<p>No they didn’t. the only loans in my package were the stafford loans.</p>
<p>You need to call the school and ask them to please include the plus loan to cover what ever gap there is. The amount of the plus loan can only be the amount not covered by your scholarships, stafford and grants, work study.
Ex COA 46000-scholarship 25,000=21000 -staffords5500=15500 -WS2000=13500</p>
<p>13500 would be tha gap. So the Plus loan may be for this amount.
Just an example.</p>
<p>Suprised your school didn’t include this in your FA package. This is very, typically included in almost all packages.
The school has to include this in your package in order for your parents to apply.</p>
<p>Should I ask them to do that, before or after, if they could reevaluate my finaid package to include more grants and maybe reconsider for a bigger scholarship?</p>
<p>Don’t ask about the Plus loan yet. You don’t want them to think your parents are willing to borrow.</p>
<p>BTW…why does a Plus loan have to be in the package? Some parents use Plus to cover EFC - which won’t be in a FA package.</p>
<p>I’ve seen PLUS called out in the “total” for the package as a line item and I’ve also seen PLUS called out in a written paragraph in the documents more as part of the “how do you pay for this” rhetoric. I’m not sure it “has” to be included to apply for it.</p>
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<p>The plus loan is tied into the COA. Parents may borrow up to the total annual cost of education, including educational fees, books, living and travel expenses, less any financial aid for which the student is eligible. The loan has to be certified by the financial aid office for approval and disbursement.</p>
<p>It was in ALL of my daughter’s 8 FA award letters as a line item in the total amount of aid. It is typically the amount of your EFC.</p>
<p>PLUS is simply a loan that parents can take out to cover a gap between what they can afford to pay and what they need to pay minus the student aid in the form of Stafford and any grants or merit from the colleges. The amount available, yes is set by COA. Some colleges put it in the line items but it doesn’t “need” to be in the line items. I’m looking at one right now for S2 that came this morning in the mail. It has as line items, a grant, another grant, a scholarship, work/study, Stafford and a $250 of Perkins…there is still a gap between all that and our Federal EFC (this is a FAFSA school). No mention of PLUS, the line items only reflect the student’s loans and aid. Two paragraphs later in the middle of a paragraph it says "Your eligibility to apply for additional student or parent loan funds is $22,475 (EFC + gap). I do believe PLUS is like Stafford in that a completed FAFSA can trigger the ability to apply for PLUS but it is not student financial aid, it is a loan that parents can take out to help their student pay for college/uni much like any bank loan, but it is federal. It’s semantical, but the difference is in WHO bears responsiblity. Some colleges package up only the “student” and some colleges package in a parent obligation.</p>
<p>See if you can get your workstudy bumped up. Some jobs will pay pretty well- like as a computer tech and you will still have fees and books ( but if you work in the computer lab, you can save printing costs)</p>
<p>Working and saving during the summer will pare your gap down a bit more ( Arcadia typically covers 75% of need), and if you can get your Stafford loan extended , that might be enough.</p>
<p>Or what are other choices?
Seems like a lot to attend a school just cause they have a good study abroad program, you don’t need to attend a school to study abroad through them.</p>
<p>Milkandsugar, to tie it back to the OP, the OP is paying for college by herself, so PLUS is not something she can take out “by herself” and not bundling that in with other student aid makes it alittle more transparent. Personally I think all colleges/unis should not include PLUS in the line items. The OP needs to come up with EFC on her own and any gap to be able to attend this college.</p>
<p>@momof threeboys</p>
<p>I understand what the OP is trying to do. Did I suggest she take it out by herself? No where in my post.
