<p>caolila: You and scott04 need to wake up and smell the coffee. Who said my wife and I aren’t worried about affordability? I assume “one” is the two people busy putting out incorrect information on this thread and others concerning tOSU and FA? As for “smugly”, try and get some of your supposed facts correct and then I won’t have to post corrections…smugly or otherwise.</p>
<p>As a high school debate champion, I note that you could not refute with facts.</p>
<p>Thank you caolila.</p>
<p>@aglages: I posted this thread to see if the values I was provided with from the financial aid calculator were correct. I went on to state that if they are it would be financially impossible for me to attend tOSU. In no way did I complain. I posted this thread to get advice, not to be told to quit complaining. That is of no help whatsoever to me. Instead of giving advice you are simply arguing for the point of arguing.</p>
<p>Also, my main problem is not with the need-based aid. I realize that the need based aid is pretty much the same at all Ohio public universities. I am more upset with the merit based aid. At other Ohio public schools it is the merit aid that makes them more affordable, not the need based, government determined, aid.</p>
<p>@ambiguity: I stand corrected. The value That the financial aid calculator provided me with was a bit high. I wonder why they used such a high value. Even though an estimate of 20000 or 21000 is less than 26000, it is still a lot of money. However every little bit counts!</p>
<p>
Regardless of your intent…</p>
<p>
Certainly no evidence of that accomplishment in this thread.</p>
<p>I stated IF students have to take out tens of thousands of loans it is ridiculous. Interpret it how you want. So Congratulations! Once again you have provided me with no helpful information whatsoever.</p>
<p>Well here are some hard numbers austria11. I realize everybody’s case is different but here is what mine was. Maybe this will help if you are OOS.</p>
<p>Last year, as OOS COA was about $40K. Of that total I was deemed eligible for a mere $6000 in govt loans, they said the rest was EFC but that my mom was eligible to borrow $25,000. When I contacted financial aid to ask about any scholarship whatsoever, they said if you cant afford it, stay home. I’m not joking about that. They could care less because the list of folks trying to get in is so long.</p>
<p>I have a friend who studied anthropology and came out of school (not tOSU) with $48,000 in debt. She can’t find a job and plead hardship, so the govt reduced the payment to interest only. THat lowered the monthly payment from $458 to ONLY $330 a month. Now she works two minimum wage jobs and lives with her parents just to make the interest payment and pay her basic expenses. I don’t ever see anybody on this thread asking about placement rates or jobs, but that is very much on my mind. I am worried, that’s all.</p>
<p>My mom administers about $115,000 just in her departmental scholarships in engineering at Missouri S&T. Most students in her department get $$750-2000 a year. From watching her administer this money, I just thought OSU would be similar, which it isn’t. Not at all.</p>
<p>I was going to study anthropology, too, but am switching my major into something more applied. Hopefully if I"m $60,000 in debt I can find a way to pay it off. I wish I had the ability to study engineering but I just don’t.</p>
<p>Why do you have to go to Ohio State, can’t you go to your mom’s school without accumulating $60,000 in debt?</p>
<p>austria- Don’t know if this will help but my son had stats similar to yours and got the Provost’s scholarship. Our total EFC was around 36K but because we had another kid in college it was 18K each. Since that was under the 25K OSU COA in-state, OSU made up the difference in merit money (Provost’s + special scholarships), grants, and loans. DS declined the loans and accepted the rest (around 6K). We pay out-of-pocket around 5K per quarter, DS pays books and extras. We did buy him a laptop, and drive him to and from school as needed. He can usually find friends to ride with for breaks and the Greyhound is cheap too. He is ridiculously cheap spending only about $25 a month on entertainment since he has been there. He spends no more than $300 a year on books and supplies because he buys used (and resells them at the end), or shares with his friends. The most expensive books are often used for three quarters so he only buys them once anyway. Some classes require no books because the materials are online. So in a nutshell, it costs us around 15K a year and he pays the rest with no loans. Not too expensive for a school of OSU’s size and rank given that it is a good fit for our son. Next year it will likely be more because his sis graduated but by then he will be in the home stretch. </p>
<p>I have to say I think DS made a better choice than if he had gone to a more expensive school that gave him more merit aid because we would have all felt more pressure for him to do well so that he would not lose his scholarship and have to transfer. While there’s a decent chance he’d do well wherever he’d go, we have seen plenty of smart kids go to great schools on big scholarships only to struggle, drop classes, change majors, lose their scholarships, transfer and have to spend a bundle more because they have to attend an extra year to get on track at their new school. It’s no picnic to know that you need to come up with 50K+ if you lose your scholarship.</p>
<p>RMGsmom</p>
<p>What was family income to get grants instead of all loan for the 8K? Problem is, since I didn’t get any merit money upfront, I can never have it now.</p>
<p>Oh well, I could go back home. That’s always an option. </p>
<p>I was just proud to be on div 1 sports team. I don’t understand why the university cannot help student athletes who give up 18-25 hours a week to represent the school. Most of the lesser sports have few scholarships and only the best can get them.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say OSU is not generous with FA compared to other colleges. I was an Ohio HS senior with a 35 ACT and 3.5 GPA (in our awfully grad-inflated HS) and OSU offered me a medalist scholarship for full in-state tuition and fees. Just contrast that to other schools. Out of state publics like UNC-Chapel Hill and Coll. of William and Mary didn’t gave me pittance merit scholarships ($2000). Private schools like Brown, Cornell, and Northwestern, likewise didn’t offer any aid (except $5000 National merit finalist scholarship at Northwestern).</p>
<p>You shouldn’t be complaining about OSU, but about the generally inflated cost of attendance nationally. I’m hard pressed to find a better school (financially) for an Ohio HS senior to attend.</p>
<p>I also received the Medalist scholarship, so I didn’t have trouble getting sufficient merit aid from OSU either. The issue, I think, is that a lot of really good students are expecting that kind of scholarship from OSU, when, for my year, only 70 were given out. </p>
<p>Honestly, were I in caolila’s position, I wouldn’t come to OSU. I love my school, but there are probably a lot of less expensive options. I wouldn’t put myself in debt unless I knew my future earnings would be reasonably high.</p>
<p>Don’t assume that not getting one of the bigger merit awards means that you are out of luck. When your final FA package comes out, you may get other grants/scholaships/loans that cover a big part of the difference between EFC and COA. You won’t have to apply for these separately because you would be considered automatically. Once you accept admission and apply for FA, the FA office looks at what your need is, what you are eligible for, and what funds they have available. </p>
<p>Also, remember that some of the COA covers costs your folks would have normally paid for you at home. Our food bills, utilities, and gasoline costs went down when our kids weren’t home.</p>
<p>Every school you go to will put you in some kind of debt. OSU’s name alone is something worth paying for in my opinion. Let’s face it, a name of any kind is what a lot of people look for. Would you rather pay a lawyer from Harvard or SUNY Buffalo. Although both lawyers may be equal in qualifications the title of “Harvard graduate” draws you to that lawyer. </p>
<p>Everyone is worried about money for school. I have a friend that has tuition covered to Syracuse that still worries about the very small school loan she will have to pay back after she graduates. I think it is safe to say we all understand tOSU is not very generous with scholarships. Deciding if it will work for you, and is worth it, is something you can’t decide by arguing on a form. You applied to tOSU for a reason, go for it it will work out in the end. :)</p>
<p>caolila- I hope that you can stay at OSU but I would not go into significant debt unless you are reasonably assured of graduating with a marketable degree.</p>