Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

Stephanie Wells: [00:00:00] Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Stephanie Wells, director of college relations here at MEFA. Welcome to today’s webinar. What to know about financial aid appeals. Uh, I’m going to we’re going to introduce our panel in a 2nd, but before we get started, just want to let, you know, we are recording today’s webinar.

So I am, uh, have been at MEFA for, geez, almost 24 years to be 24 years next month. So nearing on that quarter of a decade. Um, and I’ll be moderating our webinar today, asking questions of the panel. I also have a couple of my colleagues behind the scenes, Meredith, Clement. And Jennifer bent opinion who are going to be doing the Q and a behind the scenes.

So feel free to type the questions in the Q and a, but just know that we have a list of great questions that you’re probably going to be asking that the panel is going to address. Um, so we might, we might hold off. Until we get to that question, but just, uh, just know that we will get everybody’s questions [00:01:00] answered.

So with that, I am going to turn it over to our panel just to introduce themselves, tell you a little bit about their college or university, and I’ll start with Sherry Avery, who’s right there at the top.

Sherri Avery: Hi, thank you so much for coming today and for having me. I’m at, I’m the Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services at Brandeis University, which is a four year private Institution that meets 100 percent of financial need for our students.

Um, and I am, uh, entering, uh, almost up to my 30th year in financial aid this summer, and all of which has actually been at Brandeis.

Stephanie Wells: I’ve known you that whole, almost that whole time. Kevin DeRussy from Salem State.

Kevin Derousi: Hi, thank you for joining us today. My name is Kevin DeRussy. I’m the Associate Director of Financial Aid here at Salem State.

Um, I’ve been at Selma State 20 years this year and been in financial aid about 25 years total. [00:02:00] And my role here is mostly working with our special population compliance and special program.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. And Ken.

Kenneth Ferreira: Thanks, Stephanie. Hi, I’m Ken Ferreira. I’m the Assistant Vice President for Student Financial Services at Suffolk University.

We are in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. We are also a four year private, and I believe that this is my 26th year, um, professionally in student financial aid.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. And I’ll see her last but not least.

Alicia Zadroga: Hello. Thank you for joining us. My name is again. I’ll see you as a drug. I work at Pittsburgh State.

I am the associate director there. One of the associate directors here. We are a four year public school, and we, I work, we all have our counselors work with all students graduate and undergraduate students. Excellent. Great.

Stephanie Wells: So, I just want to let everybody know that everyone, all the registrants are on mute, [00:03:00] so if you have a question, please put that in the Q& A, and we will get to those questions, um, you know, as we go through the webinar.

So, with that, I’m going to stop sharing the slides and start with our questions. Okay, so I’m going to start with you, Ken, with a very basic question, but a very important question to start off. What exactly is a financial aid appeal?

Kenneth Ferreira: Yeah, on, um, on the on the very elementary explanation, it is a request of the financial aid office of the student financial services office at the school or schools that you’re applying to for additional financial assistance, you are appealing for additional financial aid.

Excellent.

Stephanie Wells: All right. So with that, I’m going to, um, I’m going to talk, let’s talk about why some families have reasons for appeals. And I think everybody will be able to contribute to this. So I’ll start [00:04:00] with, I’ll start with you, Kevin. What are some of the reasons, specifically at Salem State and in your experience that some families might need to appeal their financial aid offer?

Kevin Derousi: So the most basic common reason that um, family detail is a decrease in earnings in the household. So because each year’s aid is based on tax information from two years prior, a lot can change in two years. So your financial aid for the upcoming school year may not reflect where your family actually is financially.

So that’s first and foremost, the primary reason we see hair salons face, is there has been a decrease. In the family. They come,

Stephanie Wells: Sherry. Do you have any? Do you? What are the appeals you commonly see at Brandeis.

Sherri Avery: Yeah, so definitely income changes is the biggest one. Um, but another big one we see, um, is unreimbursed medical or dental expenses.

So maybe there [00:05:00] was a big surgery or a big dental procedure, um, or something like that. Could be ongoing too, like maybe a parent is going through cancer or some kind of treatment. Um, so we’re, we’re able to, uh, consider some of those expenses, um, because they affect the, the family’s ability to pay for college.

Stephanie Wells: How about you, Sarah? Anything unique that you might see at Fitchburg State?

Alicia Zadroga: I agree, um, with, um, the answers that have been given as well. Um, but things like maybe like a laptop purchase could be one. Or even, we sometimes see, um, even like a general appeal. I can’t come up with this balance. Is there anything else that the school can help me out with?

Um, that type of thing. Uh, and some families actually, um, ask about an appeal on a merit award sometimes as well.

Stephanie Wells: Yep, yep. So that’s a good, that’s something great that we’ll talk about too, is the difference between a merit award appeal that might be through the admissions office and a need based appeal.

How about you, Ken, any other, any other things that [00:06:00] you’ve seen that might be, that folks might not really think of as an appeal, but. they should get in touch with your office about.

Kenneth Ferreira: Yeah, some appeals are, are really a request. And I think that, you know, this might address a question that I just saw come in through the, through the chat.

Um, they’re, they’re asking for a second look, a second look, um, based on their admission application. They may send updated grades, um, and, and they may have received the, um, original financial aid offer, but are asking if there’s, Um, any additional sources that may have, um, uh, surfaced for the student to now be eligible for?

