<p>Hey everyone, quick question: does the financial aid package received from the colleges directly cover on campus housing as well? I have heard that it only covers the tuition, and housing is paid out of pocket... Can anybody please shed some light on this topic, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on the cost of attendance (COA) of the school. The COA usually includes tuition & Fees, books, room & board, and allowances for travel and miscellaneous expenses.</p>
<p>It also depends on what kind of financial aid a specific school is offering. The univ. my daughter attended has need-based grant aid that covers tuition and fees, and other need-based grant aid that also covers R&B. The awards that are large enough to cover both are more limited, and there is a merit component… the grants were need-based, but the very highest stats students with need got the tuition+R&B award, others got the tuition-only grant.</p>
<p>At my son’s college all FA is need-based, and the whole COA, as described by swimcatsmom above, is the basis of all awards.</p>
<p>FA packages, even need-based ones, can vary greatly from school to school and student to student.</p>
<p>Grants and Scholarships in excess of tuition is taxable. Thus, they usually go towards tuition first. You can be awarded financial aid (scholarships, grants, loans) in excess of tuition and it can be used for room, board, books, fees, travel expenses, etc.</p>
<p>Most schools don’t meet need, so many won’t cover room and board. Some won’t even cover all of tuition. Also, much depends on your EFC. </p>
<p>What is your EFC? </p>
<p>You’ve gotten your aid pkgs, so why are you asking this question? What are the costs of your schools, and what is in the FA pkgs?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>*Hey guys, I am convinced that the worst feeling is not knowing what college to ultimately choose, at least right now I’m convinced it is. With time running out on making a deposit, I’m scrambling trying to make the choice between Fairleigh Dickinson Unjversity - College at Florham Campus, and St. Francis college in Brooklyn, NY. Here’s the deal: I would be majoring in Secondary Eduation w/ Social Studies and I want to go away and dorm. FDU is my top choice school right now, but honestly even with the financial aid package I’ve received from them, it’s still very expensive. St. Francis on the other hand, is on the much cheaper side at a fraction of the cost. I would be dorming there in Brooklyn too. My dilemma is as follows: I’ve always and still have the dream to be a firefighter. I will try and pursue that career as best as I can, but I will continue to end up majoring on education to become a teacher.
– **question: is it worth having SO much debt to go to FDU **because its my “top choice favorite” school, even if I’m not sure what my future will hold as far as being a teacher or firefighter? Or is it more worth it to go to the cheaper college ( st. Francis ) even though its not anywhere near being my top choice. The only reason I’m seriously considering them is because of the price and I really wouldn’t mind dorming in downtown brooklyn and being in be middle of the city that know and love? The location and price is second to none, but defiantly not what I have my mind set on. I’m convinced my dream school is FDU. *</p>
<p>No, it’s not worth it to have “so much debt.” How much debt are you talking about? Are you talking about taking out Plus loans and/or private loans? Are your parents willing to co-sign those private loans? Are your parents willing to pay back any Plus loans? </p>
<p>You can only take out the Stafford Direct loans and Perkins loans (if offered) by yourself. Additional loans require parent co-signers.</p>
<p>My question is this, where do you live and where do you want to teach?</p>
<p>If you live and want to teach in NY (NYC DOE), then I would go to school in NY as it would make the certification process easier. That said, there are differences between needs and wants. </p>
<p>IF you are commuting distance from ST Francis, I would recommend that you do that. In fact I would recommend that you attend CUNY-Queens or Hunter for a fraction of the cost and get a better education overall, and especially for secondary education. Even if you paid for dorms there , it would probably still be less expensive than St Francis unless you are getting a slew of merit $$. IIRC, St, Francis is not really very generous when it comes to financial aid so your parents are either going to pay the full cost of your dorming or will borrow the full cost for you to dorm.</p>
<p>f you are going to become a teacher, you are going to have to get a masters within 5 years of appointment in order to keep your job (which you are going to have to pay for either out of pocket or with loans). You really should keep your debt as low as possible.</p>
