I am new to this forum - but have long had a question: I currently have 1 in college and another heading off this year. My EFC from the FAFSA is listed at $13,875 on each of the two kids’ reports. The one currently in college received $21000 in grant money (of the $50k - out of state at a public U). My second one is hearing back from several schools with $0 grant money - and offers to take out between $35-55K in loans! Does that seem right? I am surprised that child #2 deosn’t get any grant money at all when the EFC is way less than 1/2 of the applicable tuition??
Well, private colleges can give what they want, and if they don’t meet need that’s why you’re not seeing grant money. Also, out of state public schools in general have little reason to give local tax money away…so you’re lucky if you get anything. Also, your EFC actually indicates that you have a pretty decent income, so they’re probably inclined to give need money to others.
Did you run any net price calculators before applying to schools?
If the schools to not guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need, your 2nd kiddo could be gapped. OOS public schools often do not meet need. If they are private schools, they calculate their own EFC and it is often higher than the fafsa EFC. Your child who is already in college may not get any additional aid for next year either.
Did they apply anywhere with a chance at significant merit?
We have a lower EFC than you, but all we get in aid is a partial state grant for attending a school in our state. But since my D was able to get a scholarship covering tuition we can afford it.
Thanks for your responses. I am confused - I understand that schools often don’t meet 100% of demonstrated need. I was unaware that there were schools that meet 0% of demonstrated need?? I guess what I’m wondering is whether a mistake was made? Irrespective of my income - the EFC is a figure calculated to show “need” based on a formula. The Formula concludes that I can pay $28k total. Like I said - I wasn’t expecting 100% - I’m just confused by $0 (unless the schools say they “meet need” by giving you access to 100% financing!) In that case, Chevy meets 100% need for car buyers too!!! Come on down and put in your “financial aid” application for the purchase of your new car!! We guarantee to meet 100% of your financial aid need with 8% financing!!!
What kind of schools did she apply to? Are they OOS public schools? There are only a few of those that offer need based institutional grants, I think UVA, UNC -CH, U Mich.
The others often don’t offer need based aid to their own instate students.
If EFC is too high for federal grants then what other aid would they offer? The only thing left is merit. There are many OOS public schools that offer merit to high stats students.
Did you try net price calculators on the college websites? Did they show any aid?
It totally depends on the school – and if you’d like to be specific with a school we can be too. In any case, you can pick up the phone and call the financial aid departments at these schools. I recently needed to pick up the phone about one of my D’s financial aid packages and it turned out they just hadn’t updated her need-based aid for the increase in tuition since she’d applied ED. They were as nice and helpful as can be.
Also, if you amended your FAFSA (because you used estimates eg, or because there was a typo) sometimes they forget/overlook the new numbers. You can ask if they were working with your latest FAFSA – one of ours wasn’t.
I doubt any school would claim this, however, some schools that “meet need” do include some loans as part of that need (though in my experience only a small part).
But, yes, unless a school claims to meet need, they can offer (or NOT offer) you anything they want. The FAFSA EFC is only for what you get from the government in grants or to get federal grants.
But since you are in the decision making process, I would run the NPCs again and compare. Then call the FA offices to make sure there is no mistake (especially if the NPC shows something different).
Most of the schools are public and we are out of state. Only have aid figures from 2 so far - one private (College of Charleston and one public (JMU). One has total cost of $56k (private), the other $40k (public) - both offering $0 institutional grant money. Merit based awards have been offered by 2 other schools (that we haven’t heard from regarding aid).
Pheebers - Do you know whether schools reconsider awards based on additional information - or is it pretty much just take it or leave it? When I ran the EFC calculator for JMU it registers $0 in grants (for in or out of state) until you plug in an EFC of $5000 or less - and even then the grant money was $3k-5k. That is just surprising to me.
Most OOS publics don’t give any need based aid. There are a very small number that do (Umich, UNC, UVA, and maybe a couple of others)…because they have large endowments that cover. The rest of the OOS publics expect you to pay.
You don’t pay taxes in those states, so they charge a higher tuition. It makes little sense to charge a higher rate and then give need based aid.
It sounds like your older son must go to a rare OOS public that gives need based aid, so it misled you into thinking that others do as well.
Most state taxpayers would be livid if their state schools were giving need based aid to OOS students.
I had 2 in college at the same time. One was a school which met 97% of need and they met our need pretty much according to our fafsa efc. The other school was an OOS school which was fafsa only. I think one year they offered a very smal subsided loan.
I had two in school at once and neither received any instititional need based money. Many many many schools give nothing. What you are seeing when you put in an EFC of $3000 is probably Pell grant money, federal money. When the EFC gets really low, there can also be SEOG (more federal) money. Some state have state grants for their own residents only.
Don’t expect anything. I think merit is more likely.
FWIW, I’m pretty sure College of Charleston is a public school. Many schools give no need based aid beyond what someone else provides (such as Pell, federal loans, state grants, etc.). Many privates can’t afford it, and many publics either can’t afford it or limit their aid to in-state residents. Run the NPC for the schools in question and see if what you get on the NPC is similar to what they’ve offered. If so, it’s likely not a mistake.
College of Charleston is indeed a public university in South Carolina. It is NOT a private university.
Your kiddo apples to public universities in other states. Unless she applied to UVA, U Mich, or UNC-CH, the OOS schools would likely not give any need based aid beyond the Direct Loan…and any Pell grant for which the student was eligible. You aren’t eligible for the Pell. Your income is too high. These public universities have an obligation to educate the students who are residents of their state…and who pay taxes in that state to support these public universities. In many cases, OOS students get the Direct Loan…and that’s it. They are full pay at these OOS schools.
Did your student qualify for merit aid at College of Charleston?
<<<<<<
I had two in school at once and neither received any instititional need based money. Many many many schools give nothing
<<<<
True.
The fact is, most schools don’t have much/any institutional aid to give…and most certainly not to OOS. They’re charging those high OOS rates for a reason. It would be silly for them to charge those high rates and then have to dip into their tiny aid accts and then cover those high costs with lots of aid for an OOS student.
People need to think about OOS publics like going out of network for their health insurance. When you go out of network, you typically have to pay more.
Just to confirm that @thumper1 is right . College of Charleston is a public school in SC. It feels like a private school because of it’s liberal arts focus. It is also difficult to qualify for merit. Even instate students in the Honors college usually do not receive huge merit scholarships. There are departmental scholarships that provide more opportunities , but most of those deadlines have passed .