<p>Alright, so WF has given me about $33,500 in money that I don't have to pay back. With tuition and fees and room, the cost is 45,212. Can anyone tell me where the extra $7,000 comes from in WF's cost of attendence estimate? I know they have it all listed out, and I'm trying to find any wiggle room I can-what exactly does "board" encompass? Is that the meal plans? Anyone? Anything? I've been trying to not get my hopes up, but I don't want to give up on Wake completely if there's a way.</p>
<p>yes, “board” is meals. Total cost of attendance is $52k, unless you are local and living at home.</p>
<p>[Cost</a> of Attendance](<a href=“Student Financial Aid | Wake Forest University”>Undergraduate Costs & Fees | Student Financial Aid | Wake Forest University)</p>
<p>You got your financial aid already? I’m jealous.</p>
<p>Sorry this post didn’t help at all. =]</p>
<p>wjhs, may I ask what your EFC is? I just want to know if our EFC is similar so I can expect the same package as you.</p>
<p>My EFC was around $4300ish. So in terms of meeting need, Wake was really generous, and covered a lot. But I don’t want to have to sell my soul in order to pay off these loans.
I’ve gone over the CoA repeatedly to try and figure out how much is concrete (room, tuition, fees), and how much of it is flexible/how much I can skip and save on (the cheapest meal plan, books…). I mean, I’m not going to spend $750 on travel, or $1400 on personal expenses. If I do, I’m def. not taking a loan for it…I’m willing to work as hard as I need to. Just trying to see if I can even make it a possibility.</p>
<p>Wait. If your EFC was 4300… shouldn’t they have given you ~48-48 k in money? Or do you mean you got 33 k in free money and the rest (probably 15k) were loans?</p>
<p>About $14000 in loans.</p>
<p>Ouch.</p>
<p>I guess I should expect 12 k in loans, then. Since my EFC is 2800.</p>
<p>Oy vey. That’s going to hurt. I’m scared now.</p>
<p>14000 in loans A YEAR? Does your family have a lot of savings, investments, or something?</p>
<p>That’s A LOT in loans. My EFC is around 3k. I cannot afford 56k in loans by the time I graduate. I am sorry but that’s really sketchy for Wake to say they meet full need if they put that much loans in a package. Way to Admit-deny me Wake.</p>
<p>when do u hear about financial aid??!?
is it a letter they mail to u</p>
<p>Exactly.
No, my family has no savings, no investments, no anything, unless you count chickens (which I don’t). We live in a rural county, and I’m the middle of 5 kids. A 22-year-old finishing up his community college transistion after serving a mission, a 20-year-old serving his mission, in Singapore, a sister who’ll be a junior in HS next year and another sister who’ll be a freshman (HS). My dad graduated one semester short of a degree back in the day because he had kids to feed and he got offered a job.
So yeah. $56,000 in loans. See why I’m trying to make the numbers work?</p>
<p>catalina: I got a letter yesterday, but I was admitted using their extra special application for NC students, so I don’t know if my timeline will match up with yours. I don’t know if Wake Forest believes in emails. They certainly don’t send many.</p>
<p>Honestly, wjhsxc, do you have a back-up school that is cheaper? No school, including Wake, is worth that much in loans. Anything over 25k in loans is ludicrous, especially in our socioeconomic bracket. I understand economic times are rough, but I do not think we deserved to be chained in loans for years because of our background. Wake needs to stop lying and just say they’re need-aware or that they do not meet 100% of need. 56k in loans with a EFC of 4k is NOT meeting full need. That’s pitiful Wake, really pitiful…</p>
<p>wjhsxc, if my FA package is like yours in ANY school, I would not attend. I rather just be a star student at my state’s flagship and graduate debt free. I am willing to take loans to go to Wake, but not that much. How much the loans are subsidized? I am just shocked about your package…I mean they say they meet 100% of need a thousand times on their (outdated) website, that is just crazy to package that much loans. Ugh. Is there anyway to negotiate your package with Wake? Any Wake parents or alumni here for advice? Please?! We all really want to attend Wake but this package is just crazy…</p>
<p>How much work-study did they give?</p>
<p>wjhsxc: thanks for letting me know! i applied with commonapp from ny.
it seems really ridic that they make u take that many loans i hope they arent doing that to everyone! do u think u can appeal ur financial aid package?</p>
<p>Haha. Yeah. UNC CH would leave me with $8,000 in loans after 4 years.
Which seems somewhat rediculous; a huge public school has managed to meet almost all of the cost with only $2k a year, whereas Wake, a small private school has given me the equivilant (sp…) of Carolina’s 1 year CoA in loans alone…they both gave me 2k in work study.
I know I’m being stupid, but it’s for Wake! I’m just trying to fill in all the corners before I fully resign myself to Tarheeldom. Not that it’s a bad school, or anything. I just made the mistake of picking a favorite before I heard back from the money people. And I wouldn’t be asking, except I’m trying to stabilize the emotional swings I’ve been going through. My mom is anti Wake because of the costs, so I go through the day thinking Tarheel thoughts, and then I get home and my dad is still considering it as a possibility and working out ways to lessen the load.
Which brings me to my original purpose in posting: Is there any way to not spend more than the $45k in absolute fees?</p>
<p>hey again
i got rejeccted from UNC CH so i think that u would be happy there also! not that wake isnt awesome also! i know it sounds cliche but u will probs be happy no matter where u end up and its lucky that NC has such a good public U! im probs going to choose where i end up based on the money situation also</p>
<p>Go to Carolina. I would die to have your option. Carolina is a top public school that has international reputation. Your education will be top-notch. I get stuck with sucky FSU, which is known more for their parties than their education.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that you’re package is horrible, at least there’s more than one of us that will be burned by Wake like you! Being a Tarheel won’t be so bad in 4 years when you graduate will little debt :)</p>
<p>i kinda agree
i wish i had UNC CH as an option its so gorgeous there!
i only have SUNY Binghamton</p>
<p>I guess we just have to wait until we get our Financial Aid packages.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to go to FSU.</p>
<p>But George Washington gave me 53k so I have a decent financial back-up.</p>