I’m a low-income student so applying early for me would put me in a bit of a hassle since I couldn’t compare aid packages. But I’ve calculated the estimated cost of attending based off the net price calculator for each school I am applying to.
For example, Barnard has offered to give me 44K in aid based off the net price calculator, so is this accurate? If I get accepted early will I be guaranteed that 44K grant?
Even if I get accepted early and get a different aid package than what the net price calculator showed me can I use it to break the early decision deal and refuse to go?
There is no guarantee that they will match the price. Some circumstances may alter their predictions. If your family finances are pretty straight forward, most of the schools that meet full need (as they define it) seem to have pretty accurate NPCs.
If your parents aren’t together, or if one or both own a business, could be common reasons for an NPC not to be accurate.
Everywhere I have heard of allows you to break the ED agreement if you can’t afford to attend. You can’t wait until you get other school’s financial aid packages to compare and then decide that you prefer another one. You would have to decide to break the ED pretty much immediately on getting the FA package and realizing it won’t work, before you even see the FA from any RD offers.
The cost of attendance at Barnard is $70,000 a year. If you got $44,000 in aid, you would still have a family contribution of $26,000. That’s a pretty high family contribution for a “low income” student.
- If you are really a low income family, how will you pay $26,000 a year more. You could take the $5500 Direct Loan but that would still leave $20,000 or so for you to pay each year.
- If your family contribution is in the $25,000 a year range, your family really isn’t “low income”...in my opinion.
Oh sorry I was just accidentally talking about the tuition which is ~50K. My family would have to pay 6K a year according to the NPC.
So your total aid would be $64,000 possibly?
I guess the question is…does that include the Direct Loan?
Barnard has not offered you anything yet.
You would live at home and commute?
Tell us a little bit about your situation. Do you live with both parents? Single parent? If so, are you in contact with the noncustodial parent? What is your parent’s(s’) employment situation? Do they own property?
I’m from Texas and only live with my mom who is widowed and has not remarried. She has a job which pays about 15K per year and owns just the house we live in. I also have an older brother who has a job and lives with us but files his taxes separately. We don’t have any investments really. I mentioned all this in the calculator. I don’t think I have a situation that complicates things right? Since my mom never remarried.
I rechecked right now and basically get 60K in grants and can work-study for 2.3K. The direct student loan is 3.5K. Meaning my family and I have to pay 6.3K ourselves right?
Your situation appears to be one that is relatively simple, so that a college that cares to make a reasonably good net price calculator should have it giving you a reasonably accurate estimate. However, it is not guaranteed, so you need to wait for the actual financial aid offer, which should come with or shortly after the admission letter if you are admitted.
Early decision agreements usually include a provision that you can back out if the financial aid offer is not affordable (but you cannot count on being able to compare with other schools’ financial aid offers). Read carefully.
At your income level, you should have an auto $0 EFC.
Does your mom file a 1040A tax form (for 2017…that’s the year income and taxes for the 2019-2020 academic year)?
Do you qualify for food stamps or some other means tested benefit?
What was the amount of the Pell Grant in the Barnard award?
You can also take $2000 in unsubsidized Loans for your freshman year…leaving $4300 in balance.
Just be careful that your brother is not claiming you and/or your mother as a dependent on his taxes, which could complicate things.
At you mom’s income level, it would likely have been more tax efficient for your brother to claim head of household and/or tax dependents (assuming he earns enough), so he might have done so. Ask the question.
Best of luck!
The NPC is only a rough idea of how much you could probably expect. It’s not a certified guarantee. Always expect less money from the university…and keep an affordable back-up school just in case the school decides to be stingy with you. It’s not uncommon for freshmen to get burned at the last minute.
You need to have the $$ allotted for work study upfront to pay any tuition, books, room costs. Essentially, work study money means you can get a job on-campus, work, and be paid. It is not “awarded” to you. You have to earn it, so it isn’t available to you except like a pay check, after you earned it.
Is your brother contributing to pay household expenses? That may be considered and may impact the NPC results, but I’m not sure.
A little off-topic but have you looked into applying to schools through Questbridge?
@suzy100 hm he actually is paying some bills together with my mom. They have an account together but my brother files his taxes separately. So I’m not sure how that would affect it?
They don’t ask for bills/checking accounts on the NPC but do they on CSS?
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Bank accounts (but for the most part, not bills) are asked for on the two forms that really matter when applying for need-based financial aid: FAFSA and CSS Profile.
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