<p>Ok. I talked to FA and they won't budge even though our NPC gave us an estimate of 4k per year we are now paying $13,000 (11k EFC + 2k loans). I have already enrolled but how do I make this work? I'm so angry at financial aid right now....</p>
<p>Also, how do I avoid scholarships raising my EFC? I find this so ridiculous, that scholarships decrease your aid. :( </p>
<p>Sorry, I'm flustered and my typing sucks. </p>
<p>I don't know what to do...help?</p>
<p>What is an “NPC” that gave you an estimate of a $4,000 family contribution… and what was your FAFSA EFC? Did your parents give you a budget for how much they were willing to pay per year for your college education? Duke claims to meet demostrated need so where did your estimates come from? There might be nothing you can do. You are eligible for $5500 in federal direct loans for freshman year so if Duke included $2,000 in its finaid estimate you would still be eligible for $3500 more.</p>
<p>From another thread by the OP - NPC being net price calculator
</p>
<p>Scholarship $$ can replace the self-help (work-study/loan) portion of finaid package.</p>
<p>^Indeed, any scholarship you get will cut out of your loans and possibly other parts of your EFC (work-study, or a “Student contribution”, depends on school policy) before it starts cutting into grants.</p>
<p>Your angry at Duke for giving you over $40K and only $2K in loans? You’re mad that outside scholarships reduce need? Time for an entitlement check! You’re one fortunate kid.</p>
<p>$11K a year at Duke and you’re mad? Give us a break.</p>
<p>Can your family cover this gap, or not? If your family can’t, then you can’t afford Duke. Period. Sit down with whoever it is who is helping you pay for your education, and get real about your financial situation.</p>
<p>I can understand being surprised that the NPC was off by so much, but I agree w/ other posters re: entitlement. As a post on another thread notes, it is unreasonable to expect that, just b/c one has a low EFC, the universe (or the university) will cough-up grants totalling the difference b/w COA and EFC.</p>
<p>It sounds like it might be the OP’s sister who is receiving an outside scholarship, not the OP. In which case apparently Duke is decreasing the OP’s award because of the sister’s outside scholarship. If that’s what’s going on, then I’m assuming that it’s part of Duke’s FA policy, but it’s probably considered too much of a detail to be part of the NPC. </p>
<p>OP, I feel for you–it really is awful that you’re finding out about this gap this late in the game. It is up to Duke to decide how much to award a student. And it’s up to them to decide what your “need” is. As for the accuracy of the NPCs, each institution is required to include certain elements dictated by the feds, but after that the level of detail is up to the college.</p>
<p>There is no gap. Duke met 100% of his/her demonstrated need. </p>
<p>I think the difference in the aid between what the student put in the NPC and what s/he got as an actual package can be attributed to the fact that mom is self employed. This can always be tricky when people who don’t have straight forward situation meaning income and normal assets (no business, no non-custodial parents, etc.)</p>
<p>There may have been monies/business losses that mom wrote off on her taxes that gave her a lower income. However, for financial aid purposes, most of the expenses that she wrote off, may have been added back in.</p>
<p>I agree with the others, who stated to get a 40k package on a 53k school is really good (it is probably going to be the equivalent or less than the living on campus at his/her local state U). I believe that Op did not do his/her due diligence in finding out how much mom was really prepared to pay or borrow for this education. This is the main reason that many posters say if your money situation is kind of funky and you you think that there is going to be a problem paying for college, to apply RD.</p>
<p>If OP feels that this package is not doable, s/he can ask to be released from ED. However, OP could be very disappointed if s/he were to find out that after giving up package, that this was the overall best package out there.</p>
<p>*It sounds like it might be the OP’s sister who is receiving an outside scholarship, not the OP. In which case apparently Duke is decreasing the OP’s award because of the sister’s outside scholarship. If that’s what’s going on, then I’m assuming that it’s part of Duke’s FA policy, but it’s probably considered too much of a detail to be part of the NPC. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>so, if a sibling is on full scholarship, then a school like Duke essentially doesn’t consider that student in school for FA purposes because the family isn’t paying anything.</p>
<p>I think schools also do this if a sibling is in a military academy. I realize that it’s a detail that NPCs may not include, but maybe there should be an additional question once you indicate that there’s more than one in college. Perhaps it should prompt a questlon of whether the sibling has a full scholarship.</p>
<p>I think applicant families have to understand that the NPC is far from a perfect tool. This is similar to the sticker shock when families receive the award letter expecting a package based on FAFSA-EFC, as opposed to the indiv school’s institutional method. </p>
<p>If, as posts above indicate, Duke is a school that promises to meet 100% of need, most of OP’s other finaid packages will likely be in the $40K ballpark and the Duke package may be as good as it gets. But when she applied ED OP opted to forgo comparing packages to see which school offered the most bang for her buck (comparing compositions of grant vs loan, comparing out-of-pocket expense for each school, etc), - - so now she had to decide on the Duke in a relative vacuum.</p>
<p>You want it - GET A JOB! You will be a better person and student afterwards.</p>