Anyone have any experience, thoughts, or opinions as to whether its better to choose ON or OFF campus on the FAFSA app if the student is undecided?
Will one or the other get more fin aid?
It won’t make any difference for federal aid. I don’t know about state aid, and I don’t know how individual schools might use the information. It’s certainly not like the student is making an irrevocable decision.
I wondered about that too, first time FAFSA filer. There are 2 schools that could go either way, and I decided to add them as on campus, with the thought that the aid offer would include room and board, and if that didn’t look financially feasible, discuss commuting. I thought it easier to subtract room and board then to add.
It made a very small difference to us: on campus costs a little bit more than off-campus at son’s school; so my son was offered a very small subsidized loan. The Subsidized/vs Unsubsidized was all COA related; COA was a tad bit more with on-campus selection.
There should be little to no difference: the housing costs would be roughly the same
My nephew got less FA at CAL for the year he switched to off campus housing. He thought he could save some money, but turned out to cost more due to a 12-month lease and less FA.