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, that, that’s a good one. And I, I do like that question that came in. And I think, uh, the participant asks, why wouldn’t everybody appeal? And sometimes there’s just not necessarily a reason for it, but you might, it never hurts to ask, right? It never hurts to ask, even if it’s just to understand why and how the numbers [00:07:00] came up to be the way they are.

That’s great. Um, okay, so what happens if a family, I’ll start, I’ll start with you, Kevin, and, you know, particularly with Salem State and Fitchburg State on the line, um, this, this will definitely come into play, um, with common colleges that cost about the same. Why would financial aid offers differ so much from school to school?

Is it the type, the cost, um, especially if it’s, you know, Salem State and Fitchburg State, what would you recommend families do if they see a big difference?

Kevin Derousi: Um, well, as a state university, we rely heavily on state funding for, uh, a lot of our financial aid program. And the Massachusetts Department of Education, they kind of divvy up the funds based on the school’s enrollment, um, the overall number of students attending.

So even though Salem State and Pittsburgh are similar in size, and maybe not so much in size, but in [00:08:00] cost and, and population, I believe Pittsburgh actually has, Some additional students that we don’t have, so their enrollment numbers are higher. So Pitchford may be receiving more state funds and certain grants than Salem State would receive, and vice versa.

Stephanie Wells: Right, and we’re, just for the folks on the line, we’re really focused right now on the need based aid, not so much merit, but we will talk about merit based aid, which really is really more about, you know, the student’s GPAs, test scores, you know, that kind of thing. That’s really more through admissions, but we will definitely talk about that.

What about, what about you, Ken? Do you have any guidance on, you know, Differences, especially, especially between private colleges, those that meet full need, those that don’t. There’s a much bigger difference in cost and maybe even financial aid offers. Do you want to address that for private colleges?

Kenneth Ferreira: Yeah, so, um, you know, a four year, a four year private is using sources of [00:09:00] institutional aid that really fall into predominantly, I think, two buckets, right?

So the first bucket is merit based aid that is awarded to the student typically at or close to the time of admission. And then the second bucket is need based aid, which is usually when the family has submitted to the institution. Um, the financial aid application. So the, um, uh, at a minimum, the FAFSA, the free application for federal student aid, um, and that the institution’s funds is that are then, um, um, bundled with any state.

and federal funds that the student qualifies for, and it is reflected on a comprehensive financial aid offer that lists all of those sources of financial assistance. And so in terms of process, if there is a significant, um, change in the family circumstances, they may have, depending on the private institution, they may have you go through the typical process [00:10:00] without documenting those.

Um, those changes and then work with you after you are awarded the first pass of financial assistance to then document that change of financial circumstances and then revise the aid offer based on what you’re able to document in terms of let’s say it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a loss of income. Um, um, in, in my experience, a school typically will want at a minimum.

Um, what the, the, the situation of the family is reflected on the first FAFSA. So the first free application for federal student aid or the first financial aid application. And then if there are changes that need to be made based on circumstances, the FAFSA doesn’t capture that those are secondary, um, in the, in the process.

Does that make sense? Did I answer that?

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, that’s great. And, and Sherry, you, you use the CSS profile at Brandeis, which has, which [00:11:00] gathers even more information. So can you talk to us about, you know, the difference between a school might use the profile and the FAFSA versus just the FAFSA and how that might affect things?

Sherri Avery: Sure, yeah. So a lot of private institutions who have A significant amount of scholarship money to give out may also ask for the profile in addition to the FAFSA. Um, as you may know, every school in the country needs the FAFSA for federal and state aid processing. So the institute, the private institutions may ask for the profile, which asks for more information, like, for example, home equity information, which is not on the FAFSA.

So it gets a little bit more in depth with the family’s financial circumstances than the FAFSA does so that we can determine. Um, what we think the family can afford. And so you would, you might think then that all of the offers from all the private schools will be the same, but they won’t because every school, uh, has a different interpretation of what formula they want to use for their own [00:12:00] scholarship funds.

Even if they get the profile, they may use the profile differently. And also each school has a different amount of money that they’re able to give out. So there’ll be institutions like Brandeis that meet a hundred percent of financial need. Um, but not every school is able to do that. So there might be a private school that knows that you need.

Um, so you, so you will see dramatic differences, even between private institutions in terms of how much money you may get.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, and I, I would. Go on to say that most colleges cannot meet 100 percent of needs. So we will talk towards the end about how to fill in the gap. That’s we’ve already gotten that question in the chat.

I saw. So that’s a very important question. We will definitely be covering that for sure. So, Sherry, while, while we’re chatting with you, if you want to kick us off, I’m going to have everybody speak to this talk to us about the process at [00:13:00] Brandeis. If someone wants to appeal a financial aid offer, when do they do it?

What do they, what do they need? Because different schools do it a little bit differently.

Sherri Avery: So, um, the first step is to actually get your initial financial aid package, which may come at the time of admission, might come a little bit after depending on the school. So once you have that in hand and you’ve evaluated, you know, maybe you’ve, you’ve decided or determined you cannot afford that.

