<p>So, I applied ED to Duke University and got in. It was the greatest day of my life until I discovered that the financial aid package I am expected to receive is pretty much nothing. I have about 4,000 dollars in loans and 2,200 in work study. I am not receiving anything else! Am I expected to receive any more money? Have all the merit scholarships or need based financial aid already been given out?! My family makes about 60k a year so I did not expect us to receive a lot of financial aid but it is troubling that I am literally not receiving any extra help at all. Will the package change in the spring time or am I finished with financial aid?</p>
<p>Call the Financial Aid Office to discuss the package and to validate the accuracy of the data they employed. It’s possible that you, or they, inadvertently made a typo or that there was some type of computational error.</p>
<p>Are your parents divorced? Do they own a small business? Do y’all have more than one home/apartment/real estate properties? With $60k/yr, one primary residence, and married parents (no ‘special circumstances’) the package should likely be a very small family contribution (including the student contribution), the work-study, and loans, but most of it in grant aid.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses guys. I am probably going to either call or email Duke to see if either they made a mistake or I filed something incorrectly. @purpleacorn, no my parents are not divorced, actually, my dad is unemployed so the 60k is all from my mom. Also we do not have a business or anything of that sort. I really hope they made a mistake because I do not know if I can afford Duke’s education even though I really want to go. I am hoping for the best though!</p>
<p>Definitely call Duke. I would also go through, line-by-line, your CSS profile and see if an extra zero or anything was put in. If your family’s circumstances are ‘normal,’ Duke should be affordable.</p>
<p>I also have a question about Duke’s financial aid. I received several thousand in loans, but the amount is not included in my or my parents’ contribution package. Since I’ll likely have to take out a loan to pay for the rest of the tuition( I did receive a scholarship amount, but not full tuition), will this be separate from the loans from Duke? Why are the loans included in my financial aid package if I have to pay it anyway?</p>
<p>Yes. Duke packages in a certain amount of loans into your financial aid package. It is assumed that you would borrow to finance your education, and one way to do that is through a minimal amount of loans (capped at $5k/yr).</p>
<p>Any additional private loans taken out (by parents, home equity, co-signed) would be additional and a decision on your family’s part.</p>
<p>Duke explains their FA awarding process quite clearly-- how they award what. If you wanted a loan-free school, that should have been a consideration before you applied ED.</p>
<p>OP - if Duke included $4k in loans in your package, this is an indication that they have estimated your family’s income at $70k-85k (see link provided by purpleacorn in #9). Obviously there is a significant disparity between your estimate of $60k and Duke’s.</p>
<p>Remember that your FA package is based primarily on your family’s income during 2012. If your father became unemployed in 2013 and this reduced your family income, be sure Duke’s FA office knows this.</p>
<p>@ericcc720, I’m in a similar situation right now and I’m interested in hearing about what happened and what you’ve decided if you don’t mind sharing</p>