couple finaid questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>hey i just have a couple finaid questions for parents or anybody who might know..</p>

<p>first, is money you earn through workstudy taken directly off your bill or do you actually get cash as you earn it? </p>

<p>also, does the actual bill consist of tuition and fees + room and board - awards and grants? the bill doesnt include books and personal expenses does it, and it doesnt automatically subtract the campus job, does it? also, what would personal expenses include?</p>

<p>oh, and for the stafford loan it says freshman can borrow $2625 - is that for the whole year or per semester? how come upperclassmen can borrow more?</p>

<p>thanks soo much to anybody who can help..figuring out how to pay for school is soooo stressful!!</p>

<p>oh also, does anybody have any opinions about how vital a laptop is for freshman - is it unheard of not to have your own computer? are there computer labs that are open all the time, or is it really important to have your own comptuer if you usually end up typing most papers at 3AM (like i do). thanks</p>

2

<p>Hi Lisa,
I am a parent of a Swat soph and can answer a couple of your questions. The $2625 for the Stafford loan is for the full year. (The amounts are federally regulated, not Swarthmore rules.) The number is increased yearly and they split the yearly total in half and apply half to your first semester's bill, and half to your second semester's bill.</p>

<p>As for the laptop, while I would say that the majority of students do have their own computers, it is not necessary. There are computer labs/lounges in each of the dorms as well as around obvious campus buildings such as the library. You have access to the computers in the dorm lounges at all hours of the day and night, and they also have printers with as much paper as you need!</p>

3

<p>"also, does the actual bill consist of tuition and fees + room and board - awards and grants? the bill doesnt include books and personal expenses does it, and it doesnt automatically subtract the campus job, does it? also, what would personal expenses include?"</p>

<p>The actual bill is tuition and fees (room and board). If you have an outside award (say NMF), then you subtract it (1/2 for each semi-annual tuition payment) and pay. We do that. I don't know about grants since my son did not get any through Swarthmore college.
I don't know about the campus job, again, because my son did not get any financial aid. But he works on campus and gets a check for it.</p>

<p>Lisa, was the financial aid to your liking?</p>

4

<p>Hi Lisa,</p>

<p>When my D was a student (graduated last year) she did two workstudy jobs and was paid a check at some point once each month. It more or less functioned as her spending money. She really liked her workstudy jobs, and they suited one of her majors.</p>

<p>My guess is that you will be happier if you have your own computer. They are relatively inexpensive now. D had a desktop for the first three
years, but worked extra hours the summer between junior and senior years to get a laptop. The main trouble with the desktop was that she had to store it during the summer and it was a huge Compaq (I am using it now as a matter of fact.) </p>

<p>You may be able to find one there from someone who is willing to sell! I loved reading the Dailyjolt while my D was there, as there is a lot of information about Swat . . .plus links to the Phoenix newspaper, funny quotes from professors, etc, and had a place for buying and selling stuff. You can find it at ww.dailyjolt.com and find the link to Swat. (Actually, I haven't tried it this year and am not sure they are still doing dailyjolt, but it is worth a try.)</p>

<p>We found the fin aid to be very reasonable, and fair. There were many times I had to contact the office and was very impressed by the helpful and kind manner of the folks working there.</p>

5

<p>On computers:</p>

<p>There are public computer lounges (both Mac and PC) just about everywhere -- all of the dorms, the library, the Science Center coffee shop, the Kohlberg coffee shop, the science labs, etc. My D has a laptop, but she almost never takes it out of the dorm room and uses the public computers when she is out and about. </p>

<p>You have a network log-in password, do checking email or accessing your files on the network file servers is the same from a public computer as it is from your own computer. Once you've logged on, it is "your" computer. The real advantage of a laptop is the ease of taking it with you on vacations. Overall, I think it would be possible to get by without a computer at all, but getting a desktop would be an even better low-cost alternative. A desktop capable of running Windows XP is dirt cheap.</p>

<p>It would not surprise me at all if Swarthmore has an informal system of recycling computers to students who need one.</p>

6

<p>ok, thanks for your help everyone.</p>

<p>interesteddad, do you have any idea who i could call or talk to to find out if there is a program like that?</p>

<p>achat, the financial aid was very generous and even though it's still going to be a stretch i would really regret not accepting it. im determined to go to swarthmore, so im going to try to get a second summer job and cut back on all possible expenses. although right now everything seems a little overwhelming, i really think it'll be manageable :)</p>

7

<p>"im determined to go to swarthmore, so im going to try to get a second summer job and cut back on all possible expenses. "</p>

<p>It's your decision, but I think you won't regret it. Maybe, I'll see you on campus on my frequent sojourns there.....dropping son off after an overnight at home.</p>

