Binding Choice To Retain Previous Year's FA Package or Risk it and Reapply

[anonymous56]

I’m an MS2 at a school that fortunately is able to give out a significant amount of need-based scholarships. In previous years because of my family’s income, I have qualified for significant need-based scholarships in the range of tens of thousands of dollars. Previously we had to reapply each year, but for my 3rd year we were informed that we had the choice to reapply or accept our previous year's package. The decision is binding, and if we reapply we cannot choose between the previous years and the new package.

I'm trying to decide if I should risk it and reapply, because I am skeptical that my school is doing this in order to get out of paying for the yearly tuition inflation we see. This would lower their costs, but also keep the appeal of the FA awards for first year students they are trying to attract. Does anyone have any insight or advice for this situation? Thanks.

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[ucbsmd]

Last year was a good year for endowments, so it is likely that at least the same amount of money is available for aid unless the school is looking to increase their principal of their endowments.

1) Did your parents income/wealth increase over the past year?
2) How much of an increase in tuition did your school see?

If your parents saw some increase in income and your tuition only went up a few hundred bucks it may not be worth risking reapplying. If there was no change or a decrease and you saw an increase in several thousand it may be worth it to reapply. Like many things in medicine you need to look at the risk benefit for your situation.

 

[anonymous56]

I was actually thinking the same thing in regards to the endowment. I'll need to look at my parent's tax returns, but I gather there won't be more than a $1000 increase. Furthermore, if other students take this deal and tuition does go up the usual 3-5%, then that leaves more money in the pot. I'll be speaking with someone in the FA department to see if I can get a better read on what I might expect.

I really just don't want to leave thousands of dollars on the table (possibly tens of thousands if I include MS3 and MS4) if I can help it.