<p>Okay so I got this amount from fasfa
AWARDS FALL 2013 SPRING 2014 TOTAL
Federal Pell Grant $2,823.00 $2,822.00 $5,645.00
TOTAL $2,823.00 $2,822.00 $5,645.00</p>
<p>Is this good or bad ?? By the way the college I am going to is Clark Atlanta University ! Just give me insight on what more I need to do because I really want to go to this college</p>
<p>Okay, this means you qualify for a Pell grant of $5,645 for next year.</p>
<p>That’s good, but the cost of attendance for Clark Atlanta appears to be over $30k/year. (I can’t find an exact cost of attendance on the school website, so that’s just an approximation.) Clark Atlanta does not meet student need, so how are you going to pay the balance?</p>
<p>I’ve filled out many scholarships do you know any other scholarship I can apply for ??</p>
<p>It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find enough scholarships to pay your entire cost of attendance. Also, most scholarships from contests are good for your freshman year only . . . so you’d still have 3 more years to pay for. Have you gotten any grant at all from CAU???</p>
<p>Did you apply to any other schools that might be more affordable?</p>
<p>The emailed me back again and this is what it said this time !</p>
<p>AWARDS FALL 2013 SPRING 2014 TOTAL
Federal Direct Unsub Loan $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $2,000.00
Federal Pell Grant $2,823.00 $2,822.00 $5,645.00
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan $1,750.00 $1,750.00 $3,500.00
TOTAL $5,573.00 $5,572.00 $11,145.00
223</p>
<p>So all you have now is the same Pell grant you had before . . . plus the “privilege” of getting to borrow $5,500.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, NONE of this comes from the school. They’re administering the grant and the loans for you . . . but not one penny of this comes from their coffers. It’s the same Pell grant (and the same loans) that you’d get no matter where you went to school.</p>
<p>So they’re giving you NOTHING . . . and you have about a $20,000 shortfall to be able to pay for this school, maybe more. WHY do you want to go to this school???</p>
<p>queenjazz . . . you can do better.</p>
<p>:( The only other schools I applied to was Virginia State University, and University of Toledo</p>
<p>Okay, they’re both state schools . . . Please tell me that one of them is your home state.</p>
<p>Queensjazz, my friends’ daughters all went to University of Toledo and they loved it there. Unless you commute, however, even the instate cost of that school is going to be a rough go. Though CAU may be your first choice school, they did not give you any financial aid. The same $11K or so that you can get for CAU, can also go to any other school in the country as it comes from the federal government. it will go a lot further at UToledo than it will at CAU, I guarantee you. </p>
<p>You are not going ot be able to come up with $20K in loan money yourself and to ask your family, if their income is at a zero EFC, to get full Pell is like putting a financial noose around their necks. You don’t get out of paying student loans that are cosigned or for which you are guarantor, as well as being primary on them. By dragging them into the mix with private loans with unfavorable terms, most likely, you are endangering even their social security checks as the long hand of government will reach there to get the money back if you can’t pay. And if anything should happen to you, they will still owe. Do think about this very long and hard. UT is a fine school, as good or, IMO, better than CAU.</p>
<p>Doing a quick look at UT’s costs, it’s even going to be tight for you there with a gap you will have to make up, but its’ closer to $10K, than $20K and with some work study funds, a small loan that you may be able to get out the Stafford system ($4Kmore) and cutting down some of the stated COA expenses, you might be able to make it work without it being such a financial sinkhole that CAU would be unless that school coughs up about $15-20K out of their own treasury, and not loans but grants, for you to go there. </p>
<p>Also at UT, most of the kids live off campus after the first year, and there is plentiful cheap housing, especially if you share a room with someone. My friend’s daughters got away for about about half of what the college charged for room and board.</p>
<p>It still wasn’t cheap for them, and, even so, they are working at paying off the loans they incurred to go there, at that is even at instate Ohio prices, and it does suck big time. Ironically, they are now living at home after all of the “must go to sleep away college” because with the loan payback, they can’t afford to find a place to live of their own. But at least what they owe is about $30K, not $60-100k (the interest ratchets it up very quickly) and I think they’ll be ok by the time they are in their early thirties. </p>
<p>Another friend mine has her credit and finances in shambles and what her DD owes is now over the $100 range, way over, and they can’t even manage the interest payments t this point. She cosigned school loans for her daughter and they are now due. DON’T do this to your parents. CAU would be just as happy to get the money from you and your family borrowing it whether you should or not and they could not care less if it ruined you and them. They just want and need the money to survive themselves.</p>
<p>queenjazz . . . Like I said earlier, you can do better!</p>
<p>CAU is a historically black college and I have no doubt that it was, at one time, part of the solution. That is no longer the case. It is now part of the problem.</p>
