<p>Hello! So I'm having a bad day because I'm finding out that my ED school has decided my efc is like 10K despite the fact that the FAFSA says my efc is 0 (because they use the CSS Profile instead).
Anyways, so I cannot afford my ED school and I can get out of the contract since its due to financial aid, problem is, I only applied to ONE other school. I figured I'd have to withdraw my application (but I didnt when I got accepted even though I think I was supposed to) and now I'll be stuck going to a state school. HEEEEEEELLLLPPPPP!!! </p>
<p>Advice? Questions? Comments? I am really not happying about having applied ED.</p>
<p>ED = early decision
I applied with a contract saying if they awarded me 100% aid, I’d attend.
My package already has a work study and a perkins loan and a stafford loan.
basically I’m getting very little actually scholarship money.
on top of all that they want another ~ $15K
my parents cannot afford that, even if I’m working full time in adittion to my workstudy I cant make it happen.</p>
<p>First - talk to the school. Sometimes they can extend more aid, particularly if there is something about your financial circumstances that is unusual.
Second - try not to be too upset about attending a state school. There are probably other kids like you there.
Third - you may still be able to apply at some other schools, although getting aid might be very tough. Are there any other schools that make sense for this?
I’ve very sorry this has happened to you! ED candidates really need to make sure they apply to other schools that are both academic and financial safeties.</p>
<p>my **ED school has decided my efc is like 10K **despite the fact that the FAFSA says my efc is 0 (because they use the CSS Profile instead).</p>
<p>I applied with a contract saying if they awarded me 100% aid, I’d attend.
My package already has a work study and a perkins loan and a stafford loan.
basically I’m getting very little actually scholarship money.**
on top of all that they want another ~ $15K***</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>If this is a school that meets 100% of need, then what do you mean by saying that it says that your “family contribution” is $10k…AND…they also want another $15k. If that were true, then they figured your family contribution to be $25k.</p>
<p>BTW…you don’t have to withdraw other apps until you’ve seen the ED school’s FA package. When were you accepted ED?</p>
<p>I went back and read your earlier thread when you were discussing applying ED.</p>
<p>At that point, you said that your dad is self-employed and there was a concern expressed by others that your CSS “family contribution” would be much higher than your FAFSA EFC. </p>
<p>My dad has agreed to pay whatever it is that he must, I have a college savings account and it’s got enough for us to cover a decent EFC amount.</p>
<p>-I tried talking to the school today, instead of working with me to get me more aid, they started questions my OLD offer. I’m hesitant to try again because I dont want to loose even more aid, I’m going about this on my own (very little parental contribution) so I cant afford to mess up anymore.</p>
<ul>
<li>I can afford the state school with loans (cause it costs on third as much) and the state school uses the FAFSA not the CSS so they calculated my efc as being zero</li>
</ul>
<p>by 100% of the need I mean they make up a financial aid package that meets everything but your expected family contribution. meaning mine looks like this:</p>
<p>$15,000 scholarship
$15,000 loans
$3,000 work study
$15,000 EFC
= 100% of the cost of attending that school has been MET.</p>
<p>Life happened I guess, I still have the college savings account but it’s not going to meet the contribution that’s expected from my parents. My grandma got sick (if you remember this also from the other post, the money came from her and my grandfather) and now we send $2,000 a month to support her medical costs and living expenses AND my dad’s business has gone down the drain (his monthly income is about $500 now). Things never go as planned he already hates this whole process and now he hates it more but I’m determined to go to college. </p>
<p>In essence my parents are like “you wanna do this, figure it out. we’ll help if we can”</p>
<p>Your 0 EFC at the state school doesn’t help you much if they don’t meet need, which is likely. Have they given you a financial package yet?</p>
<p>Don’t even think about accepting that package from the ED school. That’s an unacceptable amount of debt and the loans probably will go up each year as their costs go up.</p>
<p>Consider saving a lot on loans by starting at community college and then transferring to a 4yr state school. Increasing numbers of good students are doing this to avoid debt.</p>
<p>*My grandma got sick (if you remember this also from the other post, the money came from her and my grandfather) and now we send $2,000 a month to support her medical costs and living expenses *</p>
<p>While that is very nice, I don’t think colleges are going to be very sympathetic since the belief is that the immediate family’s needs come first. Frankly, when a school hears that a family has little income, but can send a relative $2k per month, it’s going to look a bit “fishy” to the school.</p>
<p>What happened to your college fund? </p>
<p>So, from your FA package…are you saying that this school claims to “meet need” but they put in a $15k LOAN in your FA package (to go towards “need”)? Was most of that a Parent Plus loan?</p>
<p>It does sound like your state school will be affordable since you’ll get full Pell and a student loan of $5500, which will cover a lot of your costs. Can you commute to this state school?</p>
<p>We figured it out!! last few days have been stressful but unlike what you think, the school was very understanding, we sent them the bank documents showing the wire transfers, her medical stuff, etc.
With a lowered EFC, slightly more scholarship money and what I have in my college savings, looks like I am going to be okay. I’m going to take out the loans and work over the summers so I can repay them asap. </p>
he already hates this whole process and now he hates it more but I’m determined to go to college. </p>