<p>I applied like a month later than my friends. It was like December 12th or something.</p>
<p>Did any of you apply for private scholarships?</p>
<p>^ for my D is also a free ride!! amazing !!!!!!!!!but waiting for Emory U which i think will be quite the same ( admitted via Questbridge!). expecting a free ride too!</p>
<p>LaVie can you please tell me your Ds stats, i want to know if i can get a full ride next year, when i am a senior.
I would appreciated alot.</p>
<p>Free rides at state U's are generally for those with great financial need and an EFC of 0.</p>
<p>^And those who have high academic caliber. My free-ride was due to both a 100% Bright Futures and the University Scholarship. I think Laven's is as well.</p>
<p>Full rides mean the entire COA (cost of attendance including tuition, room, board, books, insurance, and some living expenses.) The COA for 2009-2010 is $17,500 for instate (based on current tuition levels.)</p>
<p>Congrats on your merit aid.</p>
<p>Oh really, I always thought full-ride meant tuition/room/board/book/ and maybe a stipend.</p>
<p>Well close enough, living expenses and travel are a smaller expenditure compared to the others. And thank you :). I was pleasantly surprised with my Fin Aid. Oddly, UF's was a lot more stingy...oh well, I wasn't planning to attend anyway.</p>
<p>rockerguy you chose FSU over UF, im from florida and always thought UF was better?</p>
<p>Well…I do not want this to turn into a “UF iz better than FSU” or “FSU rockz UF” argument because I find those pointless.</p>
<p>To put succinctly, I always wanted to go to UF. I have some really distant relatives who are professors there. However, when I visited, it just did not seem like a right “fit”. I do think UF is considered more prestigious in the South in layman’s term; however, I do not think nor noticed a difference between the student body when I was sitting in class. Also, nationally, neither university is known as a “top academic institution”, they are just both solid State Flagships. So, the prestige is a nullfactor for me. I also want to pursue politics, and when I had a personal meeting with the Poli Sci director, he offered me an internship at the State Capitol if I attend (which is so awesome!!!).</p>
<p>That’s pretty much it. I think both schools are great, most of my friends are going to attend UF. I just find FSU a better personal fit, both academically and socially. I could go on with the nuances but it’s just a personal decision.</p>
<p>Well FSU is more politically prestigous.</p>
<p>Where do you all find this out? I have no idea how much I’m paying =(</p>
<p>By when do we have to click “Save changes”</p>
<p>question, is this the permanent package, or do they periodically add awards and stuff?</p>
<p>Last year, as they approached May 1, adjustments were made to some students as money became available from those that decided not to attend.</p>
<p>If my son doesn’t qualify for financial need-base aid, will the Bright Futures still be posted? I went to the login site for info on this, and they’re showing the following: “you have outstanding documents”, and no FAFSA on file. My son’s entire IB program filed for Bright Futures in December so as not to miss out. I suppose the system is designed to default to the filing of a FAFSA form, but does anyone have experience about whether Bright Futures or any other merit based aid would be awarded without a declaration from us that we’re not filing for need based aid? I hope I’m making sense, here.</p>
<p>Bright Futures sometimes takes awhile to show up. You do not have to have filed FAFSA for Bright Futures. The state takes time to verify eligibility on all those seniors that are eligible, and it is based on their receiving SAT/ACT scores and GPA/course info from the schools. They will tell you you are eligible based on 7th semester scores and grades, but do not give final eligibility until final grades received. I think we waited until summer to see it show up FOR FALL on the financial aid page. One your son has an FSU email, he will also get an email any time FSU posts or changes anything to the financial aid page. You son can go on to FACTS.org and if it says everything is up to date, you just have to wait. It WILL show up.</p>
<p>Be sure to check fall as BF never shows up for summer. It never covers summer classes.</p>
<p>And if you have Prepaid, it NEVER shows up on financial aid. It is handled in a different office. But if FSU bills it, it shows up on the account page where bills and payments show up. It shows as billed and NOT DUE by you. Then it shows up as paid. </p>
<p>If you have prepaid and BF, BF gets applied first and then they use any extra from Prepaid to pay any outstanding money due and refund the difference into the FSU account or send you a check. (It could be the opposite, that Prepaid pays first and BF second–I forget) You go into secure apps and there is a place to tell them how you want any extra back.</p>
<p>Thanks! Got it.</p>
<p>I remember last year that the Bright Future award showed up on my son’s financial aid page around April or May. It was listed as Medallion even though he qualified for Academic. I called financial aid and they said once the final grades were received it would be adjusted…and it was around July.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine when it doesn’t make sense to file for FAFSA. Even if your parents are super rich, they could lose their jobs, their health, their investment portfolio, your house could burn down–things happen. If your completed FAFSA is on file, even though you don’t need it today, you might need to get financial aid or borrow some money down the road and having FAFSA already done could speed things up and keep you in college…</p>