As a follow up to our College Financial Aid Night in December, we acknowledge that families of seniors often feel the need to respond to the initial financial aid package they receive from colleges, especially at colleges only requiring the FAFSA form. There are many common financial circumstances that the FAFSA form does not fully capture. One very common scenario is a family’s commitment to private primary and secondary education for their younger children, which is not accounted for on the FAFSA but which many private colleges (especially Catholic colleges) will use to increase eligibility for aid. College financial aid officers are able to use professional discretion to respond to special circumstances, and it is a good rule of thumb to resist drawing sweeping conclusions about a college’s affordability until the entire financial aid process has been completed. Before contacting colleges, we recommend joining us for a “How to Appeal to Colleges to Get More Money” virtual webinar on February 23rd @ 12:00 pm CST. Our College Aid Pro financial aid experts will discuss:
1. Did you get a “good” deal?
2. Who, What, Where and How to appeal?
3. What are realistic expectations?
4. Does it ever make sense NOT to appeal?
While parents of upper division students (especially seniors) might gain the most from the session, we invite all Upper School parents to utilize all that the College Aid Pro platform offers–at no cost to PA families who register with our discount code*–including:
• Instant EFC Calculator for all 3 methodologies
• Customized Net Price Calculator (for every college in the country)
• Access to Private Scholarship Search Engine
• Affordability Profile
• Compare Offers and Appeals
• Sort by Max. Financial Aid Percentage
• Sort by Max. Scholarship $$
• Private Scholarship Search
• Line by Line FAFSA and CSS/PROFILE Guidance
*Providence Academy Upper School Families can follow the steps below to create their
account using PA’s discount code:
1. Go to: https://mycap.collegeaidpro.com/
2. Click ‘Get Started for FREE’
3. Create a password
4. Select the ‘MyCAP Scholar’ Plan (the middle option in dark blue, listed as $149)
5. Click ‘Apply Coupon’ and type in PROV2023 (price will drop to $0)
6. Continue on & finish account creation