So the next step would be to contact, um, the financial aid office. Um, it’s, it’s never a bad idea to have a conversation with a financial aid counselor before you submit an appeal. I’m sure every school has their own appeal website with the, with the steps, but it might be good before you go through all the steps to find out whether it might make a difference for you to do all that work.

So starting. With a conversation with a financial aid counselor. I think it’s a good idea if they recommend that it might be worthwhile for you to do an appeal, um, likely next steps. There might be an [00:14:00] appeal form. So Brandeis has an appeal form with lots of different questions to guide you through the different kinds of things that might be considered and what documentation would be required.

Um, some schools, you just, you can just write a letter and that’s fine or an email or something like that. So it depends on the school, but, um, colleges may very well ask for more information. They may now ask to see your tax return. They might ask for other kinds of verification documents. For example, if you’re appealing based on medical, you’ll have to provide some documentation of the medical benefits or whatever the special circumstance is.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. And Kevin, how does it work at Salem State? When do you want to hear from families?

Kevin Derousi: Typically, we release our appeal letter, our appeal form April 1st around that time. It’s available on our website. Simple form to fill out with student’s name, ID number, the reason for the appeal. And the form allows parents and students to actually [00:15:00] attach documentation.

So we do request at the time of filing the appeal. You submit the tax returns from the FAA year. So if you appealing for 25, 26, we’re gonna look, ask you to attach your 23, uh, federal tax returns just to get those right off the bat so that we’re not dragging along the process. Um, once we receive those, we reach out usually three to five business days and let you know if we need any additional documentation and we’ll request it at that point.

We receive that probably about another three weeks. We try to do a quick turnaround, especially for our incoming class, because, you know, you know, decision deadline is May 1st. So we want to make sure that you have a full picture of what your finances look like downstate. Usually about two to three weeks after submitting everything, you’ll get a response.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. And Ken, how do things differ? How do things work at Suffolk?

Kenneth Ferreira: Yeah, so if I could just [00:16:00] piggyback, um, um, some of Sherry’s comments, I can’t, I can’t overstate. Um, enough. Uh, to reach out to the financial aid office or the student financial services office and work with a financial aid counselor.

Most schools will have a designated financial aid counselor that is assigned to a caseload of students. Um, and and and really talking to that person about what the appeals process will be because they can help then Um, they can help help you ascertain what the what the path is because one path may be that you need to write a write a something as simple as writing a letter requesting additional, uh, financial assistance and and and sort of what I called earlier the second look, but another may be and this was a question in the chat that they asked me to repeat.

You know, your family situation is changing. There’s a there’s a pending divorce. And, um, and you haven’t yet filed the FAFSA, [00:17:00] um, and you’re looking for guidance on what, what does that process look like? So at Suffolk, we want you to have, we want to have a FAFSA on file. We’d like to have gone out with a financial aid offer before you appeal, but then we’ll work with you.

Uh, and hold your hand through the appeal process, um, because what you would we, what you would be trying to document is, uh, um, in the example in the chat, a pending divorce, um, and a family situation that may no longer have two incomes, that may no longer have a single household. And so really, uh, that conversation piece at the, at the onset that Sherry mentioned, I can’t, I can’t agree with her.

And, and, and, and underscore have that conversation. Financially, people are, are good people. They want to help students, they want to help families. And so by all means reach out and what you’ll find, um, if you haven’t figured it out already is one school may advise you differently from another. And so the appeal process may look a [00:18:00] little different.

Um, and so relying on that relationship building and relying on that professional that you’re working with at the school level. Um, is, is going to be really important to help you navigate this process.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. And, and Alcira, can you talk to your process at Fitchburg State a little bit, especially we’ve gotten some questions about timing.

Yeah.

Alicia Zadroga: Yeah. And I agree with, um, current, uh, Ken and Sherry as well. Get to know your financial aid office and make that call initially when you have a circumstance that, a circumstance that does come up. Uh, but at Fitchburg State, we have an appeal form just like, um, Salem State. And, um, our appeal form is already, um, we actually, as of today, honestly, um, just posted it.

So, as soon as students, um, receive their financial aid packages, and they are reviewing that, starting off, if they have a question, um, they can certainly fill out that appeal form. Once we, um, receive that, the counselor will review the record, um, and then reach out to the family if anything else is needed.

Um, in terms of a tax return or [00:19:00] any other type of documentation that is needed to process the appeal. Um, and then we will reach out to, um, the student and the parents, um, if we have the parent information, um, at with the outcome of that appeal, um, generally for us, uh, as on, um, as all documents are in that are needed, we will turn around and appeal in about 7 to 10 business days.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. So what I’m what I’m hearing just to sum it up, because I know we had some questions is reach out, right? Reach out right away and have a conversation. You don’t have to wait to do that. Have that as soon as, you know, something’s going to be different and get that fast and get that profile.

You know, schools like to have a financial aid offer out there so then they can work with that information. So from timing perspective, those are the two big starting points is give a call. Never hurts to call to find out. Conversations are great. And even, you know, if you’re on campus, [00:20:00] sometimes colleges, especially this time of year, They might have an accepted students day and they might have a financial aid session or they might have financial aid staff on hand.

I know that I’ll be at Endicott, uh, well actually my colleague will be at Endicott, I’ll be at Curry in April and we’ll be there just talking about payment options but the financial aid office is there as well and there you can ask some questions there, set up a Zoom if you really want that face to face and you can’t make it to the school if it’s, you know, in another state.

