<p>I was just wondering, because I've been hearing a lot of people saying they were surprised at how generous certain schools were. Or is this just saying that most schools do not meet 100% of need, due to smaller endowments? </p>
<p>I've heard some Ivies will bump up their "FA" offers, but I don't really want to go to an Ivy. And I'd be decent candidate, but I doubt I'd get into most of them.</p>
<p>I'd like to go to a few pricey schools, some in Cali, Florida, kinda far away from me in Ohio. Do schools take into consideration how far and costly it will be for one to travel?</p>
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<p>Ha...and they don't care how much it will cost to move across the country.>></p>
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<p>Actually, that's not entirely true. SOME schools actually do have a higher "student expense" allowance for students who are traveling a long distance to get to their schools. The recognize that a cross country airline ticket is more expensive than a cross town tank of gas. Not every school makes this kind of adjustment...but some do.</p>
<p>What schools do that? I have heard of schools flying you out on your own money and then reimbursing you to check out the school before even applying. But never giving you extra just to come there after applying and getting in.</p>
<p>And by extra, what do you mean...extra loan money...that you end up paying for anyway?</p>
<p>Some schools will adjust your financial aid package to include some money for travel to and from home. They won't give you unlimited airfare money, but some schools do recognize this. You need to talk to the individual finaid departments. Re: how they fund this...that would depend on the school and its resources.</p>
<p>vsg,
I don't think the OP is asking if schools give FA packages for more their COA, but rather if they give more than your EFC.</p>
<p>I can only speak from personal experience, but yes, this did happen to us. Two years ago, before the newly revised FA policies, my D was offered grants for about 15k from HYP even though we had no need according to the Profile (EFC higher than COA). She likely got these generous offers because she was a "desirable" student for various reasons. I know that you said you aren't necessarily interested in an Ivy, so the rest of the story will apply more to your question. That same year, schools slightly lower in selectivity and endowment (Amherst and Brown) offered us zero in FA. So, other than Stanford, I would doubt that many schools will give you a FA package that does more than match your need. </p>
<p>As far as taking distance into account for travel expenses, I've heard what Thumper says too, that some colleges increase the COA if you live further away. And so, if they are a school that gives 100% of need, that difference could be seen in your FA package. Whether it would be in the form of grants, loans or WS would depend on the school.</p>
<p>I suppose different colleges do it differently, but in our case my son's Cost of Attendence included tuition, room&board, fees, books&supplies, personal expenses, and travel. The travel is adjusted depending on where you live. (I don't know if there is any travel allowance for students who live within driving distance, but I doubt it.) And, no, we didn't ask for it, it's just how his aid was calculated.</p>
<p>They awarded my son exactly as much in work-study as they budgeted for 'personal expenses' - so he just earns his spending money at his campus job. They expect parents to pay directly for books and travel, and so they deduct the amount they budget for those things from the Expected Parental Contribution.</p>
<p>This is just our experience with this one college though, and it's a generous, well-endowed one. I don't mean to suggest it's typical or something new students should necessarily expect somewhere else. Thumper1 is right in saying that if you want to know how a certain college considers these costs, you need to ask their financial aid office.</p>
<p>And my dad is retired military, so I think I get to keep my ID until I'm 22(I'm plan on going into the Coast Guard anyway). But with that I can catch a flight on an Air Force plane and fly to Wright-Pat, an AFB 4 hours from my house in Ohio.
But the plane is uncomfortable, but the main problem is you would be the first one bumped off I they need more room to haul crap. But it's free, and perfect for old people and college kids. But then again, I'm not sure if they really want a college kid and all his crap, but I'll have to check into this.</p>
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<p>So if I go to school in Southern California, chances are, they will bump my aid up a little bit, since I live in Ohio?>></p>
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<p>You have to ask the school. DD goes to college in CA. We live in CT. Her school did NOT change her financial aid to reflect her travel costs. But other schools do. It depends on the school.</p>
<p>The place where a student will see an adjustment for higher travel expenses, if the school chooses to allow that, would be in the Cost of Attendance, or COA (the budget). My D's school gives her a higher travel expense than they would give a student who lives closer. If a school doesn't automatically adjust budgets for location, you can always request a budget adjustment.</p>
<p>The school doesn't pay anyone for anything. Schools award aid, some based on need. Need based aid cannot be awarded in excess of need. Need is COA - EFC - scholarships - grants - work study - Perkins & Stafford subsidized loans (sometimes work study & loans might be awarded in a different order). The lowest this number can go is 0 (no negatives allowed). Unsubsidized Stafford loans are awarded based on COA - scholarships - grants - work study - Perkins & Stafford subsidized loans (no EFC taken out here). Parent PLUS loans may be borrowed to cover the gap (the amount that remains when all aid is subtracted from COA). There are limits on the maximum Perkins & Stafford loans, though, according to student's year in school. If the COA is increased to cover travel, the aid would be increased accordingly. How this increase plays out is different for each school.</p>
<p>If the school is using only its own grant money, not federal money, in a student's financial aid package ... they can award it however they want. That is where you might see EFC - COA - grants = a negative number. If there is federal need based aid involved (Pell, SEOG, work study, Perkins or subsidized loans) this would not be allowed to happen.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you all...I'll keep this in mind for my younger sister. She'll be starting next year (if she quits being lazy and does her applications). Me, myself stayed at home.</p>
<p>My experience is that where there's a little give is in the "expenses" portion of the aid. Some schools are more generous than others in computing COA, just because of what they consider to be reasonable expenses. My son gets between $750-1000 a semester in the form of a check from his school, to cover expenses. This includes books and travel, as well, as "miscellaneous expenses". We had other financial aid packages that had much smaller amounts in their COA budgets for books or travel. Our understanding is that the amount he got for expenses would be smaller if we lived closer to the school. On the other hand, we've heard of schools that include the cost of a laptop or desktop computer in their expenses figure for COA, at least for freshman year aid. I suppose you could anticipate this by looking at what the school lists in that category in the usual web page or prospectus section listing fees and financial aid stats.</p>
<p>And my dad is retired military, so I think I get to keep my ID until I'm 22(I'm plan on going into the Coast Guard anyway). But with that I can catch a flight on an Air Force plane and fly to Wright-Pat, an AFB 4 hours from my house in Ohio. >>>>>>></p>
<p>You keep your ID until you are 23, as long as you are a student. </p>
<p>But you cannot fly Space A without your sponsor within the US, so you could not fly from CA to OH without your dad.</p>