ED financial aid question

Paying for College
1

<p>I just got accept ED to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is very expensive, but supposedly is very generous with financial aid. I see on collegeboard that about 70% of their FA is scholarships and grants, and only 30% loans. </p>

<p>I'm going to file my FAFSA when my mom gets her tax information (should be soon), but I expect to have an EFC of close to 0. I will also start applying for scholarships, but am having a hard time finding a good listing. I looked at FastWeb, but couldn't really find too many specific ones. </p>

<p>My grades are not so good that I will get merit scholarships, but I'm hoping to find some other specific ones I fit into. Is there a good site for scholarship listings? Also, what federal aid can I get besides the FAFSA stuff? I know there is PELL, but anything else? I know that I am screwed if I don't get a good financial aid package from RPI, but I love the college so much that I'd rather graduate with loans then go anywhere else. I just want the loans to not exceed $20,000. Would that be possible?</p>

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<p>I remember when we visited my d got a book in the admissions building that had tons of scholarships in it. Many were very specific (hockey playing male from Troy, etc) but there were pages and pages of them.</p>

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<p>^^fastweb is good for some ppl..i've only found like 10 good scholarships that pertain to me..im only in the finaid boat with my ED school. Hopefully things will work out. Check out some big stores such as walmart or KFC, Mcdonalds...fastfood chains. BUT make sure you are not applying to any scholarships that are in state (unless u are instate) because that's a waste of time.</p>

4

<p>Are you a NYS resident? If yes you will also be eligible for TAP (tuition aid plan)</p>

<p>A poster, Stepintothisreality, had a "0" EFc when he was accepted to RPI last year. he states the following:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Throughout all of these admissions decisions I also received my financial aid packages. If you read my first thread, you'll learn that I have no father in my life, and my mother makes very little money. Just to make the point, our EFC is 0. Basically, anything short of a "full ride" from a school just might not be good enough.</p>

<p>Just to quickly show the awards, here are all the schools (these figures are all per year):</p>

<p>CMU: Worst financial aid package. Over $10,000 in loans and another $12,000 to pay out of pocket.</p>

<p>RPI: Bad, like above. About $10,00 in loans and $9,000 out of pocket.</p>

<p>RIT: Good. $2,000 out of pocket and about $6,000 in loans.</p>

<p>CSU: Honors program. Full ride.</p>

<p>Northwestern: Easily the best award I got. I would've graduated with little or no debt. I couldn't believe how great NU was with financial aid, due to how much people bash it on these forums. I guess it is true that the middle class gets hurt the most, and perhaps people at the bottom get excellent awards from schools like this.</p>

<p>U of R: Nearly as good as Northwestern.</p>

<p>Case: A little worse than U of R, but still doable. I was originally almost set on going here, until...</p>

<p>Cornell: My mother called Cornell from work one day to ask about my financial aid award, as May 1 was fast approaching. The woman over the phone said that my original financial aid package had been revised due to left-over money from the end of the financial aid cycle. Apparently, getting my award late in the cycle must have helped. I had feared Cornell's award for a while because I've seen so many kids on these boards get about $10,000 a year in loans, among other things. My mom brought the award home and let me study it. I was very happy about it. It's about equal to Case's award, and I'm proud to say that I'll be packing my bags for New York in a little over a week.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=223586%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=223586&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>Did you get your acceptance without any estimate of aid? Not good. I would have thought a PROFILE would have generated some estimate that would have been tweaked by the FAFSA and actual numbers from the returns. I would call ASAP about this, because with an EFC of zero, you may well be stuck if they gap you. Sybbie's post shows that this is very possible from the post she showed you. This is not a state school where federal and state money can cover half to three quarters of the cost, leaving you with the possibility of earning the rest over the summer and during the school yeara. You are talking about $10K out of pocket right away and as much in loans to repay later.</p>

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<p>It said they were calculating aid, and I never got anything after that. And I never submitted a profile or a FAFSA yet. I gave them the estimated FAFSA form though. </p>

<p>I just don't get it though. An EFC of 0 means there's nothing I can cover myself. Loans I understand, but how can they make me pay $10,000 out of pocket if I can't...Anyway, I'll call immediately to find out. Thanks.</p>

7

<p>Flyer..if the school requires the Profile and the FAFSA you will NOT get an estimated award until you complete them. The Profile was available for submission in October. Most ED schools have a priority deadline for ED students to submit their Profile, and this is usually in the fall (about the same time the application is due for ED). You might want to check what's up. My guess is that you will not receive an estimated award until your forms are in...estimated ones would suffice for now. You can amend them. The final award will be based on your final FAFSA and Profile. Please call the school to see if you have all the finaid forms submitted for an estimated award. If you haven't completed the Profile for a Profile school...you will NOT be receiving an estimated award because they USE the info on the Profile to calculate the award...But call them...I could be wrong. And PS....many schools "gap" their students meaning that they do not award finaid that is the cost of attendance minus EFC. In other words, unless the school says they will meet full need (and even that is up for interpretation), you very well could get an award that has you paying thousands of dollars per year, or taking out significant loans.</p>

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<p>Yes I will definitely call them, thumper. The problem is that I never heard that RPI required the profile to be filled out. There site only mentions FAFSA...</p>

