<p>I think your sister is right. Your niece has put down her chips, and should just settle down to enjoy her senior year and make sure that she keeps her grades up. Senioritus can be a real issue this time of the year. If she is goign to add any other schools to the list, they should be more in the line of Westfield State. Something local, short application, sure to take her and known to give nice packages to those in her high school. My son did this with a local Catholic school that was not on his list–just sent in the free one page app and his test scores and transcript, and got a full tuition scholarship from them. They did the same to a lot of kids he knew, and many of them took the school up on it, and he now sees it as an attractive option–he did not while he was in the heat of the app game. When things settle down, the view points shift, so what she is saying now is not how she will necessarily feel at the end of the year and next year. A lot of transitory emotions in play. It turns out that a lot of kids doing this “HORRIBLE” commuter option (horrible when he was in the midst of appllications), and many of them are kids from upper income families, some of the “cool” kids, and kids he likes, not the ones with no other options as he and other kids had the attitude about at the time. So things change, and those kids, by the way, for the most part are doing very well, and are having an active social life there. My son hangs out with many of them when he’s home, and he’s envious of a lot of their perks.</p>
<p>NPCs are accurate when there are no unusual financial situations (like owning a business) and when the school guarantees and gives 100% of need and zero merit awards. Otherwise the calculations include averages of need and merit awarded, which do any individual applicant NO good at all since that is not the likely award he is going to be getting. It’s just a statistical run of numbers so that if the average award comes out to $10K when all students are taken into account, that is what pops up. It is entirely posssible thatn NO ONE in the entire school gets that amount, because awards are not distributed that way. The top candidates tend to get full need met and some merit money, and the border lines may get zip or just a lot of small awards. Also schools that practice any form of enrollment management in awards, will tend to give full need to those with smaller need than those with larger. So running the numbers for Wesleyan which meets 100% of need and has no merit will give you a good idea of what your niece’s institutional Famly Contribution amount is likely to be.That number is likely to be similar at all of the schools, but whether a school that does not guarantee to meet it will give it, and how they will meet that figure is a whole other story. </p>
<p>You should look up what the official Cost of Attendance is for each school. That again is a composite figure, but it gives you a good idea what that college costs in total for the average student is. That is the big number that your niece needs to cover. When she gets her aid packages from the schools that is the next number that goes in the column next to COA. The third number is the difference, which is what she needs to come up with to make the payment. The fourth column is what she has available to pay towards each of those colleges. That last column will determine her choices. Only what she can possibly pay is even a choice. </p>
<p>Until she gets the full package, the only columns she or you can complete are the names of the schools and that COA. For Westfield, pefhaps two lines are warrented, as a commuter and as a boarder and I would have them as two separate schools listed one after the other so when the final numbers are there, one can just run the eyes down that last column.</p>
<p>THe $14K from Wheaton at this point is MEANINGLESS as it is not enough by a long shot. That school costs upwards of $50K, does it not, or can she commute there? When she gets her financial aid package from them, she can combine the scholarship with what comes from the aid pot to get the TOTAL amount that the college is offering Most schools will integrate that merit award with her financial aid award, but until the actual package arrives and until she verifies with the school, if that package is not crystal clear as to how the merit award is being treated, she is just as clueless about what the final cost, which is all that counts, is going to be at that school. Even with that merit sweetner already given, it is possible that is her worst package, depending on how much more and the compositon of that aid package. So she has nothing yet, from Wheaton other than knowing that at least $14K of what her final package will be is in grants.</p>
<p>She will be entiteled to $5550 in PELL if she indeed has a zero EFC. Make sure she has zero assets on the day she and her mom submit the FAFSA because 20% of every dollar she, the student, reports, will go on the EFC and will reduce that PELL. Her mother should complete the FAFSA on a day that she is lean, not payday, though I doubt she will have accumulated enough to make a difference since parents get at least a $40K asset allowance. But with PROFILE, who the heck knows how they do the numbers, as they can do anything they dang well please. </p>