Um, but have the conversation, get started with that and then just know that. There’s documentation you’re going to need to fill out, paperwork, they’re going to request a verification of any of forms, but, um, start there. Anything I’m missing as far as timing to the panel? I think we’re good with that. Okay, good.

Great. Okay, so, let’s talk, um, about afterwards. So, they’ve submitted what they need, they’ve talked to you, they’ve gotten their [00:21:00] documentation in. Then what happens for whether it’s accepted and if it’s not accepted, maybe, maybe, maybe just talk through some of the scenarios. Um, I don’t know who I was talking to last.

I think Sherry, I think you’re up next.

Sherri Avery: Um, yeah. So once we have all the documentation for the appeal, um, it takes. You know, a week or two, um, and we will get a decision back to you, to the family, to the student and the parents. Um, and then if you want to have a discussion about it, if it still isn’t quite enough, um, you know, we definitely would welcome another conversation to either let you know this is really the most that we can do, or maybe there’s still more details that we can work out with you or more documentation that you can provide.

So once we get down to This is the most that we can do and here’s the amount that you’re going to have to pay Then the conversation would turn to how we can help you Pay that amount so we would go through different financing options. So we would talk to you about [00:22:00] payment plans or private parent loans or private student loans Um, and we also like to talk at Brandeis about combining payment plans and private loans to get down to, so that you don’t borrow more than you need to, so we definitely see lots of families either do just payment plan or just loans, but you can combine them to try to borrow as little as possible, and so we try to have those conversations with your friends.

Here at Brandeis, as much as possible to try and make sure you don’t borrow too much, and we kind of start with how much do you think you can afford a month and try to back into how we can combine options for you to help you get to the to the number that you need.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, that that common combination strategy.

That’s always the question I start off with with families. Okay, you owe this much. How much can you afford per month? And don’t start with how we’re going to pay. Let’s start with what you can afford. And then we’ll go from there. I’ll talk more about that later. We have some programs coming up that can help.

Um, Kevin, Jim, what do you have [00:23:00] to add about, you know, what happens next? What happens after?

Kevin Derousi: So it sounds state our goal is to reduce the student aid index, which is what we base our need based, excuse me, financially on, um, that being said, if you’re unable to reduce the aid index enough. We will look at the appeals to say, all right, the students living on campus.

Do we have any additional housing grant funds? So you may not meet the criteria to lower the student aid index, but we might have some funds that we can apply to help you get closer to where you need to be. And as Shari said, after that, it becomes the conversation of payment plan, parent loan. External loans from private lenders.

We do recommend don’t put it on a credit card because if you want to make monthly payment, go with a parent plus loan or even go with a private student loan because the interest rates can be so much better than you’re going to pay on a [00:24:00] credit card. Um, we highly recommend parents do not finance their child’s education.

On a credit card, unless you have a 0 percent interest one, then go for it, but student loans are your better bet because there’s some safety mechanisms built into them.

Stephanie Wells: Unless you have the cash to pay it off right away and you’re just doing it for the points,

Kevin Derousi: don’t use a credit card. Then by all means, but otherwise.

Stephanie Wells: Ken, how does, how do things work at Suffolk, you know, once it’s been submitted and what’s What do you guys talk to folks about?

Kenneth Ferreira: So our process is very, very similar to Sherry’s. Um, the only thing that I would add is, um, I think it’s important for families to understand that no two families. are going to approach how to pay for college in an identical way, right?

Because no two financial aid offers are going to look exactly alike. No two families financially, um, um, look exactly alike. No two [00:25:00] households look exactly alike. And so the, the, um, the tailoring of a plan. to pay down or pay off the gap between what aid covers and what the expense is, is going to vary from family to family.

And that’s where that relationship building that I talked about earlier, that contact with the financial aid office, that’s where that comes into play all the more beyond the appeal process. It’s, you know, really backing into, okay, How what’s your plan? What was your family’s plan for how you plan to finance college and then exploring all of the options that are available beyond the appeal process now that the appeal process has been, you know, sort of resolved, um, and and tailoring a financing plan that is unique to each family.

Stephanie Wells: Great, great. And one of the questions I get a lot from families is, well, how do most people do it? And I [00:26:00] never answer that question directly. I always say it doesn’t matter how others do it, it’s what’s going to work best for you. Um, because what works best for one family on the soccer field isn’t necessarily what’s going to work best for that family.

That’s great. Alcira, do you have anything to add as far as like after they’ve Um, so I’m just wondering, um, what has been appealed and you know what happens next?

Alicia Zadroga: Yeah one of the things that we’re reviewing a financial aid award for students if we noticed to that even before speaking about alternative plus loans if they haven’t accepted their staffer loans yet to explain to them

Um, and that, you know, that will help reduce that balance if you have not already accepted those. Yeah, definitely start with the federal student loans

Stephanie Wells: first, always. And MEFA is a private lender, but we also make those recommendations. Um, so for those of you who, who, go ahead, Kev.

