Comparing New England College's FA Packages

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi I just received FA packages in the mail from these schools and I made sort of a spreadsheet to compare:</p>

<p>College: Suffolk* Johnson & Wales Southern NH </p>

<p>Total cost: 44,000 34,000 36,000 </p>

<p>Awards/Scholarship: 14,000 7,400 8,000</p>

<p>Pell Grant: 0 5,500 5,550</p>

<p>SEOG Grant 0 400 1,200</p>

<p>Work Study 2,500 2,220 2,500</p>

<p>Stafford/subsudize 3,500 3,500 3,500</p>

<p>Stafford/unsub 2,000 2,000 2,000</p>

<p>Need based 0 0 12,000</p>

<ul>
<li>Suffolk is my first choice.</li>
</ul>

<p>It leaves me owing about $30K which is like $8-10K off what I can afford, so I was wondering what I should do to try and receive more FA from Suffolk because I really want to go there. I am going there tomorrow for accepted students day as well.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>I don’t understand why you were given Pell at two schools and not at the other. Pell is federal – usually it is the first piece of any student’s package if you’re eligible for it. And, if you’re eligible for the Pell grant amounts ($5500) at the other schools, I’d guess that you have a very low if not zero EFC. As it stands:</p>

<p>Suffolk costs $44K/yr. They’ll give you $14,000 in award/scholarship money, leaving you $30K a year to cover – they’re suggesting $5,500 in loans that you would take out (the Staffords), and $2500 in work study. That leaves your family on the hook for $22K a year, which is a huge amount in loans. ($27,500 a year in loans including yours.)</p>

<p>Johnson & Wales costs $34K/yr. They’ll give you $13.3K in grants (federal and school), leaving you $20.7K to cover. They’re suggesting $5,500 in loans that you would take out (the Staffords), and $2,220 in work study earnings. That leaves your family on the hook for $13K in loans. ($18.5K a year in loans including yours.) Still a pretty big loan balance after four years, IMO.</p>

<p>Southern New Hampshire costs $36K/year. They’ll give you $26,750 in grants (federal and school), leaving you $9.2K to cover. They’re suggesting $5,500 in loans that you would take out (the Staffords), and $2.5K in work study earnings. This leaves your family on the hook for $1.2K in loans – but this is a low enough amount that you could likely earn that much during the summer, and if you lived economically you might not even need this full amount. This is pretty close to meeting your full need, though you would be taking on $5.5K/year in student loans. </p>

<p>One thing to check with each offer is whether the grants and award money is likely to continue for each of your remaining years in school, and what the requirements are for keeping it.</p>

3

<p>

I think you’ve answered your own question. </p>

<p>Why would you want to select a school that’s $8-10K more than you can afford when there are affordable alternatives? The $8-10K will need to be met with loans that start accruing interest at the time the funds are borrowed. Over 4 years you’re looking at graduating with an additional $35-44K of debt (including interest).</p>

<p>After graduation, $35K of loans at 6.8% interest over 10 years will take $48K to pay back (principal + $13K interest) or $403/month for ten years. $44k would be $506/month. Again, this would be in addition to any other loans that were needed.</p>