I was offering a possible option to get more stafford money of 4000.00 by having her parents apply for the plus loan, get declined and get the additional unsub. Stafford. It is not etched in stone, the parents can apply and possibly get the loan but they can decline it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It was a way to get more aid for school without a cosigner. People do this all the time.</p>
<p>Bundling this with other aid is irrelevant. it doesn’t matter if it is a line item or not. Some families need this to help pay for college costs. However families do need to know this is an option for them. Who cares where ther put it in the letter.</p>
<p>My local state school. But it is not just the study abroad program; that is a strong factor. But overall i really liked the school. I wanted to go to the east coast to study, because I generally like it there better. I loved the campus and the atmosphere and it was close enough to Philedelphia (like 10 minutes) that it is great. But this is not the point, because I know I won’t be able to go there if I can’t afford. But I sure as hell am going to try and go there if I can.</p>
<p>The problem with simply saying work and save. Yes, I can do that. But I also have my car payment, insurance payment, and my computer to pay off, as well as about 35-40 bucks in gas every 10 days (and no I don’t go anywhere, that is simply me commuting to and from work and the 10 miles for school (5 there and 5 back). </p>
<p>So unfortunately, I will only get maybe 1500 to put towards my college after all is said and done. Even worse, come summer I probably wont get very many hours because of other college students (my work is an idiot and sometimes ignores the fact that i’ve been there longer than these other college students and I am a better worker) wanting the hours. I am trying to get 30-35 now, but that is a little hard when my work doesn’t give them to me.</p>
<p>Of course, I also want to use some of that money for books and stuff, so I might not be able to put any of that money towards tuition. </p>
<p>But back to my question on appealing for aid. I think I have a general idea of what I am going to say, but I have never been very good with talking on the phone. When I call, is there a specific person I need to talk to. I know who my financial advisor is, should I ask to talk to him, or would it be someone else? And how would that go? I would say who I am, and what I am wanting, but my case seems really weak. Would I just say something like</p>
<p>* Hello, my name is … I am really interested in attending your school and was hoping you could reevaluate my financial aid application. I know it isn’t finalized yet, it is just my parents can’t and won’t pay for my college and refuse to take out a loan for it. They already have a second mortage and it is just beyond their financial budget. I would really appreciate it if you could reevaluate my financial application and see if there is anything you could do to help me. I really want to attend your school, but I know paying for it will be an issue without more aid. Thank you so much for your time.*</p>
<p>The thing with that is, though, to me, it sounds more like something I would say in an email or a letter. Yes, I worry about little things like that. I just don’t want to sound like an idiot, because this really means a lot to me to get more grant/scholarship money from this school.</p>
<p>PLUS is simply a loan that parents can take out to cover a gap between what they can afford to pay and what they need to pay minus the student aid in the form of Stafford and any grants or merit from the colleges. The amount available, yes is set by COA. Some colleges put it in the line items but it doesn’t “need” to be in the line items.</p>
<p>Ahh…that’s what I thought. I can see that it can be confusing if a person has only seen one or two schools’ FA packages and thinks that the way that those schools do it is the way all schools do it. </p>
<p>I’ve seen my neighbor’s FA package for Rhodes and it has an amount that is being covered with a Plus loan (so there’s no gap). I don’t know if they will take a larger Plus to include some/all of their EFC.</p>
<p>^^For any student or parent that is trying to understand whether they have been gapped or not it is “transparent” not to have PLUS as covering aid…it’s just not…it’s a loan and represents money that the family has to write a check for. It’s debatable if “loans” meet need. I have abit of a problem with Staffords now becoming so commonplace as aid when Staffords, too, are a loan, but I guess the rate is lower and the terms good enough and the maximum amount low enough that I can almost come to grips with Staffords being included in “aid”. The OP has to pay in August the cost of her college minus any grants, scholarships and a Stafford. Period. Her family is not helping. Other students in her position could be easily confused and jump to the bottom line when PLUS is included in the line items not really understanding that it is not something “they” can access…their parents must access those dollars and they may not understand that PLUS is a loan at about 8% interest. But of course, this is just my opinion.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>i agree.</p>
<p>I think you may be missing the point of my post, but I will leave it at that.</p>
<p>Maybe, sorry milkandsugar if I’m missing the point. I just know from other posts that the OPs parents will not contribute and have been vocal about not taking out loans for her because they already have a mortgage and a second mortgage. I can understand them not wanting to add $30 or $40,000 to their debt burden. There isn’t a whole ton of stuff that prevents parents from PLUS I think except bankruptcy or some very serious flaws in credit so the OP should not “count” on additional Staffords even if she could get her parents to apply for a PLUS…that’s where I was heading.</p>
<p>My point is…If the OP want more aid, and has no other options, the parents can apply for plus loan, (even if they don’t want it, they do not have to accept it if they get it, but, if they get declined, the OP can get an extra 4000.00 in stafford loans. It will reduce her gap and she can go to the college that she wants to go. No obligation on the parents part, just a way for the Op to go to college. I’m only banking on the parents getting declined, AND it was just an option.
Just trying to help the OP out here. Geesh.</p>
<p>I am no expert, but my guess is that the OP should appeal or request review of the gap between the EFC and the aid already offered, not argue the EFC. In that case, the appeal would look like:
- I love your school and want to attend if at all financially feasible.
- My parents cannot/will not contribute to the EFC (they have a second mortgage on their home), so I will have to cover it myself with loans.
- For this reason, the $6000+ gap between EFC and financial aid offered is a deal-breaker.
- Could you please review my merit awards and financial aid package, especially in light of __________________________ (List recent awards here.)</p>
<p>^^totally agree with whatever4 however I would not add the part about covering EFC with loans, I would simply say that "my parents will not contribute to my college education and I (the OP) will have to pay the EFC myself with no assistance from parents or family. My parents have no resources and a second mortgage on their home and did not contribute to my older sister and will not contribute to me either.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Exactly right. That is what the OP is doing. She is requesting increase aid/scholarships to cover the gap & Staffords in her aid package, so that she can use Staffords to pay for her EFC. I have seen the final letter that she is sending, and she’s got the right bases covered. </p>
<p>Her stats place her well into the top 5% of this school. She is a desirable candidate.</p>
<p>:)</p>