by Jeanne Mahan, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

It’s April and your student has (hopefully!) received financial aid offers from the schools to which they were accepted. While some schools still send these via the postal service, many others will notify your student via email that the information is available on their student portal, and still others will make it your student’s responsibility to check the portal regularly to find this information. As you’ve probably noticed, there is no standardization to these offer letters, which causes confusion. Are you comparing apples to apples, or apples to bananas, or bananas to oranges? If I had a magic wand, one of the first improvements I’d make is standardizing financial aid award letters so they’d be easier to compare.

by Robyn Stewart, former financial aid officer at College of the Holy Cross

Spend 10 minutes speaking with the parent of a high school senior, and I guarantee that I will spend some time dispelling some halftruths that have emerged from today’s college financing process. Anecdotal stories – you know the thing you heard that happened to your neighbor’s son’s friend’s cousin – all seem to have these magical happy endings that we understandably want to replicate.

Here are some top financial aid chestnuts that walk the fine line between myth and reality.

“Students can walk into a bank and get a student loan.”

by Chrissy Foran, former financial aid officer at Washington State University

Financial aid can be a very confusing and overwhelming subject for many families. You go through the process with your child, fill out applications, and pore over financial aid award letters, carefully deciphering each one. After months of comparing and discussing and debating, your child makes that all-important decision of where they want to attend. Victory! You feel so proud, mostly for your child, but also for yourself, having survived the process! You think your hard work is done, and you can now relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It then dawns on you… wait… do I have to do this every year?!?!?? And then scarier questions arise: Could my child’s financial aid change next year? Might I get less?

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

The COVID pandemic has upended the world of college admissions in all sorts of ways. You may have read recently about the tremendous upsurge in applications at some of the most selective schools in the country, but those positive numbers only tell a limited part of the “admissions in the age of COVID” story.

by Robyn Stewart, former financial aid officer at College of the Holy Cross

Many high school seniors and their families selected for financial aid verification are currently wondering, “What could the Financial Aid Office possibly want now?” May 1, the national deadline to deposit at your chosen college is looming in the not-so-distant future, and yet some students are still submitting additional information to the aid offices on their college list. “Didn’t we already send them this?” families may ask as they jump through what they perceive to be another hoop on the road to receiving financial aid. Remember, the financial aid process is an exchange of information for dollars: your financial information for financial aid dollars. Don’t be discouraged! Your financial aid offer is on the way, but you may have a few extra steps to take.

Common questions from students who are selected for verification include:

As admission decisions start to roll in, students across the country are receiving both good (accepted) and bad (denied) news. And along with these clear-cut outcomes, many students are receiving some ambiguous news: yes, you’ve been accepted, but no, we are not awarding you enough financial aid to actually allow you to attend. This type of result can be the worst of all for families, as it often puts parents in the heartbreaking position of having to say no to their child’s dream school. Is there, however, any other option?

Paying for college for a child is a challenge, let alone paying for college for two or three or four children. Does the financial aid formula account for the added cost of raising and educating multiple children? Find out in the latest article on the Edmit blog by Bright Horizons College Coach finance consultant Shannon Vasconcelos.

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

Winter is an exciting time for high school seniors and their parents. Even (and maybe especially) in this unusual year, the receipt of a college acceptance is cause for celebration. For many families, however, the initial elation of a college acceptance is quickly tempered by the receipt of a financial aid offer and the realization that, even after the awarded financial assistance, a given college’s cost is still out-of-reach for your family. While disappointing, that inadequate financial aid offer is not necessarily the end of the story, nor the end of your child’s relationship with that school of choice. The college aid application is, while daunting, necessarily limited in scope and does not paint a complete picture of many families’ financial circumstances, especially in these complicated times. For that reason, colleges are given latitude to use their discretion in considering families’ special circumstances when awarding both government and institutional aid. Consider if you may have had any of these special circumstances that would warrant an appeal to the Financial Aid Offices for special consideration:

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

If you’ve been within shouting distance of a TV, computer, tablet, phone, or newspaper today, you’ve likely heard that Congress passed an omnibus spending bill last night, including a COVID relief package. What you may not have heard much about yet is a number of significant changes to federal financial aid programs included in the legislation.  More details will be forthcoming, and the bill is still pending President Trump’s signature, but, for now, here are the major provisions in the bill that may directly or indirectly affect how students and parents pay for college:

Are you wondering if you can apply for financial aid on your own, without your parents’ financial information? While most traditionally-aged college students will require parental information as part of the financial aid process, some students are considered independent and can apply for need-based scholarships, grants, and student loans based solely upon their own information.

In the latest installment of the Bright Horizons College Coach video series, We Can Explain, we break down what it takes to be considered independent by a financial aid office.