Hello my daughter is currently a freshman at UM which a full tuition merit scholarship. Due to our income, she also received some need-based aid to help pay for room + board and other expenses. I am coming down for parent’s weekend next week and was wanting to start looking for potential off campus apartments for sophomore year because the new village on campus for non-freshman is just so so expensive!
But does anyone know or have any experience as to what will happen to our need based aid if DD moves off campus? Attending Miami is so costly even with the scholarship and we have a handle on costs now but not sure if we could handle a considerable jump. So I am trying to figure out if it makes more sense to pay to live on campus and hopefully get more aid to help with that cost or live off campus and hopefully not have to pay as much.
Let me know!
You have to know the source of the FA and if it is refundable to the student. Pell grants, loans, and other federal money can be refunded to the student to use for off campus housing and food. Whether merit money can be is up to the school.
You didn’t say if you are from Florida and using Bright futures and the florida resident grant. The resident grant can only be used for tuition. BF leaves it up to the school what it can be used for; my daughter’s school chose to only allow it to be used for tuition, so no study abroad, no room and board. The school would apply the resident grant and BF first, then athletic money, then merit money, then federal loans and grants.
Her school also did not allow any school funds (for her, merit and athletic aid) to be refunded to the student. The funds could be used for room, board, tuition, and fees billed by the school, but not refunded to the student. My daughter chose to live off campus for 2 years so her rent was not covered and would have been if she’d stay on campus. She got a check every semester from the school but it was mainly her student loan that she used for rent and books, no school funds.
So ask at financial aid.