8

<p>LisaSimpson:</p>

<p>I wanted to talk to my D before answering your computer questions. Here's the deal.</p>

<p>You absolutely do not need a laptop. Most students who have laptops never take them out of their rooms.</p>

<p>You can definitely survive without a computer. There are computers in a lounge in every dorm (usually two Mac and two Windows) plus a Laser Printer with free paper. My daughter says these probably wouldn't be that great for writing a paper, just because of the general hustle and bustle. However, these computers and the ones in the coffee bars are used by everybody to log on and check email.</p>

<p>The libraries have a ton of public computers. For example, I think the main library has 48 work stations. The ones on the main floor are sometimes busy, but tthere is a separate computer lab on the fourth floor that is quiet and gets very little use. This is open at night until I think 1:00 am. There is a similar setup in the Cornell Science lab. I think the computers there are in little cubicles. That library is open 'til midnight.</p>

<p>In addition, the Swarthmore Computer Society has a Computer Media Lounge with two dozen high power computers in the basement of the Tarble student center. It's open 'til 2:00 am on school nights (Sun thru Thurs). Here a link to a webcam to see that setup and how busy it is (not!).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/medialounge.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/medialounge.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In addition, Swarthmore students can check a college laptop out at the circulation desk of the main library just like a book for four hours at a time (for use in the library). So, you could easily grab one of these and go find a quite desk in the library.</p>

<p>Finally, my D says that roommates use each others computers all the time to check e-mail and stufff.</p>

<p>All you would need to take your paper anywhere on campus would be one these little $20 or $30 memory chip thingies that fit on a keychain. They plug into any computer and hold 256 or 512 megabytes of files (a whole bunch of Word documents!). Or, you could store your files on the network servers.</p>

<p>Having said that, D says that getting a cheapo desktop would probably be the best solution, especially if you are procrastinator and end up writing papers in the wee hours of the moring. You can buy a brand new Dell for $350 with a regular monitor (a hundred bucks more with a flat-screen monitor) that would get the job done. </p>

<p>On to the next issue: my daughter agreed with me that there it is quite possible that somebody at Swat could probably "find" a computer somewhere sooner or later. She agreed that the first place to start would be outlining pretty much what you wrote about a second job and all with your adcom (either regional adcom or multicultural adcom, whatever the case may be -- you'll have to forgive me, I can't keep everybody straight!). </p>

<p>At this point, their job becomes doing whatever they can to make it comfortable (or at least not too painful) for you to enroll at Swarthmore. Concerns about a budget for books and a computer are certainly legitimate issues for any prospective student, especially when you are willing to sacrifice to make it happen. Your post above was exactly the right tone, IMO.</p>

<p>Beyond the admissions office, you will have a financial aid officer assigned to you, who you can and should meet with at Ride the Tide or who you can e-mail or who you call. Financial aid offers are not cast in concrete. If you feel that the cost will be a hardship, you should contact the Financial Aid officer and state your case. They would be more upset if you didn't. </p>

<p>There are also a number of Deans including the Multicultural Dean (or whatever they call him) who do everything they can to support students and find solutions to problems. And, finally, you are going to be assigned an academic advisor, again one that may be assigned based on specific needs.</p>

<p>I think that most good problem-solving at Swat probably takes place through informal channels rather than some written policy that you could go look up. That's why I can only point you towards some of the resources on campus. I think getting a lay of the land and figuring out who might be able to make something happen is really important for all incoming freshmen.</p>

9

<p>The multicultural Dean's name is Rafael. He is very helpful and he's also my son's academic advisor (may change this year).</p>

<p>But there is also a place to buy books cheap online. I'll try and find it sometime.</p>

10

<p>Lisa, here's a cut-and-paste of a post I had seen on yahoogroups about discount books online for Swat students:
"ADVERTISEMENT</p>

<p>NB - I emailed Ben a few days ago about swatbooks; he had forgotten
all about it, but he's told me that he is planning on updating it
this Saturday.</p>

<p>---> On Thu, Aug 19, 2004 at 04:46:10AM -0000, Jeff wrote:</p>

<br>


<br>

11

<p>wow, thanks sooo much interesteddad and achat! now i know that i definitely have a lot of options with the computer issue, and im very relieved that it wont be a huge problem. and the cheap books will also be a huge help! do you guys know when we get the list of books that we need? because with ordering online shipping can take a couple of weeks, so i want to order them as soon as possible to have them in time for class. :) thanks again</p>

12

<p>Lisa, you don't know what courses you will take or what courses you will get into, so ordering books may not be a good idea. I'd suggest waiting. I don't think it will take 2 weeks to get your books. Btw, the Swat bookstore has used books as well.</p>

13

<p>I meant online shipping usually takes 2-3 business days (you might pay a few dollars extra - like $2 or something).</p>