
Anyone can appeal a financial aid award and ask for more aid. However in certain instances, an appeal is unquestionably warranted.
You can appeal the amount of your award based on special circumstances or unusual circumstances. This is a need-based appeal.
According to StudentAid.gov, unusual circumstances may include:
- Tuition expenses in an elementary or secondary school.
- Unusual medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance.
- A family member who recently became unemployed.
- Changes in income or assets that may affect your eligibility for financial aid.
In a current Facebook Live interview, Jodi Okun from College Financial Aid Advisors, and author of Secrets of a Educational funding Pro said there are more criteria financial aid officers might consider:
- Death within the family
- Caring to have an elderly family member
- Extenuating circumstances (a situation that is unique for your own family you could not articulate around the FAFSA or CSS Profile)
StudentAid.gov also explains special circumstances that may affect a student's dependency status and also affect their financial aid:
- You cannot provide parental information.
- You are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
- You are trying to find an unsubsidized loan only.
In to be looked at for all sorts of federal student educational funding, under federal law, your student must provide parental information on the FAFSA unless he meets one of the criteria for being an “independent” student.
This holds true even when he doesn't live with his parent, his parent is not paying any of his college expenses, or his parent does not claim him as a determined by their taxes.
The financial aid administrator determines if the student qualifies in line with the information provided.
With any appeal for just about any of these circumstances, parents and students must submit documented information and proof for that educational funding office to consider an appeal.
What Other Instances Warrant an Appeal?
You can appeal a merit-based award if your student's grades have significantly improved since submitting the FAFSA that might warrant more aid based on his academic achievement. If your student has proof of academic achievements or improved grades on his transcript, appealing the award might gain him additional aid. Offer proof when submitting your appeal.
In addition, if your student receives more educational funding from a competing college, he is able to leverage that award to inquire about additional merit aid to match that of another college. Your student will make the situation by promising to attend the college if they match the sale from the competing college. Obviously, you have to provide evidence of the award in the other college.
How to Appeal for Financial Aid
A need-based award appeal ought to be made with the Educational funding Office from the college your student will be attending. Whether it's a merit-based award appeal, your student should contact the Admissions Office.
Your student should call to verify contact information and submit an itemized appeal request. You should never do this on the phone. The letter should not be a more than a page and also you or your student (depending on who are able to supply the best information) should clearly outline the details without making it a sob story or perhaps a demand.
According to Lynn O'Shaughnessy, author of The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price , “Whether students may have success appealing an award may also rely on whether a school's admission office is nervous about meeting its freshman enrollment target. Some schools will eagerly give a student one more award to ensure filling a freshman slot whatever the merits from the appeal. In fact, in some instances, students don't even need to ask.”
If colleges are behind in receiving freshmen deposits, they may also create additional scholarships in the spring to entice accepted students and can also employ these scholarships to increase merit aid for a student who requests more aid.
What Are the Components of the Financial Aid Appeal Letter?
The letter should open thanking the school because of its offer of admission and its financial award. Then move to the reason behind the letter: regret that the award isn't substantial enough to go to their college.
Outline the reasons why you will need additional funds but be polite and never make demands or make an effort to negotiate. Be courteous within the tone of the letter.
Finally, combined with the letter, submit any documentation to aid your claims.
If you'll need some samples of appeal letters, you will see some here.
In conclusion, financial aid awards are a fundamental part of the final college decision. Evaluating each award and comparing it alongside with others can help you as well as your student make a wise financial decision and choose for a moment complete the financial aid appeal process.
If both you and your student feel you need more aid in order to accept a deal of admission, follow the following tips to evaluate should you ask and just how.
Remember to follow along with up after sending the appeal letter and thank the school for their consideration.
Watch our session on appealing financial aid and merit scholarships: