<p>I'm a worried Mom today and hoping someone experienced with finaid can put my mind at ease. We were very happy with our finaid pkg last year and just want some reassurance that we will get pretty much the same amount this year. The school website states that if your income remains comparable, your aid will remain comparable, or words to that effect. But I'm not sure about the word comparable. Our AGI increased about $7000 and our EFC went from $15,000 to $18,000. We won't receive our award letter for next year until June and the first semester pymt is due 8/1 - so I won't have much time to deal with it if there is a problem. Those who have dealth with this issue - what do you think I can expect?</p>
<p>Can you ask to receive the financial package before June? That seems rather late.</p>
<p>I agree. I was thinking of contacting them in March/April to see if I could get any early feedback, but meanwhile I am stressing.</p>
<p>It depends on the school, but if your EFC has increased it is fairly likely your financial aid will decrease somewhat, especially if your need was fully met. My daughter is at a FAFSA only school and I know if my her EFC went up 3000 her aid would go down $3000. But her EFC is much lower so she qualifies for federal aid and federal aid plus other scholarship/grants/aid + the FAFSA EFC cannot exceed the COA of the school. It may be different at schools that have generous institutional aid, which I am guessing yours is if you were getting good aid with a 15,000 EFC.</p>
<p>I assume they also have to take into account the COA for 2010-2011 vs. 2009-2010. So, if the COA goes up $3000 and my EFC went up $3000 - maybe he still gets roughly the same amount? He had $22,700 in grant money plus $4000 in Perkins loan plus $1000 per semester work study this year. Just hoping to keep those same amounts or as close to it as possible. Is this reasonable, do you think?</p>
<p>Our EFC for the current school year went up by 2000.00 from last year, but my D aid stayed the same because tuition and fees went up. Her school does not meet full need so there was no change. Now my EFC for next year has gone down by 4000.00 and I know tuition will increase, I will be curious to see if her aid is increases at all. But i will not know til June also. this seems to be the date for returning students in most schools.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom…</p>
<p>Does Wake meet need? I’m wondering if the school is going to expect your son to take a full Stafford amount next year as a sophomore - which is $6500.</p>
<p>Is your son’s loan a Perkins or a Stafford? I thought Perkins were for low income students - but I could be totally wrong.</p>
<p>Perkins are up to the school how they award. I have heard report from several people on CC that they are not eligible for need based aid but have received Perkins loans. It depends how much Perkins the school has to award.</p>
<p>OP, your so may be better off with a subsidized Stafford this year so don’t panic if that is what he gets. The sub Stafford will have a lower interest rate this year than the Perkins. And I have heard that the Perkins may no longer be a subsidized loan for future loans.</p>
<p>He has a $4000 Perkins loan this year - seemed like a good deal at a fixed rate of 5%. Wake does meet 100% of need - we did not take the other loans that were offered to us - Stafford loans, I believe, because the rates were 8-9% and did not seem that attractive. I guess I’m kind of fixated on the grant/scholarship money - hoping to get that same amount again. The website states, “If the family’s circumstances do not change significantly over four years, the financial aid package should be comparable each year.” I guess that is where I am (admittedly) obsessing - our income went up $7000 - I don’t view that as a significant change. I hope they see it the same way. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom - thank you for pointing out the reduction in rate on the subsidized Stafford loans - I was unaware of that - I did just look that up and the rates have dropped quite a bit from last year. I feel much better! I guess my worst case scenario is that we might have a little less in grant money and make it up with loans, but I don’t think I need to panic for the next 4 months. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Just make sure you check the details of loan offers to make sure you take the best.
Last year:
Best:Perkins - 5% interest rate/subsidized (govt pays the interest until the student graduates or drops below 1/2 time) + a 9 month grace period)
Subsidized Stafford - 5.6% interest rate - subsidized - 6 month grace period
Unsubsidized Stafford: 6.8% interest.</p>
<p>Next year:
Subsidized Stafford - 4.5% interest - subsidized
Perkins - 5% interest rate - unsubsidized (I think)
Unsubsidized - 6.8% interest - usubsidized.</p>
<p>*our income went up $7000 - I don’t view that as a significant change. *</p>
<p>Hmmm… Does anyone know what colleges consider a significant change in income? $5k? $10k ? $20k?</p>
<p>I guess it would depend on the base income.</p>