<p>CAU provides little to no funding for its students, being content instead to let the students take whatever federal funding they can and then borrow the rest . . . whether or not the students (and their families) can afford those loans. CAU deemphasizes the financial burden its placing on its students by avoiding any discussion of money. CAU has the only school website I have ever seen that does not openly disclose the actual cost to attend the school. If the cost of attendance is posted on the CAU website, it’s well hidden. I searched and searched . . . and could not find it.</p>
<p>CAU also, apparently, cares little if its students actually complete their studies. According to its own figures, only 60% of its freshmen actually return to the school for their sophomore year. That’s a ridiculously high attrition rate! I don’t know if this high drop-out rate is the result of academic problems or financial problems. Likely, it’s both.</p>
<p>You need to find a school that you can afford and that cares about your success. CAU doesn’t fit the bill on either count.</p>
<p>I am considering Virginia State University guys what do you think ??</p>
<p>What’s wrong with Toledo? What you have going for you there is that it is in state, which gives you a lower tuition right off the bat. I do know someone whose DD went to Virginia State. Liked it just fine. I’m sure there are kids who like CAU just fine too. But looking at the stats, half the kids there didn’t come back for the second year. Borrowing $30K and owing it for less than half a chance of making it back the next year doesn’t sit right with me. </p>
<p>How much, bottom line is Virginia State going to cost you? Bear in mind, that loans are not grants. You gotta pay them back with interest. The big question is whether you can afford to go there. At age 18 you are not going to be able to borrow much without a parent signing with you and at their income level you are just tightening the financial noose around their necks. They don’t need any more loans, and these ones they aren’t going to be able to just dodge. They follow them AND you till you’re both dead. If Virginia State gives you enough money to go there, not lend it to you, but gives it to you, you’re good. </p>
<p>Do you live in Cleveland? I always thought my friend’s girls should have commuted to Cleveland State which they could have done pretty much loan free. They wanted to go away to school and Toledo did give them a few thousand dollars, but they are still paying and will be for a number of years for their sleep away experiences and are back home with parents as they work so that they can pay back that loan. And it’s less than the amount you are thinking of taking for one year, for all four of their college years.</p>
<p>The problem is I won’t be able to commute because I live in Columbus OH !</p>
<p>Okay, VSU is pretty darned affordable - I’ll give you that. Tuition, room, board, & fees for 2012-13 was just over $13k for non-residents. Between your Pell grant and federal loans of $5500, you can almost afford that. Add in work study or a part-time job, and perhaps a summer job, and you should do just fine. (Keep in mind, though, that you’ll have additional expenses for books, incidentals, travel back & forth to college, and possibly health insurance.)</p>
<p>So, the only question you need to ask is whether there’s a cheaper option within commuting distance of your home in Columbus. If there is, you should seriously consider it. If you can eliminate the cost of living in a dorm, that would eliminate the need for federal loans . . . and you want to get rid of those loans if you possibly can!</p>
<p>So, what’s nearby? Could you start at a community college and then transfer to Virginia State in two years? That would save you two years of federal loans . . . and that’s an important savings!</p>
<p>Okay, found it:</p>
<p>[Columbus</a> State Community College](<a href=“Page Not Found | Columbus State Community College”>http://www.cscc.edu/)</p>
<p>^ Huh? Dodgersmom, I get $13K for tuition alone for an OOS student at VSU. <a href=“http://www.vsu.edu/files/docs/financial-aid/2012-2013-cost-of-attendance.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vsu.edu/files/docs/financial-aid/2012-2013-cost-of-attendance.pdf</a> COA is ~$29K.</p>
<p>Toledo is ~$19K. <a href=“A to Z List”>A to Z List;
<p>The OP needs to do a bottom line comparison on what the costs are for her choices and what she can afford. Instead of taking out loans i would seriously consider going to a local school like Columbus State Community College, focus on excelling there, and transfer to OSU, a top grade school. Why would you want to take out loans before you are even making much money? It’s hard enough to be a college grad, looking for work without loans. With them, the pressure gets really bad. Do yourself and your parents a favor and try not to incur debt for college. Believe me, it makes a difference. Even without debt, my kids are having a tough time making ends meet after college.</p>
<p>Okay, Erin’s Dad, I give up. You figure out the discrepancy:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.vsu.edu/files/docs/tuition-fees2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vsu.edu/files/docs/tuition-fees2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>Same school, completely different numbers.</p>
<p>Your link is per semester.</p>
<p>And thank you to Erin’s Dad and annoyingdad for pointing out to me that I’m a complete idiot! :)</p>
<p>So, that makes VSU also completely unaffordable. Sorry for my mistake earlier. It did seem too good to be true . . .</p>