Why is financial info given AFTER college applications?

It is annoying, isn't it? It's because each college has their own endowment funds for financial aid, and they each make their own decisions. You'll find that the amount varies greatly from college to college.

It has been that way for a very, very long time. That's how it worked when I went to college back in the "neon" ages (1900s)

Do your research and learn what schools give plenty of aid, what schools give merit aid, etc. Some of the most expensive schools actually have the most money to give. For ex, Princeton University does not give loans. They meet the aid needs with grants and scholarship money. A friend's dd is paying the same to attend there as she would have paid for the state university.

You sister likely does not have a federally funded loan if she is making payments before her child finished school.

The College Confidential website is a good place to research some of these things for individual schools. Huge, huge number of forums!

Your guidance people are correct. Your child will apply for college, be accepted and THEN talk money.
There is federal aid for those that qualify, state aid in some states, various endowments that are unique to each university and only available to admitted students, then there are departmental scholarships only available if the student is registered in a specific major.

Once a student has been accepted, he can talk to the financial aid offices and decide which school can give him the aid that best fits his need and then decline the other school's acceptance.

Also, once he is accepted and in school, you may end up making payments to pay off charges that aren't covered by financial aid or make payments on a loan (not all have deferred interest so it is wise to start paying on them immediately even though the lump sum was used to pay the school for that semester.)

They do this so your kid can get all excited and determined to go to a college and then you feel you have to pay up or they take out loans in order to make the "dream" happen.


When you are looking at colleges:  Assume nothing, believe nothing until you get the financial aid offer in writing in your hands. And then look at that offer with a magnifying glass.  Be very careful about checking, amongst other things, how long the offer is good for - as an example, is it good for just the first year, first two years or all four years? And what if, as is so common, your kid has to take 5-6 years of college to fulfill requirements -- does the financial aid continue past 4 years? Does the financial aid cover any summer or winterim classes? 

Don't assume that great grades and lots of extracurriculars will translate to merit aid money or that state univ systems are necessarily cheaper than private. Some state univ systems - and mine is an example -- only give money for athletics and band. Don't assume you will qualify for need based aid either, that exclusion bar is set pretty low.

Also, it's very popular right now to urge kids to fulfill the gen ed requirements at a community college and transfer BUT -- that is a Kim Kardahsian sized but -- be very careful about transferability of credits. That all depends upon the agreements between a cc and EACH university. Even different campuses of the same state university system will have different agreements and that can affect how many or any credits will transfer. Also note that some universities will tell you that they will accept transfer credits and then when it's time to get down to brass tacks, oh... wait a minute.. they have to approve every single credit by reviewing not your grades, but -- and this is a JLo-KK combo sized but - the every piece of work you submitted and the syllabus for each class. Oh, wait, you didn't save every paper, every quiz, every test (or your prof didn't give the tests/quizzes back)? Oh well, so sad, too bad, no credit for you.   Also, you generally get a lot more financial aid as an incoming freshman than you do as a transfer student.

So to sum it up: don't assume, don't get excited, don't get committed until lots of research has been done. 

We started a 529 for each of our kids before their first birthdays.

I am jealous!  DS#2 was supposed to graduate this year, but he transferred schools and changed majors.  WCU will get three more semesters of payments from us.  But there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait for it.  

As for schools not asking for the financial info until after the application, I always wondered if that was so that they couldn't be biased toward the more financially sound students.  

He is happy there and doing very well so we are happy.  He was at Temple for two years and loved it but his major was a bad match.  When he changed majors he decided to switch schools for a fresh start.  I was nervous about it, but he seems to have made a really good decision for himself.  

I always assumed (and, I have no idea if this is true or not) that financial aid is discussed after admissions so that a student's financial need (or lack thereof) did not influence his or her admission. And to be honest, I prefer it that way.

Some of the more affluent colleges have the most money to give. I know that the Ivies give financial aid based solely on need - they do not give merit or athletic scholarships. Basically, if you're dirt poor and accepted to Harvard, Harvard will ensure you get to attend at a reasonable (or free) rate. Many other private colleges work this way as well, and also have set caps on how much a student can take out in loans based on their financial need.

This was my experience as well.  I was able to attend a small private college for less than the state or state affiliated schools here.  The one exception we found when our kids were looking at schools was Villanova.  They offered DS zip and every other school offered him merit money. We were actually surprised when he got accepted (after being waitlisted).  We knew it would be bad when the tour guide said, "if you aren't Catholic or a legacy, you might be in trouble."

That depends on the loan. We do not qualify for any subsidized loan so therefore if we take a federal loan(u subsidized ) the interest accrues immediately.

So we won't be doing that.