Kevin Derousi: I just wanted to mention, at Salem State, um, we do recommend and actually require, if you’re going to appeal, you know, financial aid.[00:27:00]

You have to have accepted all of your financial aid, including your federal direct loans, so you can’t go in with this and define your loan and then file a financial aid appeal looking for additional grant money. So we do require students to utilize all the aid that’s being offered to them at the time.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. So while we’re chatting with you, Kevin, since we’re on you, um, Before we keep going, I just want to address the merit question because we’ve had that in the chat as well. If you could each just talk about how the process works for merit aid appeals, um, real quick. Um, you want to start Kevin?

Kevin Derousi: Our merit aid appeals basically would actually go through the admissions office because those students are then referred to the honors program and most of our merit aid comes through the honors program. So if you’re looking for additional merit aid. From Salem State, you would actually do your outreach first to, um, our admissions office and they would put you in contact with [00:28:00] our honors department.

Alicia Zadroga: Elsie, or how about at Fitchburg State with any, any merit? Yeah, ours is the same as Salem State. Um, any merit, um, questions, uh, would go through our admissions office as well. I

Stephanie Wells: think that’s the same with most schools, but Sherry, Ken, I know you guys might have, maybe.

Sherri Avery: Yeah, so our admissions office does determine all of the merit scholarships.

But there is no appeal process on merit here, um, so it’s a final decision by the admissions office. So then the really, the only thing you can appeal is the need based financially.

Stephanie Wells: That’s really good to know. How about it? Suffolk can

Kenneth Ferreira: so we would shepherd that appeal for merit to the admissions office and we’d look at it more holistically.

Um, so we would look at both, um, you know, what the decision was, what’s what’s changed that they are asking for reconsideration for merit. And then we would look at need, um, as part of as part of a sort of holistic approach toward, um, reviewing the [00:29:00] students request.

Stephanie Wells: Right. So let’s, let’s, let’s look into the future a little bit.

Um, for that four, four year plan. Families need to be thinking about that four year plan at four year schools. Um, how do schools review appeals for future needs? So somebody says, I might get laid off or, you know, right now I’m a federal employee and I might lose my job next month, um, or tomorrow, who knows what’s going to happen right now.

Um, how do you, Review appeals for stuff that might not have happened yet. Do you want to start Ken since I was chatting with you?

Kenneth Ferreira: Sure. Um, so, so that relationship that we talked about earlier and sort of putting, putting, um, the bug in the ear of someone that works in the financial aid office about what your family’s experiencing, um, what you’re worried about.

I think that that’s the, that’s sort of the first step. It’s to document what your concern is. [00:30:00] Um, so in your example, Stephanie, you said, I’m a federal employee. I’m not sure if I’m going to lose my job. Um, something that, uh, we see regularly is, um, well, last year I had lots of overtime, and this year I’m not sure I’m going to.

Um, we document that conversation, and then we ask for you to get in touch with us as soon as, um, what we’ve, what we’ve been put on alert or anything else happens. Um, and so, um, um, we can’t, we can’t find ourselves in a situation with the overtime situation. We can’t find ourselves in a situation where we reduce your income based on your projection that you’re not going to get the overtime.

We can do it after you’ve demonstrated that you haven’t. Um, we can’t change your income, um, to, um, to eliminate, uh, uh, a salary because you’re fearful of being laid off. We can look at that and, and calculating a new salary based on when you are actually [00:31:00] notified. Um, and so while, um, I wish I had a crystal ball.

Um, and there’s lots I could do with it. Uh, uh, we really need to wait until the qualifying event happens. Um, and then strategize with you on how to address that event. Um, in terms of reevaluating eligibility.

Stephanie Wells: Awesome. Sherry, any, anything to add with that one?

Sherri Avery: Yeah. So, um, we definitely get the same kinds of things that Ken gets that, you know, I’m afraid I’m going to lose my job or my overtime has been eliminated.

So while we can’t do anything until it actually happens, like really change the aid, we have given estimates to people. So, hey, if you do lose your income, and let’s say your income is 20, 000 less, this is what the package would look like. And then we’ve also done, uh, with, with the overtime piece, or maybe they say they’re not going to get the bonus this year, we ask them to document that they’ve been told it won’t happen, and then we do change the aid [00:32:00] based on the lower income, but then in the, in December, we, we have them document what actually happened, so that we then would change the aid for spring if they ended up making more.

Money than they thought that maybe the bonus came through unexpectedly. So they, and we, we make sure that they understand that they’re going to have to document it. And so if something changes, they should let us know right away, but we, we will, we will just document it, that, that it really, it really came out the way that they planned.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. That’s great. I’ll see her. How about how about it? Fitchburg State, you know, looking into the future and and also just talking about that for your plan and making sure families know, you know, when they’re entering, it’s if you’re struggling to get through year one, it’s not going to get any easier years 234.

How do you how do you advise families?

Alicia Zadroga: So we, we will do the same thing we until that event happens, then at that point, contact us, let us know. But, you know, let us know in advance what the concern is. Um, and then if it does happen, we will [00:33:00] review, um, the award again, um, and collect anything that’s necessary for that.

But I also, um, like to remind families or, um, have them remember that the FAFSA has to be completed every year. So, um, and at that point, when we go to award every year, that’s what’s going to determine what the new financial aid award will be. And then when they receive it, again, review it, do the same thing, if there’s any concern or you need to appeal, then follow up with us.

