Right after the 4 applications are sent, Daisy looks at when she expects the answers to be due by, and the deadlines to apply for financial aid to all 5 of them.
And, when her parents receive their W-2s, as well as file their tax returns, federal and state, in mid-January, the time has come for her to file the CSS Profile at all 5 applications she has yet to receive a response from. However, what has changed between the time where the FAFSA was filed, and the CSS Profile, have to do with changes in income levels and tax payments.
"I think we're going to have better financial aid if we have less money in our bank account. This means pay your credit cards and other bills now, then I will file the CSS Profile" Daisy suggests her parents before completing it.
"Oh yes, financial aid. I think we're going to have a good six weeks or so to wait for the response from colleges" Daisy's dad tells her.
This is the calm before the storm. At school, they made this big deal of both Chantal and Valerie getting into Princeton and Caltech respectively on December 16, right during the finals season, and Gaston as well. If that's how it's going to be come April... so be it, Daisy believes that a lower EFC calculation based on the CSS Profile will help them get the most in need-based aid. And it goes through in the nick of time. I spent the first half of the year obsessing over where to apply, now I ought to enjoy the second half, and submit the mid-year report, she sighs, knowing that she was the student who stressed out most across the entire graduating class at VA.
So much that, the day after completing the CSS Profile, during a theater rehearsal, Daisy has the following announcement to make:
"I think I can no longer do theater, the first half of the year stressed me out like crazy" Daisy feels the accumulated weight of theater being removed, but she still feels burdened in other areas of her life.
"You worked so hard to get a major role, and now the role stresses you out so much you no longer want to do theater anymore?" Paige, an offensive tackle's girlfriend, asks her.
"Theater is only one problem. There has been so much going on in my life that I feel like theater is the easiest to cut. Last semester had me do so many things at once. You deserve it, but it's up to you and the teacher to determine what to do with your current role" Daisy harangues the OT's girlfriend.
No biggie, they can always call back someone else who wanted any of the female roles left in the wake of my departure from the theater department, Daisy muses, while she returns home to send the mid-year reports requested by all 5 colleges she still has an open application to.
And then she goes out to complete her homework in calculus, where she starts covering the definition of a definite integral, in one and several variables. She gets everything done before dinner. Then she finalizes writing her opening statements for the Columbia Online Invitational. And undergo cross-ex drills.
At Columbia, Daisy has become a running gag on the LD nat-circuit. This season, she seemed to make into the playoff rounds in inter-state tournaments, but always fall short of ToC bids. To the point her opponent tweets "Daisy Choker chokes again" when she's eliminated in octos. And somehow finishes tenth. And this means no ToC for her either. Because the VAs have only one ToC bid tournament left to their season, Stanford.
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The following week, LSU sends her an email inviting her to check the status of her application, as well as her financial aid award. I guess that's a foregone conclusion by now, I already saw a few others get into LSU and they're weaker than I am, so I know I'm in, Daisy ruminates, while checking on the status on myLSU. Formatted exactly the same as on its net price calculator: cost of attendance first, grants and scholarships underneath, with the net price being the information of interest to her. The real number I'd use for EFC comparisons between colleges includes work-study, Daisy then crunches that number for her to keep in mind and downloads the award letter. $9500.
Yet, after the AP English class ends, for some reason, those kids who received both their acceptance letters and financial aid awards start comparing their financial aid awards. And voicing any concerns they might have about paying for college. Like Albert.
"So I turned down Marquette..." Albert tells a puzzled Daisy.
"Why are you telling me this? I helped you with your essays and FAFSA, but..." Daisy gets interrupted by Albert.
"You're the only one with whom I feel comfortable discussing these things at school. My football teammates sometimes seem to have misplaced priorities"
Like the offensive tackle, who insists on going to college with Paige, who's in our AP English section. However, unlike his girlfriend, he doesn't have the grades for LSU, since he's nowhere near 3.5, whereas Paige got an A in pre-calculus last semester, and therefore hit the 3.5. Probably an abuse of extra credit from mathletic sources, Albert thinks about his teammates' misplaced priorities.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"I assume it's because Marquette's EFC is far too high..."
"Exactly. I'm holding out on Holy Cross before I can commit to either one. My EFC, as you call it, is..." Albert then whispers what his net price is at LSU.
The college-bound kids start wondering what their debt loads are going to be, and whether college would be worth it to them. Looks like regular decision will play out between Albert and me, Daisy ruminates, realizing that most college-bound kids made up their minds about attendance.
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In the weeks to follow, Daisy tries hard not to think about the other 4 results she waits on, or their EFCs. She already had a lot on her plate with coursework as well as debate.
