Any idea why NU barely gave me any aid?

<p>I make around 24,000 a year. They only gave me 6,500 first semester, and I think 8,500 or 9,500 after that. If they didn't want me there, then why did they accept me? This is like a stab in the heart with a large money knife.</p>

<p>fafsa EFC is 29k, yet NEU came up with 48.xK EFC on admissions letter.</p>

<p>i know profile and fafsa can be different for valid reasons…but 20K different…ouch.</p>

<p>i have no idea how they could miss by so much…</p>

<p>If you’re saying YOU make $24,000 a year and are still a dependent student then this a great package. If you’re saying thats how much your family makes then not so much.</p>

<p>$19,000 a year is a respectable package you have to consider your Pell Grant which would be $5500 is your family makes 24k a year. Along with the SEOG I’m sure Northeastern gave you and the Perkins Loans (best kind of federal loans) they probably gave you too. Coop money in future years will help pay for room and board expenses. </p>

<p>You should have assumed that you would have had to max out your federal loans to attend Northeastern and been ready to learn you need help from that b**** Sallie Mae. Northeastern is very expensive after all!</p>

<p>I hope everything works out wigglechoo, I’ve seen you around this forum for several months!</p>

<p>I just want to point out (I agree with the above poster, btw) that there is a limit to federal aid, no matter your income. You can only get a certain amount through Pell, and only a certain amount through the regular federal loans. Northeastern RARELY gives financial need-based aid, as they are very heavily a merit-based school.</p>

<p>BTW- if it is indeed YOU make that much, then don’t be suprised. Even if your family won’t contribute at all (or will contribute very little), the formulas are very different. Ex: When I started, I got about 5k a year in federal aid because I personally made zero income. By my third year, I was only getting 1k a year because I had started working at co-op. I only made 11k the entire year (even with three jobs, one of which was a co-op). That couldn’t even cover my rent. But it’s income, and they (the formulas) expect you to put a huge chunk of your personal income into tuition.</p>

<p>When I said “I make” I was talking about my family in general. Family of 4.</p>

<p>But thank you ericop8, I was pretty sure I went unnoticed on this forum. I appreciate the good vibes.</p>

<p>My pell grant is and SEOG along with that NU gave me equals to 9,500. Which is why I’m like “***?!”</p>

<p>On my FAFSA, it “estimated” my pell grant to be full, so I’m wondering why they cut it in half.</p>

<p>I was pretty disappointed when I got my aid offer (even with a merit scholarship) from Northeastern as well, and it was my first FA offer from any school so I was extremely worried it would be indicative of FA offers from other schools as well - as it turns out, Northeastern gave me significantly less than my other schools. So far I’ve received offers from both Brandeis and BU, and both have given me around $45k between school & federal grants, while Northeastern gave me around $31k - still not the same as your situation, but I think it definitely shows that Northeastern is not as generous with need based aid for some.</p>

<p>What about random other things? Ex: Your parent’s 401k, 529s, how much the house is worth, etc. They count a LOT of things in your parent’s “income” that really shouldn’t be.</p>

<p>But yeah, like we said before, Northeastern is pretty well known for little need-based aid. As a contrast, BU is known for little merit-based aid. All depends on the type of student.</p>