Stephanie Wells: Great,

Alicia Zadroga: thank you. And Kevin,

Stephanie Wells: what do you

Kevin Derousi: have? It’s the same thing. I mean, if you look at it logistically, if you’re filing an appeal because of a incident that happened, a decrease in income that happened a year or two years ago, by the time, you know, you’ve gotten, you’ve done your appeal for their freshman year, they’re going into their second year, you’re going to do the appeal again the second year because the income is still not going to be reflected appropriately.

By the third year, it’s going to catch up. So everything is going to catch up with your taxes and the faster year that you’re filing. [00:34:00] But if you are filing one year, you should expect to file an appeal the following year.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. So we are getting a few questions in the box about who should file the appeal.

Should it be the parent, the student? Should the school counselor help out with this? Do you want to start with that one, Ken?

Kenneth Ferreira: So typically the parent is, um, is filing on behalf of their, their, their student and their family, but we have students that also file. Um, and so it should be anybody that, um, um, that the student has listed on their application for financial aid as part of.

Um, the, the family unit and the income that we’re, uh, basing, uh, financial aid eligibility on.

Stephanie Wells: Any of the panel have anything different to add as far as who, who they want to hear from? Kevin?

Kevin Derousi: I will add a sound state. If you [00:35:00] are filing an appeal, if you’re the parent filing an appeal, please be sure that your student has added you to their FERPA list because we know you’re paying the bill.

We know you’re filling out the FAFSA, but we’re limited in the information we can share with you unless we have a FERPA waiver on file. Good. Good

Stephanie Wells: point. Good point. Okay. Awesome. All right. So, you know, as part of that, I know this is a slightly off topic, but I think it’s important, um, For school counselors to get involved tip and panel, you can correct me if I’m wrong.

Typically, we do see school counselors help out with students who might not have as much support at home, or they might be in a, you know, a unique situation where, you know, an abuse or, you know, Parents incarcerated or something, something’s happening in the family where the student needs outside assistance.

Um, so I don’t know. I don’t know if you guys can just [00:36:00] quickly answer. Just just kind of address how when school counselors typically might help students through this process. Sherry, do you want to start with that?

Sherri Avery: I can take that one. Um, so we hear from. From the counselors generally, like, when a student’s trying to 1 or both parents.

They either want to be considered independent, or maybe, you know at Brandeis we do require information from both biological parents, so maybe there’s one parent that is out of the picture, or maybe there’s an abuse situation, something like that. So we do require some third party documentation of that situation, so typically a guidance counselor or The therapist or clergy person or something is the person that gives us that that third party verification.

So the high school counselors can definitely be helpful if they know the situation. It’s not useful if they just say the student told me this, but if they happen to know from their experience with the student that what they’re saying is true, then absolutely they can help with that. Can’t really help help too much with [00:37:00] appeals based on income or anything like that.

But if we’re needing them to corroborate a situation, definitely the high school counselors can help you.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, and especially if one parent or another cannot be on the FAFSA, that can create a big change in the financial aid offer, and it can be a big help to the student. Elsira, do you have anything to add to that one?

Alicia Zadroga: Yeah, I’ve actually had in the past, um, counselors reach out with the student in their office. That’s how the conversation starts. And then from there you can let them know, um, or sit down an email to the student after, uh, any documentation that’s needed, for example, to make a student independent if there’s a situ situation, that lead can lead to that.

Um, so that, that type of situation is very helpful in like what Sherry said, that counselor, um, can write. Something on behalf of that student, um, to an example to make the student independent. If that’s the way that that conversation is going to go. So, absolutely.

Stephanie Wells: Excellent. Kevin, do you or can do you guys have anything to [00:38:00] add?

That might be a little different.

Kevin Derousi: Same thing.

Stephanie Wells: Okay. So I do want to get into how, you know, the next steps as far as a little bit more about paying the bill, but I do have a loaded question that I get all the time at financial aid night. So I’m just going to throw it out there and you can all respond however you want.

Uh, the question I get at financial aid nights a lot is, well, what if you don’t have a reason to appeal? You just want more money. Can you? Can you ask, can you negotiate your financial aid offer? So who wants to go first? Ken? I see everybody’s smiling. So,

Kenneth Ferreira: um, so there is nothing to stop you from submitting a request for a second look.

Um, that is, that is not, The same as negotiating your financial aid offer. Um, you’re asking for a second review. Um, and, um, depending on the school’s policy, the school may, um, [00:39:00] um, take that second look, or they may tell you no. But there’s nothing to stop you from asking the question.

Stephanie Wells: Kevin.

Kevin Derousi: Agreed. I mean, and it doesn’t hurt.

We actually recently, two weeks ago, we had a parent call in. They were really concerned about the aid that this incoming freshman was being offered. And we noticed there was a huge mistake that they had made on the FAFSA, which Kind of blew them out of the water for any need based aid. Um, once we’ve discovered that through the conversation with the parents, they’re like, Oh no, we don’t have that much money in investment.

So once we were able to fix that, the student was then eligible for a whole lot of need based aid, but because there was a decimal place in the wrong, in the wrong place, it kind of took their eligibility completely off the table. So a simple conversation can take a look. I’m happy to look at a FAFSA for any parent or [00:40:00] student that calls or comes in because mistakes happen.

We want to make sure that you’re getting the best financial aid package that we can offer you.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. And Sherry, how about, how about it for Brandeis?

