Vocaboly.com

[Alisa LeSueur]

Chapman University reports to College Board and Peterson's that they
met 100% of financial need. FAFSA's SAR said EFC is $6052. Chapman
adjusted to $5200 for ISIR, but came up around $10,000 short on the
financial aid package.

Financial Aid director says "Parents should be able to borrow more",
but parent PLUS loans are not considered financial aid.

How does Chapman University get away with this? If reeks of fraud.
Bait and switch, at least.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Steve Blank]

For what it's worth, those books are simply reporting historical data -
what the college was able to do in the last year being reported on, not
a promise to meet 100% of future need. It would be a promise only if it
says so explicitly in the college's own literature.

The amount of need filled will vary based on the money available, the
total need of that year's students, and the quality of each student.

According to Peterson's, room, board, tuition and fees was $35,232 for
2004-05. With an average 5% increase, and an allowance for books,
transportation and miscellaneous expenses they are probably working on a
total cost of attendance budget of close to $40,000 for you.

An EFC of 5200 means a need of about $35,000, so if they missed filling
the need by $10,000 you got about $25,000, most of which was probably
gift aid. It's not 100% of your need, but still a heck of a lot of money
and a high percentage of your need.

You can ask for more, as you apparently did, but they can decline as
they apparently did.


Steven B. Blank
College Financial Aid Consultants
29 Ives Hill Court
Cheshire, CT 06410
(203)250-7761