<p>I'm confused as to why the amount you are offered for the Direct Unsubsidized Loan varies from college to college even though the amount you make and the college expenses are the same? For example for the Fall semester we were offered $3750 from UCF, $3250 from USF and only $2750 from UF. When I look it up the guidelines for the loan it looks like the amount should be pretty straight forward so why the difference from the schools?</p>
<p>aid packages are not set by the government. each school is allotted some amount for loans and work study (which i assume is based on enrollment), and then they disburse it on their own.</p>
<p>i want to say that your fafsa submission date is a factor. for instance, they can’t know in advance how much work study they’ll need to give each student before the get everyone’s fafsa. if they have $x for work study and the first 1000 students who have financial aid processed all need work study, and they don’t know if the remaining ~5000 students will need $0 in aid or if every student will need aid, they have to make some kind of decision about what to do with the first 1000 kids. they can’t give them the entire $x, or else there won’t be any left for the next 5000 kids.</p>
<p>basically, its that they have a quota, different demographics, and must make rolling financial aid decisions that can’t take into account the financial aid needs of students who have not been processed.</p>
<p>that was my understanding from my conversations with them at least.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. We completed the FAFSA pretty early I think. I didn’t realize the schools determined the amount of the student loans offered. So, I guess it comes down to the same thing like the scholarships…UCF & USF offered scholarships as an incentive to attend there and they also offered more in student loans. It’s definitely a learning process going thru this whole college thing nowadays… By the time my 2nd son goes thru in a few years, I’ll be a pro!!</p>