Sherri Avery: Yeah, so it kind of goes back to starting with a conversation with our office because if we’re on the phone with you, we’re going to go over, you know, like Kevin said, we’re going to go over the whole application and maybe look for things, be like, okay, is your income really this?

Is your. You know, your assets maybe look a little off and maybe we find a mistake that you made that right that we, you know, couldn’t couldn’t pick up without talking to you. Um, so it’s useful to have that conversation or to ask for that second look so that we can go through it with you, um, kind of with a fine tooth comb to see if there are any errors.

Um, at Brandeis you can’t negotiate your financial aid package and we meet 100 percent of financial need. So you have to have had a change in circumstance. Or we have to discover that there was a mistake or something on the application in order to give you more aid. And we definitely, we’re also [00:41:00] asked frequently, would you match what this other school gave me?

And that we don’t do at Brandeis. But I know there are other schools that do. So, I mean, I don’t want to say don’t ask, and like you said earlier, Stephanie, If you don’t ask, you don’t know. So,

Stephanie Wells: right, right. And I’ll say, or maybe you can address this too. Um, you know, you might have a family kind of goes back to what we were talking about earlier.

They got a ton of money at Salem state, but, but. You know what, nothing at Fitchburg or, you know, I’m being drastic here, but so I’m assuming you want to talk to them and kind of see, okay, what, what, what’s going on? Because you would expect them to be kind of similar

Alicia Zadroga: and true. That’s very true. And we, we will, we have families that send us, uh, where there’s some other schools.

We will look. And the first thing is, we will look at the the ice or the fast for information to see if there was a mistake there, first of all, um, or maybe they were working off a different. Maybe you made a correction. You’re faster. We haven’t received that yet either. Um, so that would cause, [00:42:00] um, a different award package to go out, especially amongst some of the state schools.

So, um, yeah, this is. For us, ask the question, um, and that worst case, it’s going to be a no.

Stephanie Wells: Doesn’t never hurts to ask, and that’s what I always tell families to, um, like it doesn’t hurt to ask. And it goes back to what we’ve been saying all along. It any financial aid officer will want you to understand how they came up with your award, and that might be all you need to know.

Just understanding it might be enough. Um, but with that said, you know, I’ve definitely talked to plenty of schools, particularly more on the private side that might not meet full need where they’ve said, you know, send them our way. We might not be able to do anything, but we might be able to send them a couple thousand and feel good money.

They call it just to make him feel a little bit better. Um, but I would, I would, I guess, advice to families when you’re talking about appeals, we don’t use the word [00:43:00] negotiating because most schools don’t negotiate per se, but Okay. Um, you know, really focus your efforts on the schools that the student has been accepted to and really wants to go to.

If you have 20 schools on the list, you don’t need to appeal at every school, you know, appeal to the to the top few and put your efforts there. All right, so I have 1 more prepared question and then we can dip into the Q and a and Jennifer and Meredith can send us any other questions. We have, um, let’s sort of round it out with, How do families make up the difference, even when an appeal is granted?

Now, I know Sherry at Brandeis, you guys meet 100 percent of need, but families still have to pay their SAI. So, and we talked about the combination strategy. Anything else you want to add about, you know, how do they make up the difference?

Sherri Avery: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s really just figuring out what works for that particular family.

I mean, coming up with the family contribution is looking at what they can cover from current income, [00:44:00] current savings, and what they can absorb over time. So we’ll talk about that with each family individually to try and figure out what might work best for them.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Any other strategies, Ken, on the private side?

Kenneth Ferreira: Yeah, just piggybacking Sherry’s comments. It’s what I said earlier. No two families are going to approach this the exact same way. Some families may have a 529 plan. Some families may have college savings. Some families may have an ability to pay all of the gap between aid and cost over a monthly payment plan, or they’ll need to use the monthly payment plan to pay a portion of that gap and then they might want to borrow the rest.

Some, some families won’t be able to afford any of that and need to borrow all of it, but the point is, is, um, no two families are going to approach this exactly the same. Um, they need to work with a financial aid counselor, um, put a plan together. And that plan [00:45:00] is very individualized based on how the family has chosen to, um, approach paying for college.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Kevin, do you have anything to add?

Kevin Derousi: Um, I’d just like to remind parents that. Yes, freshman year, your student is all gung ho, you’re all gung ho. You’re like, all right, we’re going to pay the difference in a loan. We’re just going to borrow 20, 000. You’re not borrowing 20, 000. You are borrowing 20, 000 for that year.

So you have to look at the big picture. You’re actually borrowing 80, 000 to 100, 000 over the four to five years. Um, in Salem State, our students tend to graduate in five years. Very few leave after four. So you’re borrowing 20, 000. For four to five years to meet that gap, you just kind of keep that in mind that it’s not just a one year commitment.

It is multiple years.

Stephanie Wells: Yep. That four year plan else here. Anything to add here.

Alicia Zadroga: And I think I always remind families as well that [00:46:00] don’t just think about the four years undergraduate you want to go on to graduate school. You want to, you know, think about that and know that graduate school a lot of places, it’s just going to be lonely.

So if you can reduce your borrowing at all during the four year program, then, you know, that’s something that you need to have a discussion about as a lot of people say, you know, the kitchen table, a dinner table, um, before school starts and know what, what’s the next four, maybe six years are going to look like for your family.

