<p>Are all grants given by schools federal Pell grants or do colleges also make grants out of their own institutional funds? In other words, if I don't qualify for a Pell grant, will I only be offered loans and work study, or is it possible for the school to offer its own grant? EFC IS $32,000.</p>
<p>It depends on the school (how much money it has to give away) and how much it’s COA is.</p>
<p>Most schools don’t have much institutional aid to give away.</p>
<p>What schools are you wondering about?</p>
<p>It completely depends on the school. Any schools in particular you’re wondering about?</p>
<p>A few privates that are very expensive, very well-endowed, have FA policies to meet 100% of need… and are usually very hard to get in to… would probably award you some institutional funds.</p>
<p>all are private liberal arts colleges</p>
<p>*all are private liberal arts colleges *</p>
<p>That doesn’t tell us much. </p>
<p>again, it will depend on the schools. Some may only give you a student loan, some may give you a loan and a grant, some may give you a merit scholarship and a loan. </p>
<p>It depends on the schools…do they promise to meet need? Do you have high stats for these schools?</p>
<p>Ezilrib, have you read through the colleges’ financial aid webpages? There should be information there that is specific to each school. Private schools sometimes require more than just the FAFSA to complete a financial aid award. Some use the CSS Profile, some use their own supplemental applications, some use both.</p>
<p>Look for phrases like “meets full need” or “meets 100% of need” – that might tell you that you’ll get additional aid, but of course your ultimate expected family contribution may be higher than your FAFSA EFC, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Also look on the FA webpages for information about loans that may be packaged with your aid award.</p>
<p>You can probably get some vague sense of whether or not you’ll receive any need-based aid by carefully reading the websites. But, in any case, it’s almost always a wait-and-see game with regard to financial aid awards. I hope you get good news, and I hope you also have applied to a school you know for sure you can afford to attend w/o additional aid, and which you’d be content to attend.</p>
<p>Schools like Middlebury, Amherst, Colgate. If I am admitted, might I receive grants (in addition to the loans and work study)?</p>
<p>EFC IS $32,000.</p>
<p>This is your FAFSA EFC. No one knows what each CSS Profile school will determine your “family contribution” to be. If you have a lot of home equity, if you have a NCP, etc, that can all change what a CSS school will expect.</p>
<p>*If I am admitted, might I receive grants (in addition to the loans and work study)? *</p>
<p>Those schools are costing about $55k+ per year. So, yes, you may have some “determined need” if these schools determine your family contribution to be similar to FAFSA EFC. I don’t know the loan policies for those schools. If they are “no loan” then you could get a $15k grant or so …IF they determine your family contribution to be similar to FAFSA EFC. If they do include loans, then you can expect a small student loan in the FA package as well.</p>
<p>Don’t be surprised if your schools expect a “summer work contribution” - so be looking for a summer job.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Colgate, but I’m pretty familiar with the FA policies at Amherst and Middlebury. At those schools they will expect a summer earnings contribution from the student. At Amherst, it’s a bit lower for freshmen, but is currently $2000 for returning students. (Not sure about Middlebury.)</p>
<p>Amherst does not package student loans in their aid awards, Middlebury does, although they may have a pretty reasonable loan cap in terms of how much debt they expect students to take on. (I’m not sure what it is, but I would be surprised if it was an excessive amount.)</p>
<p>The main question for you is, if the family contribution these schools each calculate for you based on your CSS Profile information is similar or very different from your FAFSA EFC, and then in the case of Middlebury, how much of your award would be in the form of loans.</p>
<p>My guess is that at both schools you would get some amount of institutional grant aid, it’s just hard to predict what that might be.</p>