does GSD and Yale REALLY want photocopies of our tax returns and W2s? And our parents? That's a lot of junk to photocopy.

I imagine that GSD and Yale (and probably other schools too) will request that info if you are accepted but I don't think they are requesting it just to apply.

ACK! The fafsa just told me that I'm expected to pay $14,000/year! Is there any way to uniformly appeal this, with the reasoning that I obviously won't be making this much when I'm a full-time student?

rationalist, my FAFSA told me that I am supposed to be contributing $16,000 a year. I am holding out hope that this is some reference to the poverty level or something. I am sure that it will all work out eventually but I am still researching scholarships just in case.

I have also decided that in the event that I can't pay for school, I am still getting the hell out of dodge and camping out somewhere else until I get a job. At least now I know that I am leaving. It's the where part that we don't know yet!

rat and won -

does that "expected contribution" that the fafsa is telling you mean that the feds expect you to pay $14k (or $16k for wonderk) actual money per year and that they will cover the rest through loans? or can you get loans to cover that $14k?

i'll be finishing my fafsa tomorrow. will be interesting to see what they spit out at me.

It means that they tell the schools you apply to that you can afford to pay $14k. Whether the schools give you a financial aid package that covers the rest is up to them. It does not guarantee anything in terms of what you will be offered, unfortunately.

oh, and you can get loans to cover up to the total published cost (tuition + fees + est. room/board) of your schooling, but some of them might be private loans such as PLUS loans as opposed to Stafford, Perkins, etc.

p.s., rationalist, sorry for shortening your name to "rat". now i feel bad and won't do it againl

most grad students can receive $18,500 in loans per year.
The amount FAFSA tells you you can contribute is determined off of your yearly income-they do not take into account your living expenses since they consider that discretionary.
As for aid through the school-it is left up to them, though if they make you an offer you can hold out for more-I did that-they initially offered me $4500 for the year (peanuts for the out-of-state tuition they were charging) but I held out and ended up with $15,000.
Good luck to you all!

tiny- how does one 'hold out'? Does it involve calling the admissions people, or the financial aid people? What about telling them of other aid offers, i.e. "Well, your school was my top choice, but Pratt's offered me $$$, and it's really difficult to justify turning that down..." How does one hold out successfully?

The $18,500 is just the Staffords though, right? In undergrad you could go to any lender and get a private loan for the rest of your expenses, regardless of any aid award, up to the total cost of attendance. It's not the best way to fund your education, but it's an option.

Assuming you try to hold out for more, who would you generally contact about it? The admissions office?

mctwist6576 - online art history courses-I took one through UNC Chapel Hill-was a good class.
WonderK-Good luck with the UT app-let me know if you get in...I will definitely be there in August.

tinydancer, we need your expertise! I don't know anyone else who has succesfully gotten more $$$ out of a school they were admitted to, and a $4500 > $15000 jump is huge.

I, too, would like to know of this "holding out" method. Sounds very much like buying a car actually.

i hear that everyone applies to Rice because they offer you tons of money, and then when you go to the open house of the school you actually want to go to, you get an individual meeting with some faculty member who is trying to convince you to go there and answer all of your questions, and you say..., "well, I'd rather go here, but Rice is offering me free tuition..." and then they'll up their offer to you.

Sometimes people apply there cause they want to go there too.

Of course, but if a school has a reputation for giving out great aid packages, people are bound to end up using them that way.

I just can't wait until March! I'm not patient enough! I need to know NOWWWWW. People are defecting from my office right and left, and it's taking all I've got not to join in the fray by telling them I'm going to grad school in the fall.

I was just being an idiot. It is a good idea but Rice only accepts about 25 students a semester from what I hear. It's one of the tougher schools to get into so not too many people can use that strategy.

my apologies if i offended anyone who goes to rice. It's a very good school.

aw shit my fafsa just told me my expected family contribution is $99999. i guess that mean i'm ineligible for federal loans? i hope that doesn't mean the schools won't give me grants...

Holy shit, robust....Can I borrow some money?

Man, you guys are right. This Yale deal is a real pain in the ass.

brief reprieve, my interview with MICA is not until next Friday. For some reason I kept thinking it was this friday, and was freaking out a little. That makes this the hardest day of the week though. My slides should come to the office, hopefully before lunch, and then I have to lable them all quickly and discretely so that nobody sees them and goes, "What's that?", then rush to the post office over lunch and overnight my whole UW application, and transcripts for my MICA and Pratt applications, all of which are due recievedThursday.

The only plus side is that I spoke to the MICA people this morning to confirm my interview date/time, and they were really great. Asking about the interview time, the admissions guy even *remembered* that they had just recieved my app/portfolio package, and mentioned that all they needed was that last transcript. The personal attention there is something that definitely impresses me when compared with the crap we go through for other schools.

the funny thing is, if i paid $99999 each year for three years i would be deeply in debt. hmm, maybe i accidentally added an extra zero onto the form where they ask my assets?