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<p>You had better talk to fin aid about what they have estimated with from your info. You should have known that RPI does not guarantee 100% of need, and anyone with an EFC that low should not take a chance ED with a school that may not give full amounts. With ED, you are now supposed to withdraw your apps from other schools. If RPI is going to gap you badly, you may not be able to afford to go. If you are dropped from consideration by other schools when your name shows up on the Accepted ED list that is circulated, you may end up without a school. Also if you have to renege for financial reasons, you are going to have to aggresively look for aid, and hit some options that are true financial safeties, something you should have done from the beginning.</p>

<p>RPI does not notify students about their generous merit awards until March. Can you really afford to hold out that long, risking the above scenarios? Yes, you need to talk to them. And they can not make you pay anything out of pocket. They are just letting you figure it out. You may well be getting a merit award from them, but you need more info in your situation because of the risk.</p>

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<p>Flyer, they do not require PROFILE. You have done what you are supposed to do with the early estimated FAFSA. I cannot imagine that you did not get some idea of a package with your acceptance.</p>

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<p>RPI states the following regarding financial aid for ED candidates:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Early Decision Financial Aid
If you wish to apply to Rensselaer as an "early decision" applicant, and you would also like to apply for need-based financial aid, you should obtain a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) from your high school guidance office, or get the form online. This application is usually available in late November. However, since the FAFSA form cannot be sent to the Federal Processing Center until after January 1, we suggest that you proceed with the application process as follows:</p>

<p>Complete the 2007 - 2008 FAFSA form using estimated income information, sign the application, and make two copies of the original application.
Send one copy of the application to Rensselaer's Financial Aid Office immediately upon completion. (The address appears at the end of this document.) Keep the other copy for your own records. Keep the original application until January 1 to send to the Federal Processor. </p>

<p>Once you've received your invitation letter from Rensselaer, and we've received a copy of your completed FAFSA, we will send you your award letter describing the financial aid package being offered to you. </p>

<p>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>OP wrote:

[quote]
**I'm going to file my FAFSA when my mom gets her tax information (should be soon), but I expect to have an EFC of close to 0.

[/quote]
**</p>

<p><a href="http://admissions.rpi.edu/update.do%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.rpi.edu/update.do&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>OP has not filed the FAFSA (even an estimated one) which is the main reason why there is no financial aid letter.</p>

<p>I think you are going to find yourself between a rock and a hard place because by this time, you should have withdrew all of your applications to other schools and not have made any new ones as per the ED contract.</p>

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<p>Do an estimated FAFSA TODAY!!!! Use estimates for income earned and taxes during 2006 based on your parents' and your last pay stubs. DO IT NOW indicating "will file" as your status. Then when you complete your taxes (and don't wait to do this...get it done as soon as you can after Feb 1) go online and amend your FAFSA reflecting the accurate numbers from the 2006 return.</p>

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<p>Ah that's right. I never sent the estimated FAFSA. Well I'll just wait until I can do the real one and send that instead of an estimate. </p>

<p>For reference, I did not apply to any other schools, so there is no withdrawing applications or anything like that. </p>

<p>And I doubt I'll get any merit aid from RPI. It was a reach school for me and I barely got in. Does only 1 student get a merit award? because there are about 8 of them, or are they given to multiple students? </p>

<p>If anyone can answer my original question about federal grants and other non-merit awards, I'd appreciate it.</p>

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<p>You need to call and talk to RPI's financial aid office and also look at some of the excellent financial information that's on-line (including on this site) and in books.</p>

15

<p>"i gave them the estimated FAFSA form though" is what you wrote in Post #6. That is what they wanted for ED to give you an estimated aid package. If you are a borderline student, you are likely to get a borderline package. About two thirds of the kids at RPI get their need fully met. If you are not in the upper two thirds, there is a good chance you will not get your need fully met. They tend to meet about 90% of need on average, but again if you are borderline for accept, you will not likely get that 90% even. On average, they give 70% grants, but if you are below average, that may not apply to you. Since they may give the top kids 100% grants, you may be likely to get 40% grants to mathematically come to a 70% average.<br>
Federal and state grants are only going to come to about $7k if you get the maximums. If the school has Seog, maybe a bit more. Then you have loans, again there is a maximum from the govt. </p>

<p>These are the type of estimates and likelihoods that you should have been calculating and analysing from the onset. Now, averages and likelihoods are out the window, and you need something much closer to reality because if they won't give it, you have to ask for a release from ED and start looking very quickly for some options you can afford, which would probably be a local state school that can be paid for with govt money. As we have all been saying, call them so you can start moving.</p>

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<p>priority date for FAFSA for RPI is February 15
do not go past this date
20% of first year students recieve a merit award- average is $14,906
average debt upon graduation $27,000- which is about $12,000 more than what I think is optimum ( other than zero of course hah!)
this is also not including parental debt.</p>

17

<p>Ok I called the financial office and they said that they will send the letter this week. I don't know why so late, but ok. </p>

<p>I'm not even thinking about a release from ED though...there has to be a way to pay for it and I will find it. All I hope is that I get maximum federal grants and aid, and that I get some kind of merit award, either from the school or scholarship. I plan to do work-study also, and am prepared to pay some hefty loans, but I'm definitely going to RPI.</p>