<p>If you are thinking about becoming a NYC firefighter, keep in mind you will need 60 college credits by the time they call you.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you all very much for your detailed responses. I have chosen St. Francis as my final decision. As Stated, they are not very generous when giving financial aid and the financial aid in grants and scholarships didn’t alone cover tuiton, loans included covers tuiton… Looks like my dream of dorming there is out of the question being that my family and I would have to take out additional loans just to cover housing. We will still ask the fin. aid office about how to “properly” read this package. Thanks again for the responses!</p>
<p>We will still ask the fin. aid office about how to “properly” read this package. Thanks</p>
<p>It’s not written in Greek. What exactly does the FA pkg include? What is the COA for the school? What is your EFC?</p>
<p>The way it works is that each college that takes federal funds has to come up with what is called a Cost of Attendance (COA). That number, COA, is the maximum for which you can get federally backed loans to go to that school. There are usually multiple COAs, one for boarding, one for commuting, one for living off campus but not with parents. Some schools just combine them into two, some have more for specific situations. Theoretically, you can get a financial/merit package right up to that maximum COA figure and still get federal money. Beyond that, you start losing federal money.</p>
<p>But most of the time, that isn’t even an issue because most schools do not even meet your EFC, never mind your COA. If you are not even getting the tuition covered at your school in awards, it’s a moot point as to whether or not the school is going to give you funding for living at school or in a place off campus. They aren’t giving you the money. Doesn’t matter if it’s for books, food, transportation, tuition, if you are already gapped as a commuter, you’ll have a far bigger gap as student not living at home with parents,because that parent subsidy when they are covering your 3 squares and cot is a hefty one, too often taken for granted by kids. </p>
<p>So your school did not even give you enough to cover the tuition, so it really doesn’t matter whether financial aid CAN cover housing, transportation, books, sundries, meals, etc. Yes it can. And if it comes to merit money the school is giving out of it’s own coffers, it can even be free money over and beyond what you need especially if you get outside awards in addition. So, yes, you CAN get financial aid and merit money to cover all sorts of things, but getting a school to give you that kind of money is not easy.</p>
<p>Tuition is 18.5k per year + $700 for fees. Their biggest scholarship is 8k.
If OP has a 0 EFC and a NYS resident, the max package would be 5625 Pell 5K Tap, $5500 loan (Not counting any kind of scholarship).
If student has a 0 EFC and the school gave a 3k scholarship along with gov’t funding, tuition would be covered. However under this scenario, Op will graduate with ~ 25k in debt (as Cpt stated, Op has not purchased a book, a pen or a metro card to get to school).</p>
<p>I think one of the disconnects is that some people think that private is always better than public. However in this case, if you have been accepted to either Bklyn, Queens, Hunter of City college, I would drop St. Francis and save the difference.</p>
<p>Sybbie, is TAP only useable against tuition, or can a student use the exces of Pell plus tap over SUNY tuition for dorming?</p>
<p>Is the NYS tuition aid plan. It can only be used for tuition. The maximum tap award is $5000. A student cannot receive TAP for more than the cost of tuition if tuition is less than 5k. For example the tuition for a SUNY CC is $3840/year for full time students.<br>
<a href=“https://www.suny.edu/student/paying_tuition.cfm[/url]”>https://www.suny.edu/student/paying_tuition.cfm</a></p>
<p>The COA for a SUNY CC is $17280 ($13,560 direct cost)</p>
<p>Student will receive the following package</p>
<p>TAP 3840
PELL 5625
Sub Stafford 3500
Unsub Stafford $2000
TOTAL $ 14,965</p>
<p>For a student with a 0 EFC, the direct cost of attending a SUNY CC will be covered by financial aid. Student would get back ~ 1k, which they can use to offset transportation, books, spring term, misc costs. They would still have to get a job and have some start-up money</p>
<p>If this student is attending a 4 year school, the direct costs are $17970. Since SUNY tuition is $5570 the max tap award does not cover the full tuition. Student would have a gap of ~3k that they would need to fill if they did not get SEOG, EOP funds or a Perkins loan. Student would have to work to make up the balance, parents would have to take out a loan (or student would get an additional unsub loan if parents are denied a PLUS Loan.</p>