William & Mary stingy with aid

[Anonymous]

Venting mostly.
We are a doughnut hole family. $150,000 taxable income. W&M is $43,000/year in direct costs. And they offered us zero in grants or scholarships. Zero.
Federal student loan/work study total is about $3000, which will barely make a dent.
DD is a junior. Freshman year she was offered no grant aid, but a bit more in student loans and work study. Last year, she was mercifully given $5000 in institutional grant aid--not sure why she received so much less this year than last since nothing has changed substantially about our financial situation.
If we had known how little she would receive in aid, we would have discouraged her from going there. Her experience has not been notably better than her siblings' were at JMU and Mary Washington, which were both significantly less expensive and much more generous with aid.

[Anonymous]

My child plans to apply and we are OOS - $43k sounds dreamy. Consider yourself lucky to have access to so many good universities at that price point.

[Anonymous]

Did you contact the Financial Aid office to appeal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Venting mostly.
We are a doughnut hole family. $150,000 taxable income. W&M is $43,000/year in direct costs. And they offered us zero in grants or scholarships. Zero.
Federal student loan/work study total is about $3000, which will barely make a dent.
DD is a junior. Freshman year she was offered no grant aid, but a bit more in student loans and work study. Last year, she was mercifully given $5000 in institutional grant aid--not sure why she received so much less this year than last since nothing has changed substantially about our financial situation.
If we had known how little she would receive in aid, we would have discouraged her from going there. Her experience has not been notably better than her siblings' were at JMU and Mary Washington, which were both significantly less expensive and much more generous with aid.

But you knew she was getting no aid before she accepted. Did she not get in anywhere else?

[Anonymous]

4 year cost

$43 x 4 yrs = $132k

$3ws x 4 yrs = (12k)

$5 Soph = (5k)

Not getting the 5k for junior year and potentially senior year is only 10k out of $115k you committed to. A drop in the bucket. Did she consider applying as an RA for free room and board?

[Anonymous]

It seems you knew going into freshman year that your family wasn't getting aid. We have the OOS expense. I make less than you, but am paying half of my student's expenses which is about $40,000/year. We all made those choices going in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4 year cost

$43 x 4 yrs = $132k

$3ws x 4 yrs = (12k)

$5 Soph = (5k)

Not getting the 5k for junior year and potentially senior year is only 10k out of $115k you committed to. A drop in the bucket. Did she consider applying as an RA for free room and board?

Plus, hasn't she been able to earn money over the summer? My older one went to WM and he and many got paid jobs/internships after sophomore year on. Students can net 3k-8k each summer if they start early and apply aggressively, get to know professors and ask for summer opportunities they may know of.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of schools that, if your child could get into WM, they could go to college for next to nothing, with merit aid. Also, in VA, CNU is nearby and is about 1/2 the cost at $24k.

You can’t have it both ways— highly ranked and low cost for middle class and above just doesn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of schools that, if your child could get into WM, they could go to college for next to nothing, with merit aid. Also, in VA, CNU is nearby and is about 1/2 the cost at $24k.

You can’t have it both ways— highly ranked and low cost for middle class and above just doesn’t exist.

This! I paid for my own tuition-- no parent aid + no Fin Aid. I only had one kid because that is all I could afford. Why do you + others seem entitled to think that someone else should pay? Do as others have suggested-- have your kid get jobs and you can earn extra money. I commuted to college...why not have your kid live at home + go local if W+M is so expensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of schools that, if your child could get into WM, they could go to college for next to nothing, with merit aid. Also, in VA, CNU is nearby and is about 1/2 the cost at $24k.

You can’t have it both ways— highly ranked and low cost for middle class and above just doesn’t exist.

It is sad that this is the case, but it is. They want people to have more babies but at every step an additional person makes things so so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of schools that, if your child could get into WM, they could go to college for next to nothing, with merit aid. Also, in VA, CNU is nearby and is about 1/2 the cost at $24k.

You can’t have it both ways— highly ranked and low cost for middle class and above just doesn’t exist.

I just went directly to the CNU website and they have their COA listed as $37k 🙄

[Anonymous]

CNU is a very average school while W&M is borderline elite. No comparison. I’d never send a kid to CNU

[Anonymous]

Aid for people who have demonstrated financial need - which is why it's the cheapest public in VA for families earning under 100k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Venting mostly.
We are a doughnut hole family. $150,000 taxable income. W&M is $43,000/year in direct costs. And they offered us zero in grants or scholarships. Zero.
Federal student loan/work study total is about $3000, which will barely make a dent.
DD is a junior. Freshman year she was offered no grant aid, but a bit more in student loans and work study. Last year, she was mercifully given $5000 in institutional grant aid--not sure why she received so much less this year than last since nothing has changed substantially about our financial situation.
If we had known how little she would receive in aid, we would have discouraged her from going there. Her experience has not been notably better than her siblings' were at JMU and Mary Washington, which were both significantly less expensive and much more generous with aid.

But you knew she was getting no aid before she accepted. Did she not get in anywhere else?

This. I’m confused about why OP seems like they were surprised. You know the cost before you enroll.

[Anonymous]

I mean, it’s a public college (that doesn’t get a lot of financial support from the state). I don’t think most public universities are super generous with scholarship money for regular applicants. Not sure what you were expecting…