Can someone please explain my financial aid package?

My tuition is around roughly $23,500 a year, and I will be living with my parents to cut down with tuition cost.

Here the breakdown for 2015 - 2016
Federal Pell Grant: $5775
Federal FSEOG: $1000
Access MO estimate award: $1500
University Grant: $8000
College scholarship: $6500
Federal Work Study: $2000

Federal Perkins Loan: $1000
Direct Subsidized: $3500
Direct Unsubsidized: $2000

Total amount: $31275

Why am I getting loans when my tuition is covered with little over a thousand dollars left?
I’m sorry I’m just really confused about this and would like anyone’s input on this.

You need to find out if your aid has taken into account the fact that you will be living at home. Your package may have been designed for on-campus expenses. If that is the case, you need to ask which parts of the package will change when it is recalculated for living at home.

It says on the front page of my paper it says “It is important to note that your total package is based on a full time undergraduate and your intent to reside off campus with parent.” So, I’m guessing the financial aid does know that I am living off campus?

Cost of Attendance includes Books, Room & Board (Meals), Personal Expenses, Transportation; in addition to tuition.

It is calculated for you as an adult, not a dependent- maybe getting a break in rent and meals for living with your parents, but still incurring your share of costs.

The university will calculate a cost of attendance (COA), which in your case should calculate out to $31275. You are free to accept or not accept any of the offered aid (such as the unsubsidized loans; or all of the loans). The COA will depend on what you state are your intentions (live at home/live on campus), so be sure they know your intentions. They will work with you and adjust as your intentions/situation changes.

For a very low EFC (i.e. family income) such as yours evidently is, you may see your loans are about the same if you live on campus. Think it through and do what will most likely result in success. Can you do well in school and live in the family home? If so, your parents may not charge for food or rent; so you may not have to take out as much (or anything) in loans. If can’t really flourish on campus while living in the family home, if you set yourself up for failure, that will not be fair to your future and you risk not graduating.

So you’re saying if I do change my mind and choose to live on campus then those are the loans that I have to accept?

The total cost of attendance figures in room, board (food), cost of textbooks, etc. In your case, there will be a transportation cost of getting to/from class. Will you have any sort of meal plan?

You are not obligated to accept the loans or the work study. They are available to you if you cannot cover the costs another way. Particularly with the loans, if you don’t think you need them, don’t accept them.

I won’t have a meal plan, because I am living at home. I don’t mind work study. I am just confused why I need to have $6500 in federal loans.

You don’t need to have them. They have calculated that you are eligible to have them if you feel you need them.

You are not required to accept the loan part of the package, and usually you are not required to accept the work study part of the package.

You don’t have to take any of the loans. They are included in your package to cover things like books, transportation, etc. You will have the option to accept or decline them before school starts.

Oh ok that makes sense. I just really freaked out that I would have to take out $6500 in loans!! lol

They are offering the loans to you to help pay the other ‘non-tuition costs’ - books, misc personal expenses, lab fees, required health insurance, parking permit, etc etc. For example, the Cost of Attendance for a sample school showed $5510 for these - 210 AS fees, 1764 books, 855 transportation, 2322 personal expenses, 220 health services, 148 student life fees. If you are frugal and especially living at home, you might only incur about $1000 of these non-tuition expenses. You can decline the loans and still accept the other parts of your package, including the work study. Or just accept one of the loans if you think you need it.

No, I am saying that if you decide being successful at school is not possible while living at home, let the financial aid people know. They will calculate a new cost of attendance and calculate a new award package, which may be just as affordable for you. The amount of grant/scholarship aid will likely go up and the amount of the loans and work-study will likely stay the same to match the newly calculated COA.

Also, the cost of attendance will put in an estimate for rent paid to relatives and your portion of the food bill if you live at home. So, the COA is reduced for a commuter student, but still includes an assumed amount for room & board. If your parents choose to forgo charging you, you will realize a savings (and thus may not to take out a loan, since your parents are providing this for you). That may be why the COA seems so high to you.

You may choose to accept an offered loan later in the year, if things are tight (I would not be afraid of the Perkins and the Subsidized loans- better to excel in school than to obsess over owing a few dollars). Some people will take all the subsidized loans and pay them back (at 0% interest) prior to graduation if they find they did not need them. Think of the loans as pre-authorizations: you may accept part of one or more of the loans, not accept any, or accept all.

Work-study is handy. It is a matching program that provides your on-campus employer a subsidy with federal dollars to hire you. If you want to get an on-campus job, I would accept the work-study (and maybe negotiate to reduce the loan amount offered and increase the work-study). You are an attractive employee if you have work-study. Plus, on-campus jobs think of you as someone who “needs the job” and would be more favorable toward hiring you than someone who “does not need the job.” There is no down side to accepting the work-study.

What college is this? Did they give you a breakdown of estimated costs that this award is supposed to go toward? Usually you will get a list of the COA along with the award or the COA will be on the website. The COA for living on campus is not the same as the COA for living at home. Therefore the award is often different if you are living at home.

Also, you said on another thread that this is a private university. Are you allowed to live off campus freshman year? Did you put living at home on your application?

“Off-campus with parent” looks misleading. Usually it is on-campus, off-campus or at home (with relatives). Maybe they calculated off-campus costs.

CCDD it’s likely just named differently than other schools. As long as the word parent is listed, it should be accurate.

You’re not obliged to take the loans, but they’ll help with the costs of commuting (gas, maintaining the car), lunch on campus, books; etc. However, if you work over the summer and save it all, you’re likely to earn enough to cover these costs, while your work study will help you with your day-to-day expenses.
I know a university that has special deals for local students provided they commute (ie., admission and scholarships are restricted to local students) because they don’t have enough dorm space. It’s a famous private university and the level there is excellent, so many local students take on the opportunity!