College's Cruel Scam: Giving Financial Aid to the Needy, Then Yanking it Away

Offering a freshman a generous financial aid package, only to take it away in subsequent years is all too common.

In 2010, Amber was a high school senior from a small farm town in Connecticut, when a small women’s college in Massachusetts offered her a generous financial aid package. She had applied to six schools, including a state institution, but had been wooed by the small women’s college in Massachusetts after visiting its campus and being offered a financial aid package consisting mostly of loans and a few grants. The total cost of her tuition and room and board for her freshman year, $26,000, was just $5,000 more than she would have paid had she gone to a state school, so she went with the more prestigious women’s college because, in large part, it had a “better name.”

After attending the New England school for a year and a half, she had to withdraw in 2011 to deal with health issues. When Amber returned in 2012 and received her revised financial aid package, she was shocked to see that her aid was cut in half.

“I couldn't believe this,” Amber told AlterNet. “When I started at the college, the sticker price was about $26,000. By the 2012 academic year, I would have been paying $45,000 a year to go there. When I tried to get this reviewed, I was told that I could have the financial aid office review my package, but it was unlikely I'd get any more money. They said, We can try, though. We recommend you try to pay as much as you can before classes start and then we can go from there.

"Basically, the school expected me to pay almost $20,000 up front, which I could not afford obviously. If I didn't pay the entire amount, not only would I face late fees, but also be unable to register for classes for the following semester.”

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