<p>So your niece gets, at best $5550 from PELL and is entiteld to borrow $5500 from Stafford loans, $3500 of it subsidized as a freshman. Most schools will just take those amounts and add them to their financial aid packages, presenting them as though it is their own money when it is not and is available across the board. Some schools won’t, because PELL is an entitlement that does not have to be integrated, and the Stafford can also be left intact and used to meet any costs left that the school does not meet. But that is rare. If indeed Connectucut College gives no loans to the lower income students (which I find hard to believe because they are subscribers to Perkins loans which go to the lowest income student first, PELL eligible first usually and by rules dictating distribuiton), but let’s assume that Connecticut Colllege does have that policy in place. THey also guarantee to meet full need, right? So let’s say they cost $60K. Let’s say that they figure your niece’s need (a number they will not give out and anyone is highly unlikely to see in raw form) and throw in what they figure every family has to contribute and student contributiton and all of that stuff, and they come out with a $45K financial aid package. If they truly do not include loans for low income (and your niece has to be in that category being PELL eligible), then she will likely get work study (unless that college also doesn’t give that out to low income), let’s say $3000 there, $5550 PELL (I very much doubt any of those schools will just leave that out, though they theoreticaly can), maybe $3000 in SEOG money (federal money too that some colleges subscribe to–I think Connecticut college does, maybe not)and ther rest out of their own honey pots to add up to $45K. Your niece will have to come up with $15K in that scenario to make this happen, So there is $15K in that column. Since that college did not use her Stafford loans, she has that, and whatever savings she has, whatever she can make in the summer, and whatever you and her aunt will give her. This is where you add up all of the possible resources. If she can come up with $15K or more, than BINGO. She has a possible school. Otherwise, she has a gap and unless there is some way to fill it, she can’t go there. </p>
<p>So, let’s now go to Wheaton. Let’s make that cost $60K, the same as Connecticut, just to keep it simple. Let’s say the package arrives, and they include the $5500 Stafford both subsidized and non in that package, which I’ll bet they do, also include the PELL, also include $5K in work study money, and an additional $2500 in Perkins loans if they subscribe, and then a $5K need based grant, say anot $2500 in SEOG and then that’s it. They then mention the $14K merit award and refer your sister to PLUS (parent loans) or might even throw the whole amount there as if it’s an automatic to come up with a full package. You have to pick through those two packages and figure out how much of that is really loans since loans are really just deferred payments at a premium and find out which are even feasible and which is the better package.</p>
<p>Commuting is not cheap. Unless the school is minutes away with cheap or free public transportaion, one has to figure that cost in the picture. Don’t know what tuiton and fees are for Mass state schools, but you got that cost, plus if there has to be a car purchase, that price as well as insurance, gas, maintenance and parking have to be added into commuting costs. Also unless she will pack snacks and meals from home, that costs. My son’s friend;s (twins) mother gave me the “puh” about commuting costs. Well, “puh” no more. From where they live, for the two students to commute to NYC, the train and subway monthly passes are $400 apiece. Plus they have to get to the train station every day or close to it, and if they drive themselves, they have to have a car and all the costs that go with that, and it costs to park it all day at the station. And if they don’t eat breakfast at home and don’t pack snack and lunch and stay late, that’s three meals at Big Apple prices for two young men who are athletes every single day. You tell me what it costs for them to commute. No “puh” in cost but a real dollar figure. For someone intrepid and determined, car pools, ride lists, can bring that cost down, and you learn to pack a mini cooler lunch bag for food and fill your water bottle from the tap. Most kids, even from lower income families sadly do not know how to live this way, a way many of us lived in our student and poorer young adult years. </p>
<p>For loans, your niece can pretty much automatically get that $5500 in Staffords, which most school will just take and throw into their financial aid package, so don’t even count on it. If your sister has outstanding bills more than 60-90 days old on her credit report, she will be denied for PLUS (parent loan) which can be very quickly, instantly done at home, and if denied, you niece can get another $4K in Stafford. Unless Massachusetts has some subsidized loan programs, that’s it unless she goes with a private lender, but if PLUS turns her down, the rates will be usurious and they will put it on both her credit report and her DD as they both have to co apply (they say co sign, but they will both be on the hook equally until they die or the loan is paid off; no bankruptcy or discharge provisions in college loans) I don’t recommend YOU cosign as the rates are horrible and it will go on your credit report and you will be on the line the same way if you do. Some schools have their own money they may lend out to a student alone or to parents/students. But other than Staffords, Perkins, both somewhat subsidized in your niece’s case and in her name alone, if your sister is already in financial trouble, more loans is not the way to go, and when she and your niece evaluate final costs, one other thing to examine is which package has the most amount of self help which are loans (which have to be paid back) and work study (which is not guaranteed and has to be worked off and takes up hours that your niece could be using to work to meet her part of the cost, since work study is counted as financial aid, not her contribution)</p>
<p>Hopefully, this gives you a clearer picture of what is going to happen. I seriously believe that at this point, getting more Westfield type schools on the list is far more important than fooling around with the lottery of financial aid. If she can get a deal like my son was offered at that local Catholic school, for example, that would be great. A part time job, Stafford money, and she’s set, and maybe by junior or senior year she and some others in the same commuting situation can come by with enough money to split an apartment. It is done all of the time in such scenarios.</p>