Financial Aid Misunderstanding

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I made a post about this before, but I want to verify it again because my parents won't believe me.</p>

<p>Hypothetically, if my family contribution were 8k, wouldn't they only have to pay around 4,400 to the college, and then use the other $3600 - from the books, personal expenses and travel section of the budget - to give to me personally to pay for expenses. </p>

<p>As I understand it, they put all of your bills - tuition, room, board - on the invoice and then subtract the grant. for concrete hypothetical numbers, 45k - 37k.</p>

<p>Is this the way it works?</p>

2

<p>i think they pay 8k to the school, and the workstudy money you earn is for personal expenses/books.</p>

3

<p>Yep, 8k would be due to the school. The other things don't come on your official bill and are really out of pocket and separate from the estimated cost/expenses, no matter what they say the total estimated cost is.</p>