<p>Ok, so I just got into my top choice school (It also happes to be the only school I applied to). The COA is about 55k a year, and thankfully I was offered a very generous FA package. The scholarships and grants come out to a little over 47K a year, so there is about 7.5k left that was offered in the form of loans. I am extremely grateful, however my EFC is 0, and my mom only makes about 25k-30k a year. She is also a full-time doctorate student with her own student loans to worry about. I am the youngest of 6 kids, 3 of which are also in college. So while this is a great package, taking out 8k a year in loans is still a bit daunting, considering I will be the one paying them back when I am done with school and since I also plan on attending law school after I graduate, which will probably include more loans. </p>
<p>I am definitely attending this school in the fall but would it seem unreasonable to ask for a little more aid? </p>
<p>I have tried looking for outside scholarships but unfortunately a lot of the deadlines for this year have already passed.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance and subsequent grant aid & scholarships to your school of choice. Given that you were awarded 85% of the current total COA, odds are you may be pushing your luck by asking for more aid. By the same token, though, I can’t see that there would any harm in asking - all they can say is no.</p>
<p>Regarding your comment regarding borrowing $8K/year, you may want to run some COA numbers factoring in long term college cost inflation (about 6% over the past 10 years) and confirm what your total 4 year cost will actually look like. To assume that you will need to borrow $8K/year for 4 years may very well be incorrect. Based on an upcoming year COA of $55K and 6% annual inflation, you’re looking at an out-of-pocket cost of approximately $56,200 for 4 years assuming that your grants/scholarships are not indexed to inflation. Year 4 COA alone will be $65,500 with out-of-pocket costs jumping up to $18,500 rather than the first year expense of $8K.</p>
<p>Just make sure you have a plan for securing the necessary funds to pay for all 4 years so you’re not halfway towards your degree before realizing the amount of debt you’ll be looking at paying off. Also, make sure the school has a decent 4 year graduation rate so you’re not stuck paying full freight on an extra semester (or more) of unsubsidized college costs. One extra unsubsidized semester alone could then put your total out-of-pocket college expenses at almost $89,000!</p>
<p>Don’t mean to be a ‘downer’ regarding the actual college costs, just hope you understand the true costs potentially involved in your college commitment.</p>
<p>I see that you’re a transfer student. So will you be planning to attend for 2 years or 3? </p>
<p>How much of the loans do you need to pay for your direct billable expenses (tuition, fees, room and board)? You may be able to keep loans at a minimum by working for the rest of the money. Is there already work-study in your award? If not, you may be able to ask for some of the loans to be awarded as work-study. You may also be able to shave expenses by buying books online, getting rides for cheap transportation to/from school, etc.</p>
<p>6lambs, I had thought about the inflation but I should only need to attend this school for about 2, maybe 2 and a half years. But thanks for the reminder thats definitely something I will be thinking about. </p>
<p>2collegewego, I have been dual enrolled at a community college for the past two years so while I am a high school student, I also have about 60 units of college coursework I will be transfering. So, yes, if everything goes well I should only have to be at this school for two years. Also, I should have clarified, about 15k of the award money is from the Cal Grant and Pell Grant, aslo inculded was a 3k a year work study, which I accepted. So in reality what I’m getting from the actual school is closer to a little over 28k a year. And I will be living on campus so I won’t need to worry about transportation. </p>
<p>mom2collegekids, with the loans the aid offered is 2,700$ over the cost of tuition and room and board, so its actually about a little under 53k a year to attend, they accounted for the extra expenses (books, transportation, persnal expenses) in the package. I am planning on getting a job over the summer, however I was a little worried about how that would affect my financial aid next year since I will also be doing a work study on campus and both are taxed.</p>
<p>Work-study and taxable financial aid (grants used to pay for the amount over tuition-- so yes, grants for room/board are taxable) do not count against you in next year’s financial aid.</p>
<p>If they are awarding you $2700 in loans over tuition, room and board, I would encourage you NOT to take that amount and, instead, to work in the summer to afford your books and transportation. That would bring you to only $4,800 in loans which you will only need to take for 2 years. You would graduate with a total of $9,600 in loans which is very reasonable. Congratulations! Your double-enrollment really was good planning.</p>
<p>Of course you can ask. With a zero EFC, if the school has some funds, they may shift some over to you. It is not what you get that counts in the end but what you have to end up paying, and I can see how that amount could be tough in your situation. You can take out $5500 in Stafford loans, with some of that subsidized, ask if there is any Perkins loan money left because that too, is subsidized. You will probably have to find a job for the rest, but maybe they have work study funds left. Don’t be shy about asking.</p>
<p>You’re getting a $240k education for $30k - you’re a big winner in this crazy lottery! Whether it’s loans and/or work, you can’t go wrong - Congrats!!!</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, I see you’ve already got two years in, which is even better. What a wonderful situation - Good luck!</p>
<p>*mom2collegekids, with the loans, the aid offered is 2,700$ over the cost of tuition and room and board, so its actually about a little under 53k a year to attend, they accounted for the extra expenses (books, transportation, personal expenses) in the package. I am planning on getting a job over the summer, however I was a little worried about how that would affect my financial aid next year since I will also be doing a work study on campus and both are taxed. *</p>
<p>If with aid, all of your basic costs are covered, with $2700 left over for books and misc, you will still need to work over the summer because part of that aid is work-study. W-S gets paid out as you work your work study job (which you must find) and it goes towards daily expenses…including pizza and movies out with friends. So, if you can save about $3k this summer, and put that towards costs, then you should be ok and it won’t hurt your EFC.</p>