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My family and I are immigrants. We're living well now and we own a townhouse, but all that's only recent and we don't have any savings. Also, my mom recently lost her job and we're finding ourselves barely able to keep paying our bills. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience regarding backing out of ED at a school that promises to meet 100% of need? And do FAFSA and PROFILE consider things like savings?

Thanks!

By Folk_Hero (Folk_Hero) on Saturday, October 18, 2003 - 01:02 am: Edit

What exactly do they mean when they say you must "prove" you can't afford it?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, October 18, 2003 - 04:26 pm: Edit

If the school agrees to meet beyond 100% of your EFC, that is generally assumed to be "meeting need".

other words if your EFC is $5,000, school gives you loans/grants/workstudy, to meet fees above $5000 they are meeting your need, and you would be obilgated to attend your ED school.
However if they won't meet your EFC, then you can site inadequate need as reason why you can't attend
yes they do look at savings but not as much as income

By Folk_Hero (Folk_Hero) on Saturday, October 18, 2003 - 08:05 pm: Edit

No, I get that, but I mean, for instance, Columbia is a need-blind school that promises to meet 100% of need for all freshman admits. I understand that they will calculate my need and meet it with loans, grants, ws, etc. However, in the Columbia ED agreement, it also says that you don't have to attend if the package is "inadequate." How does one prove that? I mean, it's well known that just because 100% of "need" is met it does not mean that the student can afford it.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Sunday, October 19, 2003 - 07:02 pm: Edit

Folk,

Have you spoken to Columbia? What you ask would be a perfectly appropriate question to ask the financial aid office. If you want to be anonymous, call instead of email (watch out for caller ID, I suppose?)

Anyway, it is a good question, and one I'm sure the school will answer. When they do, will you post the answer?