<p>I'm school hopping in decisions to what school I should go to, I think I want to major in economics, and minor in chinese. My state school doesn't offer a degree in Chinese. </p>
<p>Here is my FA aid package from Whitman College:
Scholarship 32,650 (I believe this is need based)
Pell 4,800
Sub Loan 3,500
Perkins 2000
Work Study 2500</p>
<p>COA
Tuition and feeds 42,126
Room and board 10560
Books 1400
Travel 250</p>
<p>EFC
Parent Contribution 5196
Student Contribution 2338</p>
<p>I have outside scholarships that come up to 5000. I've asked the school, and they said that it would cover my EFC or loans, or whichever I decided. So I would have my parent's portion covered. I can possibly swing with the student contribution, it's probably because I had savings this year from work. I heard it's pretty easy to get a work study job at Whitman, but I'm not sure if I can cover the whole cost. My parents said that they can probably give 5000 each year in contribution.</p>
<p>My question is, what if next year I didn't have any money in my savings account? My student contribution would be 0, so would my need based grants and scholarships increase? Or would my loans increase? What if my parent's annual income decreases, would their contribution decrease? What are your opinions on this?</p>
<p>This is what the FA package says before the student is req to sign:
"I understand taht any amt of federal or state grants not reflected in the current offer of FA will not increase the institutional aid offered by the college. Funds from federal and state grants will replace scholarship in like amounts."</p>
<p>Call the school and ask these questions. They are the only ones who can tell you for sure.</p>
<p>You have to ask Whitman how the student contribution was calculated. Some schools use the FAFSA formula, some have a flat out requirement for students’ contribution. What was your income for 2011 and how much did you have sitting in accounts on the day you filed your aid forms? It’s probably wise to reimburse your parents for expenses and let them hold the money in their accounts since parental assets are assessed with a lower percentage than the student’s. </p>
<p>Usually, the freshman year awards are the most generous with more expected from the student each year. Also costs tend to rise each year. That is why, in part, that Stafford limits for student loans increase each year.</p>
<p>I had about 1200 in my account, when I made 1900. So I’m guessing they were expecting for me to keep saving it with the consistent amount I was earning. </p>
<p>My FAFSA efc was 782, and it increased about 200 because of my student income. I’m not sure as to why my parent’s contribution increased so much, since their gross income is 34,402. They do own rental houses, but apparently Whitman doesn’t take equity into consideration (read that somewhere on CC). They had about 3000 in their accounts when we filed. Whitman also uses CSS.</p>
<p>I think at schools that have a student contribution, it is an expected thing every year. I don’t think they actually take into account whether you had savings, they expect you to work in summer to cover it.</p>
<p>edit to add: Whitman does have a summer earnings expectation, so you can expect to see that every year (though the amount ion the web site is slightly lower at $1900, but that may be data that hasn’t been updated. ) </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.whitman.edu/whitman/index.cfm?objectid=94C2984C-91C0-C613-32540FAF9BD4EFBD[/url]”>http://www.whitman.edu/whitman/index.cfm?objectid=94C2984C-91C0-C613-32540FAF9BD4EFBD</a></p>
<p>
Student’s have protected income of around $6,000 before their income affects the FAFSA EFC, So if you earned $1,900, I don’t think that affected your FAFSA EFC. But students have no asset protection and 20% of student assets go to the EFC. SO your 1200 savings probably added $240 to your EFC (unless you qualified for the simplified needs test).</p>
<p>But, it sounds like the school expects an annual student contribution whatever your earnings or savings. A lot of the more generous schools appear to do so.</p>
<p>I’ve done some calculations (using data from the past 4 years) and this is what I came up with:
Freshman year:
Assuming I can cover Student Contribution from summer job, and about half of work study (1200): Parents need to give about 1,300 (doable)</p>
<p>Sophomore year: (still required to live on campus)
Tuition- 43902
Room-11010
Bks-about 1000
Total: 55912
After scholarship, loans, wk study, student contribution: about 7,792</p>
<p>Junior Year:
Tuition: 45,630
Room + board: (live off campus) about 3,000 (250 per month for a shared room)
Bks: 1000
Total: 58,074
After loans, scholarship, student contribution: about 1480 (doable)</p>
<p>Senior:
Tuition: 47358
Room: 3000
Books: 1000
Total: 60236
After everything: about 3,500 (doable) </p>
<p>So it looks like the only real year of struggle would be my sophomore year, since I wouldn’t have the 5000 in outside scholarships. </p>
<p>I’m extremely confused, and my head is so clouded by all of the things that can go wrong financially, but blinded by all of the opportunities this school can offer me. I’d be about 22,000 in debt by the time I graduate, and I intend to find a job with insurance, banks, or something along the line of that after college.</p>
<p>So Whitman let you know what your aid will be when your family only has one student in college after your brother graduates?</p>
<p>I will ask on Monday. Although I can’t imagine it being much, considering when my brother was in college by himself, his efc was 0 (my parent’s income was a bit higher this year), and my parents didn’t contribute anything this year, since he attends a state college and only requires about 4000 in loans. Do you think it’ll change my parent’s efc a lot?</p>
<p>It sounds like your brother may have qualified for an automatic $0 EFC when he was in college alone a couple of years age. I believe the income threshold for that has gone UP (hoping the experts will verify this). </p>
<p>Agreed, only Whitman can answer your questions…but I AM wondering how you will cover your family costs even THIS year.</p>
<p>My parents are able to contribute up to 5,000 each year they said. But the first year, they wouldn’t have to contribute any more than 2000, since I have outside scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s sophomore year that I’m concerned about since it’s 7,000. I know that for sophomores, the sub loans increase to about 4500 max, so perhaps I can increase my loans by 2000 just that year? Again, I am still unsure and confused.</p>
<p>Your Stafford loan amounts do go up each year, so yes you can take out more loans up to the maximums for students each year, and each year is looked at individually so it does not commit you to anything in terms of those loans in subsequent years. </p>
<p>Your parents can also bank $3000 from their first year that is unneeded and then give you extra that second year.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider…your total Stafford loan (both subsidized and unsubsizided) will be $6500 for your sophomore year. BUT you need to also look at the cost increases Whitman has had over the last several years. I don’t know if they have had them or not…but many schools have increased costs in the 3% range…so that your increase in your Stafford loan might only come close to covering the increased costs of attending the school.</p>