Stephanie Wells: Right, and when we talk about borrowing for the freshman year loan in the student’s name, the Federal Direct Stafford loan, that’s 5, 500 for a freshman. If you owe 20, 000, like Kevin was saying, the student can’t borrow 15, 000 more on their own without a credit worthy cosigner. You know, even with MEFA, we have really low rates.

We have good programs, but it’s a family loan. Cost credit where the cost center usually parent and student are on that loan. So it’s [00:47:00] always surprises folks at this stage in the game when they’re looking at paying the bill that Jesus student can’t just borrow 20 30, 000 a year on their own. Um, you know, there are limits there.

So, all right, awesome. Well, let me, I know we have a few more questions coming in, but let me just get back to our little slideshow and sort of wrap things up here real quick. And we’ll let folks, um, come in and ask some questions. All right, so I do want to put these slides up just so you know, there’s more help beyond today.

So today we really focus specifically on appeals, but at MEFA, we have lots of programs like this one where we talk. Through how financial aid is calculated how to fill out the CSS profile, but we have a few coming up that are perfect for all of you that are on the line today. And you can scan these QR codes and register.

I’m going to send these slides out to everybody, but I just want you to know what we have for services at MEFA and all of these questions you have. [00:48:00] We can Help you with one on one assistance if you need it. So we have these spring programs coming up called financial aid offers and paying the college bill where we will literally walk you through our tools that help you plug in your financial aid offers and compare them side by side and understand which each college is giving you and what your bottom line is at each school.

And then we can help you figure out. Okay, you owe 20, 000 hot. What can you afford per month? How much do you have saved? We can help you at me for figure that out. Um, that’s we’re experts at that. That’s what we do. We have one on one hotlines that we’re going to have some really trying something new this year.

We’re going to have two hotlines in March that you can sign up for where you can log into a zoom like this. It’s really more of a meeting and you’ll be placed in a private zoom room with Um, and you can share your screen, share your financial aid offers, and, you know, we can share our screen with our tools that we have on our end.

And it’s really like a one [00:49:00] on one counseling session. So there’s a hotline for that, that we’re going to have coming up. Or you can just email MEFA and we can set up a one on one appointment. And then in June, sort of the last step, once you’ve committed, you know where the student’s going, then we can help you with comparing loan options.

So MEFA is a private lender. really low rates because we’re a state based lender. Um, but we’re not, you know, that’s not the only option. There’s federal loans, there’s payment plans. You know, I always start with, how much have you saved? Let’s look at that first. Who else wants to contribute? Does grandma or grandpa have a little money set aside?

You know, figure out where all that money is first, then look at how much can you afford per month. If the amount is zero, then we might be looking at just straight deferred option. Loans. Um, but if it’s, you know, $500 a month, then maybe we can put a few hundred dollars on a payment plan a month, and then the rest on a loan.

And we have great calculators at MEFA that can show you just how much you’re [00:50:00] saving by borrowing 13,000 versus 15,000. It can really add up that interest mm-hmm . Just by borrowing a little bit less and putting on a plan, payment plan. Mm-hmm . So take advantage of the resources that MEFA has. It’s everything we do is free of charge.

If you’re on this webinar, you should be on NIFA’s email curriculum already. Um, but we have a great podcast if you like podcasts. I had a parent call this morning with financial aid questions and said, Oh, I love your podcast. Everybody likes to consume information in different ways, whether it’s a webinar, a podcast, or you know, an Instagram post that you can click in.

Um, whatever, whatever works for you. We have all of that as well as our videos on YouTube. And here’s our 800 number and our email address. MEFA is open 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. Uh, we’re open a little bit later in the summer, till 6, Eastern Time. So, reach out to us. All these questions that you’re asking to Jennifer and Meredith that they’re answering behind the scenes, you can call MEFA and we [00:51:00] can, we’re all on the phones, we can answer them.

Um, so, you know, use that free service. Uh, we’re here to help. So with that, let’s see, is there any, I’ll throw it out to Jennifer and Meredith. Is there any last minute questions that we want to throw out to the, to the whole group?

Uh, let’s see any good ones that we want to,

Meredith Clement: um, we have answered most. These have been great questions. Yes, kept us busy. Yeah. And our panel has answered a lot of the main ones. I’m just seeing if there’s any more that are coming in these last few seconds here.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, I think it’s mostly, you know, about loans and seeing a few comments there.

There is one question about where this recording will be posted. So you’re going to get an email probably tomorrow and it will have a link to this recording. It will be a YouTube video and it will have these slides with the QR code. So we’ll have that [00:52:00] as well. So we will have everything out to everybody.

All right. So this is great. Thank you so much. Ken, Sherry, Kevin, Elsera, Meredith, Jennifer, going through my, my, my family, my family feud squares here. Um, This is great appeals webinar. We’re going to do this every year. Hopefully it helps folks think the big message is call the financial aid office, have a conversation.

That’s where we always want to start. So, all right, well, with that, I think we’re, I think we’re good to end the webinar. Thank you everybody for joining us. And, uh, we will see you at the next one.

Kevin Derousi: Have a great

Stephanie Wells: day, everybody. Thanks. Thanks

Kevin Derousi: everyone. Thank you.