<p>So I got my Award letter notification. Does this seem right?</p>
<p>Rensselaer Merit Award: 14,000
Federal Perkins Loan: 4,000
Rensselaer Grant: 7,000
Housing Scholarship: 5,000
Fed College Work-Study: 2,000</p>
<h2>Fed. Sub. Stafford Loan: 3,500</h2>
<p>Total: 35,500</p>
<p>How does work study work? Whats is the Rensselaer Grant? I am a high school senior but I am concurrently attending a community college and was recently inducted into Phi Theta Kappa? I saw they gave another 5000 scholarship for transfer students? Do you think i would get it?</p>
<p>The Rensselaer Grant, I believe, is a standard merit scholarship. For work study: they assign you a job (you'll probably get a form to rank your preferences in a couple of months), and you're allowed to make up to $2000 for the year... so this $2000 is not actually deducted from the total amount you have to pay.</p>
<p>Congratulations! That's a really good financial aid package and you should be really proud! You got $26,000 in free money not to mention the extra from work study and even more in pre-approved loans. That's better than mine was last year and mine was considered generous.</p>
<p>Work study is just a job they give you on campus that pays you $2,000 throughout the year. It doesn't pay the tuition directly...you can do what you want with it however most people use it to lower costs. My understanding is Rensselaer Grant = free money.</p>
<p>I know that in general, transfer financial aid isn't as generous. So even if you might get $5,000 as a transfer, you almost won't definitely get the same F.A. package besides that. However going to that community college for two or three semesters then transferring to RPI will save you a lot of money and will still get you the same degree. If I could go back it's exactly what I would do...but don't expect to save money that way AND get $40,500 in transfer financial aid.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other questions!
-Dan</p>