Speaking of debate, even though the Stanford Invitational is too little, too late as it relates to the ToC, by some miracle, she has what appears to be the inter-state online tournament of her lifetime. With 226 players competing in varsity LD, this is huge, and just making it to double-octos is already a lot. Down to 32, the rounds get stiffer from here on out.
After her double-octos game ends, she starts hyperventilating, her eyes on the tournament bracket, her fingers crossed. When she sees her own result for the double-octos game on Tabroom:
"Yes, I did it! Daisy Choker no more!" Daisy shouts and then jumps for joy.
"Daisy... Choker?" Daisy's mom gasps, oblivious to Daisy being a running gag on the debate nat-circuit.
"I always seemed to falter in the outrounds"
On the other side of the bracket, "Kinder AT" (Anna) defeats DCC's star LD player, shutting that school out of the ToC for the second year in a row. Which leads Daisy to make a meme in which DCC is choking on a daisy choker. Detroit Catholic Choking. And that is tweeted with all speed upon completion.
"Now, even the neighboring parish can defeat DCC! D! C! C!" an exuberant Daisy keeps shouting, after the tweet is sent out with the meme as an attachment.
"Yet DCC also won Michigan's LD state championship this year; either Michigan has deteriorated as a LD state or the neighboring parish has gotten better at LD" Daisy's mom comments on how this could happen, before Daisy resumes her unfinished homework.
"It's surprising that a rivalry that began in quiz bowl could spill over into debate. However, I'm forced to acknowledge the neighboring parish has gotten better, since a certain level of talent is necessary to even get to double-octos at inter-state tournaments like Stanford"
On Sunday, Daisy advances to the quarterfinals, but doesn't play Anna, who also advances to the quarterfinals. Ultimately, however, both lose. I guess, there's the district qualifier and potentially Last Chance. I win either one, I'm taking a gap year. If I don't, I'm going to college next fall, she ponders the implications of the rest of the debate season on her post-graduation plans.
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Then comes the district qualifier, in mid-March, which she loses in the semifinal... again. And on the other side of the bracket relative to Anna. At the end of the district qualifier:
"May I enter Last Chance... please?" Daisy pleads with the coach.
"I kept hearing about you being called Daisy Choker this season, even more so from Columbia onward" the coach retorts to her.
"The moniker of Daisy Choker was attributed to me based on progressive LD" Daisy points out something she feels is crucial. "I know Last Chance is a traditional tournament, but there's always a luck factor in debate tournaments"
"It's no use, Daisy. I don't want you to develop an addiction to gambling! No, you're not going to compete at Last Chance!" The coach then turns to the rest of the team, except for Chantal. "Same goes for the rest of the team, you all performed poorly enough here for Last Chance to be useless, understood?"
A few days later, she receives news from Connecticut College, complete with the award letter. What the? The EFC at Conn is going to be ~$5k higher than at LSU? Daisy realizes in horror that something has changed based on her parents' incomes having gone up a little. She then looks up a guide to appealing a financial aid award. Which should be asked by the student and not the parents.
Materials to include would include evidence of losses of income, a material change in bank account balance, an increase in healthcare expenses not covered by insurance, copies of death certificates, as applicable. And financial aid award letters from other colleges.
"Dad, could you please check our bank account balance? I'm in at Connecticut College and I would like to appeal the financial aid award. Also, as with last time, if you have any unpaid bills, please pay them to the extent there is money left to do so"
"Honey, there's only three hundred dollars left in our bank account. Feel free to take a screenshot of our bank account balance, if you think it's going to help us pay for you to get through college" Daisy's father sighs.
When the FAFSA was filed on October 1, there was $15,000 in the bank account; now there is only $300. Probably the payments for Curtis' final year at LSU in dietetics kicking in, Daisy reflects on what this implies for appealing a financial aid award. Once she has the screenshot in hand, complete with timestamp, she includes both attachments in her appeal letter, which she writes based on a template, saying that she needs an additional ~$5k to attend, and match LSU's award. Also, Conn's debate coach receives an appeal letter copy.
So, while Daisy waits for the result of the financial aid appeal at Connecticut College, she receives another acceptance letter, William and Mary. However, her financial aid award letter contains a measly $20k in need-based aid, and work-study, no other source of scholarships.
"Damn it, no use being a walk-on debater for the Tribe! If I'm going to be a walk-on debater, better be a walk-on debater for the LSU Tigers or the Conn Camels! Heck, even debating for the Green Wave or the Trinity Bantams as a walk-on would be better value than doing so for William and Mary! Hopefully Conn will at least match LSU's offer, and get my EFC as low as it possibly can" Daisy thinks out loud, while she declines her acceptance at William and Mary.