<p>Received first 'offer' of financial aid, and it consisted entirely of loans.</p>
<p>Basically this means that we are paying the entire cost. </p>
<p>Is this going to be typical? Does this really mean that the school is offering financial aid?</p>
<p>IMO, subsidized loans and loans with lower than open market rates can sorta, but not really be called FA. For other loans, I think it’s a scam for colleges to refer to them as FA.</p>
<p>Whether that will be typical for you depends on which schools you applied to, what your financial situation is and how much schools want your student.</p>
<p>Good question! It is easier to consider Subsidized Stafford Loans to be financial aid because you aren’t responsible for any interest on them while you are studying. However, unless the interest rates are lower than other types of loans (such as a Home Equity Line of Credit), it is hard to think of Parent Plus Loans as being true financial aid.</p>
<p>Remember that each college/university sets its own financial aid policy. Until you have all of the aid packages on the table, you truly won’t know if one is better than another. If you are the student, sit down with your parents and find out just exactly how much they are willing to pay now and later. If you are the parent, get clear now about how much you can afford, and explain that to your student before all of the results are in. That way you will know which packages are no good so that you can eliminate those colleges/universities from the possible list.</p>
<p>Thanks for input.</p>
<p>I am the parent, and we absolutely will be comparing ‘offers’. And we have already let our S know that a financial aid package is one of the decision criteria. I wish it weren’t though!</p>
<p>Yes, loans are financial aid. How else would a young person who has never had a job borrow $5500 to assist with college costs? The interest rate is fixed, no cosigner is required, the debt is discharged if the student dies, no payments are required while the student is in school, repayment options are numerous, etc.</p>
<p>Whether or not the family wants to borrow to pay for school is an individual decision. </p>
<p>If there were no loans in the financial aid package, many students would get no financial aid.</p>
<p>*we absolutely will be comparing ‘offers’. And we have already let our S know that a financial aid package is one of the decision criteria. I wish it weren’t though! *</p>
<p>Where did your son apply? What is your EFC.</p>
<p>I see that you’re in California. California publics don’t give much to anyone who doesn’t qualify for Pell, Cal Grants, or Blue and Gold.</p>
<p>Applied to both CSUs and UCs. EFC is about $13K, based on having some student savings accounts (UGMA). We are definitely in Blue and Gold range though, so hopefully that will help with UC. We don’t qualify for Cal Grant due to asset threshold.</p>
<p>I think it is a bit ironic if the UCs turn out to be less expensive because of Blue and Gold.</p>
<p>“If there were no loans in the financial aid package, many students would get no financial aid.”</p>
<p>Quite so. Consider it this way: when a school includes these small, subsidized federal loans at about 10% of the cost of attendance, this allows about 10% more needy students to attend. If you’re one of these 10% (though there’s no way to know), you’re grateful, or should be!</p>
<p>I think one can legitimately describe loans to the student as financial aid - because the kid is not, by any standard definition, credit worthy. If Parent Plus Loans and all Private loans weren’t included in FA and all sources of information adhered to that standard, it would be a lot easier for parents to anticipate their true costs early on. As it is the college guide books are terribly misleading in their financial aid statistics.</p>
<p>We are definitely in Blue and Gold range though</p>
<p>If you qualify for B&G, then I believe that you’ll get the tuition (aka fees) paid …about $12k. Your son will also get up to about 5500 in a student loan, and maybe work-study, but that will be mostly for day to day expenses…not really for direct school costs since the money is earned and paid out in increments like a regular job. </p>
<p>since your EFC is $13k, then pretty much everything is covered.</p>
<p>I think it’s honorable not to include PLUS in the finaid letters except as a paragraph telling new parents that it is an available source of funding. Primarily I want to be able to glance at a finaid letter and see what my out of pocket costs are and appreciate not having to back out the PLUS loans. I understand that some colleges might include it so that parents accept or decline so they can certify.</p>
<p>I do “view” Staffords as aid for all the reasons others have pointed out. I do think that kids should understand the basic difference between a grant, a scholarship and a loan.</p>
<p>That is a really good question. I don’t consider loans financial aid and they should not be included in the financial aid packages that are given out. However, most colleges do include them if the loans are subsidized in any way. PLUS is generally not included.</p>
<p>That the loans are so readily available which is not the case for most purposes, however, do make them financial aid of sorts. Most any parent can get PLUS for instance, and kids are offered loans with a co signer that would take a lot of trouble for them to get. So in a sense, they offer an out. Whether this is a good thing or not is an issue. I fear that this easy loans offers are going to cause a crisis.</p>
<p>“I don’t consider loans financial aid and they should not be included in the financial aid packages that are given out.”</p>
<p>So should 10% fewer needy students be seated at these schools? That would be the direct result (give or take a few numbers).</p>
<p>I think what the poster is saying is that it’s ok to give loans (so that those students can be seated), but don’t call them “financial aid.” Big difference.</p>
<p>Maybe, or perhaps that loans shouldn’t be automatically given without students’ applying for them. </p>
<p>Instead of “Here is your financial aid package” should the words be changed to “Here is your financial aid and loan package”? What does the student care what the words are?</p>
<p>We just have to differ: these loans are certainly aid in my book, money provided by the school that the student doesn’t have to qualify for or come up with during attendance which makes education possible.</p>
<p>*Instead of “Here is your financial aid package” should the words be changed to “Here is your financial aid and loan package”? What does the student care what the words are?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Frankly, I think the terms “financial aid award” and EFC should be changed because they’re both misleading. The first one has a “gift” connotation and the second one implies how much a family needs to pay (as if schools charge a sliding scale.)</p>
<p>“as if schools charge a sliding scale”</p>
<p>As if schools charge the wealthy more than they charge the poor? That would be socialism! :eek: ;)</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>The point is that most colleges cannot afford to charge a sliding scale, yet the words “Expected Family Contribution” suggest that they do.</p>
<p>^^^ But they do charge a sliding scale. It’s just that “EFC” is misleading, because the scale will almost always start above that level. And it ends where EFC >= COA.</p>