<p>My son will be applying for Financial Aid this fall as a Freshman and I can't afford to pay for room and board whether it's on or off campus so I wish to know what options I have for him to live on Campus? How do other students manage this please? Thanks.</p>
<p>Room and board is included in the FA calculations. Depending upon your EFC and the track records of the schools to which your son is applying, you may not be paying anymore for him to live in a dorm as opposed to at home.</p>
<p>Most colleges require that freshman live on campus, unless they live locally and can commute. You may wish to investigate whether the college has different prices for different rooming arrangements, ie, from singles (most expensive) to quad's (usually least expensive).</p>
<p>appreciate the info guys, thanks.</p>
<p>STEEL - every student is figured a ''school budget'' which includes tuition/fees/room/board/expenditures/etc...which is the total cost to attend - you can find out what that figure is for your student by calling the financial aid office of the school. </p>
<p>Example -
tuition/fees - $10,000
room/board - $5,000/$3,500
expenses - $2,100 (books/transportation home/personal items)
TOTAL $20,600 - cost to attend
(1 semester - $10,300) </p>
<p>Many schools do require freshman to be on campus - which also means they are required to have a meal plan as well.</p>
<p>Financial aid available - without grants/scholarships - will include subsidized federal loans (in the students name - interest is paid by government while in school) - Parent Plus (in the parents name - repayment starts right away) - and if the parent does not qualify for a Parent Plus loan - then the student can qualify for an un-subsidized student loan - interest is paid by the student/parent while the student is in school. Student loans in good standing do not start re-payment til 6 or 9 months after they graduate or are no longer a student - can't remember which it is - sorry.</p>
<p>Depending on your income situation there are also a couple of other financial things - Pell Grant is one such thing.</p>
<p>You will need to figure your budget based on a full year of your kids education and figure how much is needed to borrow - and how much you can afford out of pocket/savings/etc.....</p>
<p>The federally subsidized loan amounts go up by the year - and just remember when figuring your budget - that there is a fee charged to this loan - so the total amount is not dispursed - it is a small percentage - just so you don't end up short in your figureing.</p>
<p>This thread has some info that may be of help to you as well.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Great advice NOT to forget that (small) percentage charged for the stafford loans....
My son finally sent me the THIRD overdo notice for the $50 we still owed after his Stafford loan was applied to his account. The school was rather annoyed that he/we still had a balance due.....</p>
<p>Another possibility that I forgot to mention is Work-Study - which is a form of a federal grant - the student is provided funds for doing an on campus job - usually between 1500 to 2500 per year - tho for freshman they try to keep it at the lower amount/time involved.</p>
<p>Steel,</p>
<p>welcome to CC
Even if you son is not eligible for federal work study, he may be eligible for work study employment. If your son receives work study he will get a job on campus working 10/15 hours a week. Depending on the school, some work study jobs pay between $10/15 an hour (these are usually tutors and tech people). Even if he is not work study eligible, there are still jobs on campus where they will hire non-work study students also. </p>
<p>Depending on the school, once your son becomes a sophmore he may be eligible to become a RA. At many colleges if a student is a RA they get free room in addition to a small stipend. Check the policies at your son's prospective schools. </p>
<p>In addition, at some schools, students who work for food services also get to eat free as part of their compensation. Many of these jobs hire non-work study as well as work study students check this out also.</p>
<p>hope this helps</p>
<p>Yes, that definitely helps a LOT, thank you! My main concern at this time is to try to have my son NOT work at all during schooltime as he is an ADHD case, he will need all of his time to focus on studies so I am looking for ways to make this possible. I don't know if working only during the summer months will be enough to carry him through an entire school year.</p>
<p>My wife just sent me this link which concerns me even more</p>
<p>My priority now has to be to get him as much as I can in Aid and grants, any ideas there please? Thanks.</p>
<p>both my kids have ADD as well as learning disabilties and we have actually found that a work study job helps to become better organized about how they spend their time- as well as give them an opportunity to meet others on campus.
It is true that students with ADD require more time for homework- but as you probably know, it is very easy to excel in procrastination, and having to schedule a job & homework time can help to use their time more wisely
my daughter was able to have a single room- no extra charge for three years which helped a great deal to give her study time.</p>
<p>Depending on where your S is applying, search out alternative housing options, i.e. coops at UC Berkeley.</p>