Can Someone help me evaluate this aid package?

Paying for College
1

<p>So I just received my financial aid package from Suny Stony Brook and I'm pretty alarmed with how little aid I have received.
Aid Year 2010-2011</p>

<p>Award Description Category Offered Accepted Disbursed
Estimated TAP Grant 616.72 616.72 0.00<br>
Presidential Scholarship Scholarship 1,000.00 0.00 0.00<br>
Direct Subsidized Loan Loan 3,500.00 0.00 0.00<br>
Direct Unsubsidized Loan Loan 2,000.00 0.00 0.00<br>
Aid Year Totals 7,116.72 616.72 0.00 </p>

<p>considering the fact that tuition, room and board and other expenses total up to about 20,000 a year, does this mean my family has to come up with 13,000 on their own? This is pretty ridiculous considering my EFC itself is around 7000 a year.</p>

2

<p>Yes, you are looking at it correctly. $1200 of it is scholarship/grant, $5500 is a loan for you and the balance would need to be paid.</p>

3

<p>EFC doesn’t usually mean much for state schools except for figuring out federal eligibility. The state doesn’t care that some federal form has determined an EFC.</p>