<p>My son recieved his financial aid offer yesterday from a school high on his list. He recieved no merrit scholarship, but along with the loans and work study etc, he recieved a large School Grant from the college worth about half the tuition(school is super expensive,approx48k). My question, are these grants guaranteed for all four years?? as are the scholarships (if you keep the grade point ave.) The school will still cost us 26k including loans just his first year so we may not even consider it, but it is a very good school, and I believe he would do well here. Thanks for any answers.</p>
<p>From what you describe I would say that the grant is not guaranteed each year. More likely, you will be required to re apply for financial aid each year and assuming there isn't much change in your status or the schools, it is likely that you will receive a similar amount each year. To be sure, you would need to clarify this with the school.</p>
<p>No, need-based financial aid is not guaranteed for 4 years. You have to reapply each year. You should call the FA office and ask, "If nothing changes in our financial picture in the next 3 years, how likely is it that the FA offer will remain the same in its mix of loans and grants?" Many schools have good track records in not using a "bait and switch" on their returning students.</p>
<p>Chedva,"The bait and switch" is what I would worry about. I know my financial situation will change in two years when older daughter graduates college, but I will check with school. Thanks for replies.</p>
<p>Here is how I see the situation. I read through some of your past posts. Keep in mind, that if you have another child in college now, your EFC is split in half. So if your efc is 31k for one child, it should be 15,500 for each of your children while they are both in college full time. I guess you need to decide how close to an efc of 15.5k this school came, and how much they are asking your son to take out loans. Also, if they offered a fair amount of W/S to meet financial need, I would not count on your son earning that full amount. If an older child graduates and your second child is still at this school, they will expect you to meet the 31k efc, so your FA package will change. Also, you will need to file financial aid forms annually, and your FA package can change every year. This would be the case even if you have 2 children still in college next year.</p>
<p>Pupkin, I cross posted with you. Why not send an email to the school, and ask if your #s are the same next year, what could you expect your son's FA package look like as a sophomore? I would ask what you could expect when your older child graduates. Also, don't forget about annual increases in COA.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, thanks for the reply, we do plan on talking to the school, just came on hear to find immediate responses. I do realize that aid changes depending on situations of our family and school's promise of future financial aid can not be exact. We have a 3rd child in the pipeline but he will overlap with my older son by only one year, so our situation WILL drastically change son in question's junior year. I just was not sure about school grants?? We recieved none for our daughter, she did recieve some merrit money, but it is all soooo much money, it is beginning to affect college choice of second child. By the way, we pay for half their college expenses they pay the other half. We want the best for them, but we will give them the best we can.
What is W/S by the way??</p>
<p>W/S = work study</p>
<p>Well, I guess that the answer is that FA grants can change year to year. Perhaps you can use averages to help guide you. For example, if you see a school that meets 90% of financial need for freshmen, but only 70% of financial need for underclassmen a red flag might go up. Also, if you see the financial aid grants for freshmen average 15k, but are much less for underclassmen (comparing with other schools) with more "gapping" you might consider that. Naturally, they will probably expect your son's Stafford loan to increase from the 3500, to 4500 soph yr., to 5500 in the last 2 years. This does not include the unsubsidized Stafford loan that could be tapped.</p>
<p>For some students merit aid is not a security blanket either. If you have a high school student with a B average being offered 15k in merit aid, but they have 3.0 threshold to meet to keep the 15k, some parents could lose sleep over that too. We know several people whose kids have lost merit awards. Their parents are the ones being punished, and it hurts!</p>
<p>Clarification? If your EFC is say $16,000, does that mean $8,000/kid if you have 2 in college? I thought it meant that I supposedly could afford $32,000 for my kid's college bills!! OMG</p>
<p>northeastmom, I don't recall seeing % receiving financial aid broken down by class. Have you seen that somewhere? I've had the same question...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Clarification? If your EFC is say $16,000, does that mean $8,000/kid if you have 2 in college? I thought it meant that I supposedly could afford $32,000 for my kid's college bills!! OMG
[/quote]
No it means $16,000 for that student and @ $16,000 for the other student depending on differences in the student assets and income. The EFC is already adjusted to reflect 2 in college before you get it. (the formula calculates the portion of the EFC generated by the parents income/assets then divides it by the number in collge reported on FAFSA, then adds any portion of the EFC generated by student income and assets).</p>
<p>ChiSquare, I have seen a breakdown on aid for freshmen, and underclassmen. Here is a link, and just as an example, I pulled up FA for Hofstra University:</p>
<p>Student</a> Aid on the Web</p>
<p>Thanks so much! Going there to check out our list of schools now...,</p>
<p>You need to talk to the SCHOOL. Some schools award institutional "grants" that are sort of like scholarships and are not completely need based. Our DD has a "grant" from her school...and we simply asked them the question "will she get this all four years". We were surprised when they said "YES...hers is a merit grant and if she keeps her grades to a certain level she will get it all four years." Until then, we were under the impression that ALL "grants" were need based. Apparently they are not.</p>
<p>DD has already had this conversation....just to make sure...for next year when her brother will no longer be a student. She has been told "your institutional grant will still be there for you next year. However, unless you have "need", you will not get your work study award or a subsidized loan. It will be unsubsidized."</p>
<p>So...short answer...ask at the school.</p>
<p>If it's truly a need based award only, they will tell you that you need to apply each year.</p>
<p>Just for another first hand experience, my daughter was given a substantial grant. We did inquire if this would be for the 4 years and they said yes. We do fill out Fafsa and the school aide forms each year, and while our EFC might change a bit, the grant remains.</p>