<p>I am trying to submit my financial aid package offer until it asked me if I want to "convert my loans and receive the maximum Work-Study award." Currently, they are offering me $3500 in Fed Loan Sub, $1600 in Perkins Loan, $3190 Work-study, and $409 EFC. Should I go with that option?</p>
<p>I'm not that knowledgeable, but I don't think WS is allowed to be much more than what you have listed now....</p>
<p>It depends on how much you need to be assured of the money. $3190 is quite a lot to try and earn. you need to find out how much the WS jobs at your school pay and how easy it is to get them. If you stay with the loans you are assured of the money - and subsidized and perkins loans are the best loans you can get.</p>
<p>We actually went the other way - my daughter was offered $3400 in WS and we had half of it converted to subsidized loans as we though $3400 was a lot for her to try and earn. She ended up not even earning the full remaining WS. We will do the same this year but will try and make sure she has a more reliable WS job.</p>
<p>Personally I would say do not convert the loans to WS this year untill you see how your first year works out.</p>
<p>Let's just say that I leave the WS amount to be $3190 for now. If I am not able to work off entirety of that $3190, will they allow me to convert the rest to loan? What kind of loan will it be?</p>
<p>In my daughter's case she was able to convert part of her WS to a Stafford subsidized loan. But she did not already have the maximum allowed Stafford which you do. So I am not sure if you would be able to convert it to a loan. You would have to ask the school.</p>
<p>She did it at the beginning of the school year. We did not attempt to convert the rest to a loan once we realized she was not going to earn the balance. Don't think they will let us do it now with 5 days of school left! I don't know if they would have let her if we had asked.</p>
<p>I had a similar debate with myself, and my work study was at about $3000. I called my school asking if there was any way to change the amount of work study while keeping my aid amount the same. They gave me a conditional no and told me to accept the offer. I accepted, kept in touch with my aid officer and over the summer my financial aid officer changed my work study to a grant when more money was freed up. This allowed me to get a non-ws job over the school year.</p>
<p>The biggest thing is to be persistent. Don't be a jerk, beat them up or call them all the time but just let them know that you would appreciate any changes they could make to your work study. If they will allow you to convert your extra work study to loans, make sure you get it in an email or have some verifiable proof for later on. Hope it all goes your way.</p>