That's probably what happened, robust84 - architecture school doesn't cost $99,999 a year, probably $50,000 at the most and they never estimate living expenses to be more than about $25,000 (well maybe if you have dependents). I wouldn't think that anyone, even someone very wealthy, could get a number over around $75k for architecture school!

namby- that's not the number they're saying it costs, that's the number they're saying he can contribute. A EFC of $99,999 means that FAFSA doesn't think you need any financial aid, no matter what program you're going into, not that your schooling will/should cost that much. That's its way of going "off the charts".

I'm starting to think I can live with my 14k EFC. That basically says that I can take care of living expenses, but need help with the tuition, which is probably pretty accurate, not based on any savings of any sort but on my earning power, at least if I end up in a big city.

I just got an email from Columbia indicating that my application is complete. I suppose that's good news, except that I know for a fact that they're missing at least one transcript from me. Weird.

just got a confirmation email from sciarc that my application's complete. i sent an inquiry email, so i'm not sure if they're sending them comprehensively yet (or if at all).

Wheeew that Yale one was tough! I'm rather bitter about paying to supplement a financial aid application. We are applying for aid because we don't have enough money, so why make us pay to do so? Ack! I think the GSD is doing it right: include them on the FAFSA to get a preliminary offer, and if you get admitted, they'll contact you with additional forms and verification!

QUESTIONS!!!

How did you all find out your EFC? I got an assigned number, but had trouble figuring out the website where you are supposed to be able to calculate it.

sciarc gave me confirmation last week via email...actually the only school I have heard absolutely nothing from is Berkeley.

They give you the number in the SAR report...mine is like 4,000

Wait, I have to pay to submit that fucking Yale financial aid application? In addition to the $85 I already sent to Yale directly?

Ah well, I hear New Haven sucks anyway.

That is pretty stupid, and also the highest application fee I've ever heard of. For $85 bucks, they should fill out your financial aid forms for you!

---

So when is everyone expecting to hear back with decisions? Mine are spread out over at least one month, and two of the schools I'm applying to do not even publish information about when I'll get an answer!

Most schools I am applying to say they will notify between mid-march and early april.

As far as I know, all of my decisions will be mailed on or before April 1st. I guess it's like pulling off a band-aid: You can either pull it off slowly and prolong the pain, or rip it off in one swift motion and get one sharp incredibly intense pain.

yeah, except that I don't get a choice.... slowly it is.

woot! My slides are beauuuutious. I love how everything looks so pretty when it's all scaled down like that.

Just had to share, since obviously nobody in my office gives a crap.

just trying to get this to the 12th page. congrats, rationalist!

the offer I had was the first acceptance I got-and I was disappointed with the amount they offerred me, so I called them up-the department-the advisor that signed my letter and said I was interested in the program, but because of the out-of-state tuition, the scholarship wasn't going to be enough to persuade me to come. A week later I got a new letter with another offer-it still wasn't enough to justify the out of state tuition, so I called up again and I was still waiting to hear from some other schools, so I told him that, and that if more money became available (like other offers they made and people turned them down) then I would like to be eligible for the funds. After a couple of weeks I heard back and they offered me the $15,000-that's how I held out for more. But I know the school really wanted me to go there too-they flew me out to visit and I was one of the first ones they notified. It may not work at all schools, but it worked at the one I went to. Good luck! Just remember-it never hurst to ask-if you've already been accepted, they aren't going to unaccept you.

Thanks for the extra info. Sounds like a nice deal, I hope I can do as well.

jasoncross dont stress about berkeley, they cant get it together to send out an email... they keep telling me that if we dont contact you assume everything is good.

....awsome

I also found out today from UCLA for those of you wanting to take the jump start in the summer befor you start school (pre profesional track) they hold extra slots for people accepted into the graduate program, and you dont have to worry about the program filling up befor you get an acceptance.

so who is going to start the portfolio post?

Speaking of portfolios...

Just came to the realization today that my portfolio is probably too conceptual. By that I mean my art (fine art undergrad, no arch experience or work whatsoever) isn't design-oriented enough. Does that make sense?

I thought once all my applications were finished and sent I could relax for a while. This only lasted a week.

And I purposely didn't read this thread for months so I would not panic too much. In the end, couldn't avoid it.

thanks for the info mctwist.

and regarding portfolios i will repost mine whenever a thread is created, but I am not going to start one and post mine if no one is either interested or going to post theirs...if that makes sense.

anybody else working on some Feb. 15th deadlines? I've still got one more to do after I send stuff off this evening.

I'm not putting images from my portfolio up here until after i hear back from schools, and maybe not even then. :\

but i think that's most helpful to people in the future anyway: here's this portfolio, coming from a person with this background, and it got me into this school, and rejected from that school...

namby, i had sent you a link to my portfolio back in jan. just curious if you had a chance to look at it? if not, it's okay!

yeah i agree with namby. i think it will be more intersting for everyone to see a portfolio along with a list of the schools that you got into and rejected from. we are way past getting portfolios critiqued for submittal anyway so posting them now seems kind of pointless.

Froccli - maybe? I looked at quite a few people's portfolios but I have no idea who!

yay, I just submitted the rest of the materials to finish out three more apps. Five down, one to go!