<p>Hey everybody, </p>
<p>I have been applying to many schools lately and I have narrowed it down to these three schools that I have been accepted to; university of Denver, San Diego State, and University of Maine. I recently filled out the FAFSA, and i received an EFC of 2857. What does this mean? What kind of need based money do you think I should expect to receive? Thanks again.</p>
<p>Are you instate for California or Maine?</p>
<p>If not, that will be a problem. You’ll get some Pell money (I think about $2500), a Stafford loan, and maybe some other small sources, but you will have a gap.</p>
<p>Your EFC of 2857 indicates that you’d get some Pell money. The problem is if you’re not a resident of California or Maine, you won’t get much more in free money. You’ll be expected to take out loans.</p>
<p>Out of state publics don’t give money to OOS students (just the small fed aid). </p>
<p>What is your financial safety school? If you’re instate for Calif and SDSU is your safety, then this might work.</p>
<p>my in-state school is UMO…but I’m really looking towards University of Denver as my number one. They game me a merit scholarship of $48,000 ($12,000/year)…but i’m wondering if i am going to be able to afford that school (about $40,000 in total)?</p>
<p>For federal aid you should get a Pell grant of around $2700 and possibly the ACG (also a grant) of $750, if you meet the academic criteria. Your EFC is probably too high for SEOG grant. You will also be eligible for $5500 of Stafford loans as a freshman. And possibly some Perkins loans, depending on the school. You may also be eligible for work study. </p>
<p>Are University of Maine and San Diego State both out of state public schools for you? Public schools generally do not promise to meet full need even for their own instate students, it is much harder for OOS students to have their costs covered by aid. University of Denver is private and also requires CSSprofile for aid. Do they promise to meet full need? If so you may have a better chance of aid there. Federal aid will nowhere near meet your need at these schools. Do they offer any funds of their own? Have you been offered any merit scholarships to bring the price down to something affordable?</p>
<p>I hope you have at least one financial safety (school you can afford) in case the aid at these schools do not meet your need.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom…my financial in state safety school is the University of Maine. The University of Denver is where i would like to go to school. They have offered me a $48,000 ($12,000 per year) merit scholarship…and they cover approximately 77% of need. I just want to get an idea if i would be able to afford SDSU or University of Denver, because i would very much like to leave my home state of Maine.</p>
<p>It is really impossible to say without knowing what sort of aid they offer. Certainly federal aid, even with maximum student loans, will not meet your remaining need. If their cost is $40,000 then your need (after the scholarship and your EFC) is around $25,000. If they cover 77% then they would cover around $19,000 leaving you with around $6,000 to come up with a year. If the $19,000 already included loans (which according to their web site it will as they do not have a no loan policy) then taking a additional $6000 in loans may leave you with a burdensome debt on graduation. Hopefully they have some good institutional grants. ( I say “if” because those averages need covered can be deceiving. If someone has $5500 need and they get a Stafford loans of $5500 the their need is 100% covered. If someone else has $20,000 need but only gets $10,000 in aid then they have only 50% covered. But they can say they meet 75% need because they met 100% for one and 50% for the other, which is 75%.).</p>
<p>I would guess there is no chance of your need being anywhere near met at San Diego as that is a State U where you would be OOS.</p>
<p>OOS costs for SDSU…</p>
<p>OOS tuition and fees------------$13,820</p>
<p>Food and housing –------------ $10,950</p>
<p>Books, Supplies, course fees----- $1,600</p>
<hr>
<p>out of state…$26,370</p>
<p>Plus…
Personal expenses –------------ $2715</p>
<h2>transportation…$1000</h2>
<p>Total COA---------------------30,085</p>
<p>For SDSU, the most “free aid” you’d likely get is about $4,000. The rest would be loans.</p>
<p>so from what you guys are saying…SDSU is pretty much out of my price range. Do you guys think the odds of me affording University of Denver are feasible?</p>
<p>University of Denver’s CURRENT COA (for this year) is…</p>
<p>Direct Costs:<br>
Tuition $34,596
Fees 885
Room & Board 9,900 </p>
<hr>
<pre><code> Subtotal $45,381
</code></pre>
<p>Indirect Costs:<br>
Books 1,749
Transportation 1,191
Personal Expenses 1,269 </p>
<hr>
<pre><code> Total $49,590
</code></pre>
<p>It is possible, but I have never heard anything about University of Denver or how generous they might be with their own money, or what sort of mix of grants and loans they might offer. Your federal grants won’t make much of a dent so you will need the school to offer grant money of their own (in addition to the merit scholarship) to make it feasible. Be very sure to check your award and don’t take on too much in loans.</p>
<p>Have you submitted CSS yet? University of Denver requires that for their own institutional aid. Your EFC for institutional aid may (or may not) be different from the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Did you have to include more info in CSS Profile (such as another parent’s income or other assets)?</p>
<p>The COA for next year is going to be at least $50k
They’ve given you $12k in merit</p>
<p>That leaves $38,000
From that subtract Pell, your EFC, and any other small aid you might get.</p>
<p>That leaves about $32k </p>
<p>I really doubt they’re going to give you another $32k in aid.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>How much does U of Maine cost? </p>
<p>Is that your only instate school that you’ve applied to?</p>
<p>Are you getting any merit from any instate publics?</p>
<p>Ouch - $49k - that is pretty expensive. That would make your need around $34,000. So if they met 77% you would be short almost $8,000. Hopefully you will be one of the ones that gets more (lots more) than the average rather than less.</p>
<p>Keep your options open. Do not go into a pile of debt when you have more affordable options.</p>
<p>I already submitted my CSS Profile…and i did not submit any other parental information. My unweighted GPA is just shy of 97%…not sure what that equates to on a 4.0 scale. But i have a few AP courses and such…</p>
<p>Number who applied for need-based aid: 646
Number who were judged to have need: 489
Number who were offered aid: 488
Number who had full need met: 137
Average percent of need met: 77%
Average financial aid package: $26,707
Average need-based loan: $3,252
**Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $18,908 **</p>
<p>That does not look good. It doesn’t look like they would come close when need is THAT great. </p>
<p>Maybe if the Spainiac had fabulous stats they would meet most of his need.</p>
<p>What are your stats? What are your test scores?</p>
<p>The university of Maine is $9,000 for tuition, and another $9,000 in room/board, books, fees, ext. So $18,000 total…they also offered me a Distinguished Student Scholarship of $3,000/year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this makes any difference but I applied to University of Denver early action, and was accepted as part of their early action program. They are also paying for my trip out to Denver to visit the school. I’m not sure if all of this means that I might be one of the 21% of people that will get all of their need covered or not?</p>
<p>Ok…so…</p>
<p>$18,000 COA in-state</p>
<p>minus
$3,000 merit
$2,000 Pell
$…750 (ACG?)
$2,857 EFC (can your parents pay that and possibly more?)
$5,500 Stafford loan</p>
<p>$3893 gap (maybe more if $750 grant doesn’t come in)</p>
<p>*I might be one of the 21% of people that will get all of their need covered or not? *</p>
<p>What are your test scores?</p>
<p>I think you’re looking at the 21% wrong. It’s not as if they say…we’re going to meet the need of the best 21% of our applicants. Some of those students may have only had a small need (Stafford or less), so meeting 100% of that need was nothing to the school…and it had nothing to do with how badly they wanted those students.</p>
<p>What is your ACT and/or SAT (including M+CR breakdown)??</p>