Financial Aid Offer?

<p>So I logged onto ESTHER after seeing my acceptance letter yesterday, and I saw that I had been offered a Rice Tuition Grant and a Federal Work-Study Program offer. My question is: Is that their final offer? Is there a chance there may be more grants or scholarships offered? While I'm thankful that I got a fairly large Rice Tuition Grant, and the grant added to the Federal Work-Study thing equals up to about $30,000 per year ($15,000 per semester), that still is only about half of just the tuition itself! I'm just curious as to whether the one currently online is the final offer, because I've been told that Rice is the most generous when it comes to financial aid among the top-tier schools.</p>

<p>ummmm Rice costs around 43-45k TOTAL per year. You got a pretty sweet deal.</p>

<p>BlizzaP is correct. You only have to pay 10-15k out of pocket per year.</p>

<p>Regarding appeals, you can try but it is rare that they will change it.</p>

<p>Oh i see…sorry for my ignornace. On a slightly different note, do loans show up at all on the ESTHER page? I don’t see anything else other than the 2 things I noted before in the original question, so does that mean they aren’t offering me any loans? Or do they just not show up on the page?</p>

<p>They should show up. I believe that workstudy, grants, loans etc. all show up as part of your financial aid package</p>

<p>Wow so if there are no loan offers appearing on my ESTHER page does that mean I can’t get any?</p>

<p>Do you mind sharing your EFC or family income bracket?
After receiving your package do you think the financial aid offered will be adequate?
I am trying to get a better idea about Rice and what they actually offer in financial aid.
Thanks</p>

<p>is the rice tuition grant only offered to lower income brackets, or is that just the name of rice’s financial aid? i’m deff jealous that you are getting so much aid!</p>

<p>I got a similar package- about $18,000 in merit and $15,500 in grants. That means I’ll only be paying about $12,000/year out of pocket. I’m extremely excited and all, but I was expecting Rice to offer me loans and/or workstudy to cover the rest until I graduate. Is there anyway I can ask Rice for loans or workstudy without them offering me any?</p>

<p>I believe if you have filed the FAFSA any college can give you loans based on the result. For example if your EFC is 12K I would think you could get Stafford loans to the tune of $5500 for the first year, broken up as $3500 subsidized and $2000 unsubsidized. You can also get PLUS loans (parents), but the Staffords are the better deal.</p>

<p>OP - You can usually get loans above and beyond your package, if desired. Email Rice and ask them.</p>

<p>I am trying to get a better idea as well.</p>

<p>OP, would you mind sharing your EFC at least? Or anyone else who got a similar packet, preferably with no merit-aid.</p>