<p>I was awarded $18,275 for my total financial aid. Will part of this money pay for on-campus housing? The reason I ask is because there is an option "Housing payment plan: Financial aid" when submitting my housing payment and I want to be sure if I can check this option.</p>
<p>Does your financial aid award exceed the cost of tuition? If so, yes…it can be applied to housing/board.</p>
<p>I’m going to UCLA. Tuition is $10,781. Room and board is around another 11k. Will the extra 8k I have in aid be used for room and board? Which option do I choose to pay for my housing… since my aid can’t cover all the costs…</p>
<p>Does your “aid” already include student loans? If not, that would be the logical option to pay for the balance of R&B unless you have other resources. Most schools also offer a monthly payment plan which is interest free. I’m not familiar with UCLA’s housing options, but you might be able to cut that expense a bit by choosing lower cost dorm/meal plans.</p>
<p>The answer is “It can.” But not necessarily. This, like many financial aid issues, have to be discussed with the specific college’s financial aid office. We don’t know what you told the university when you applied for financial aid. There are situations where if you change your mind on what you said you were going to do at the time you applied, it can affect your award.</p>
<p>An example is if you get an award when you check the boxes that say you are going to be living in university housing. At Barnard, if you then decide to live off campus, yes, it can reduce your aid. They have the stipulation that you have to live in the dorms for many of the awards they make. Or if you say you are living on campus and then choose to commute, your aid definitely can be reduced at many schools, because that reduces your COA in most cases, and your need and correspondingly your aid. </p>
<p>I’ve seen this cause a lot of trouble. A friend and her daughter decided AFTER getting the financial aid award and accepting admittance to a college, that instead of living at the school, she would use some of the money to buy a car and commute. In doing so, she could keep a very nice part time job she found that was located between home and the school. All very logical, but the school financial aid office took issue with the young lady getting the amount of aid she was getting from the school under those circumstances and cut her aid correspondingly. </p>
<p>I don’t know what UCLA’s policies are in this regard and what your specifics are. Only the financial aid office knows the stipulations of the award. In the case of Fordham U, it could be a problem, if you got an award based on the information that you are commuting from home, and all of a sudden you decide you want a dorm room. That is because they do give commuting awards to commuting students, and those disappear if you are not commuting.</p>