Financial Aid and Honors Opportunities

<p>i just checked my fin aid for the hell of it today, and i was caught off guard. nearly 8k in loans!!!
i thought sunys were supposed to be inexpensive
it would cost me less to attend nyu (notorious for being stingy as all hell) than to bing
same for boston, same for barnard
man that sucks
oh well!</p>

<p>Financial aid award amounts are officially up.
Go looks!</p>

<p>Where exactly do you check?</p>

<p>For those asking about scholarship money for Binghamton Scholars. My S was invited to be Bing scholar but it apparently = 0 money. His award was all loans. He has merit offers from other good schools which actually make Bing more expensive to attend.</p>

<p>mocho22: <a href="https://buonline.binghamton.edu/banner/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=bmenu.P_FAAUnsecMnu%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://buonline.binghamton.edu/banner/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=bmenu.P_FAAUnsecMnu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Binghamton is hilarious:
Your estimated cost of attendance is $17,960.00.
You have been awarded financial aid which totals $17,958.00.</p>

<p>Um what? <em>clicks the word "awarded"</em></p>

<p>And it turns out to be loans + TAP. Hahaha, wow.</p>

<p>Also, does anybody know if there's any reason that some schools have come back to me saying I qualify for a subsidized Stafford loan while others say I can only get an unsubsidized one?</p>

<p>Usubsidized versus subsidized would be something to be very mindful, as the interest is accruing while you are in school with one and not the other. Unsubsidized is not need based, their is a limit on both lifetime of 23K undergrad I believe. </p>

<p>staffordloan.com should be helpful
That is why one should be very careful and really understand the bottom line of what it will cost.</p>

<p>A 50K school giving merit grant money would have to be quite(generous) for us the merit/grants would have had to have been over 30K+ for it to be worth the difference for it to beat the cost of SUNY system, that is if your parents have alot of equity/savings available as well as their yearly income to contribute.</p>