<p>We got a letter last week saying my D's FA is on hold until we submit the tax document to verify the FAFSA data. But it also said we can do that by DRT which we have already done so a month ago. Does it mean we actually do not need to send in further document? Also, since the scholarships already covered most of the CoA for an oos student, the remaining balance is less than our EFC. should we not expect any more financial aid anyway?</p>
<p>I’d verify with a call or email if you want it in writing. Most likely there 2 different departments working on different pieces of the puzzle. Every year we get some sort of request to fill out info for financial aid (son just gets merit) and this request seems to come after the scholarships have been applied to his tuition statement.</p>
<p>@Kajon
Thanks for the response. I think my D has come to a decision not to attend UMN. Originally, I told my D to wait until we see the financial aid package to make final decision. However, there is little room for further improvement in the aid from UMN already. I guess I will just ignore it after all. UMN does offer very nice merit scholarships even to oos students. Indeed, it offers to my D quality education at the lowest out of pocket cost. We really appreciate it.</p>
<p>billcsho… would you care to share where she is thinking of attending now? I think our kids were looking at similar schools. My son is leaning more towards UMN.</p>
<p>@badgermom12
She is leaning towards UMich (in state and in town). It would be a few thousands dollars more with boarding than UMN, but a few thousands dollars less if commute. In addition, there is no traveling cost involved. UMN is 10 hours driving away from home and she has not visited the campus. The winter weather there this year also put her off a bit on it even though we are in the mid-west already.</p>
<p>You should ask Wolverine how he handles the travel from Mich to UMN. If I recall, his D is very happy at UMN.</p>
<p>Travel issues for us haven’t been too bad. Mrs. Wolverine and I split the duty. She take D1 over in August to help set up her accommodations, and I do the pickup in May after finals are done. If she’s done early enough in the day we drive straight back to Michigan, but if her final ends later in the day we clear Chicago then stop for the night. </p>
<p>How a family handles Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring breaks are dependent on individual plans and finances. We flew D1 home for Thanksgiving freshman year to offset minor homesickness for her and minor “chick is far from the nest” syndrome for us but she has stayed in Minneapolis the last 2 Thanksgivings (one with local friends’ family and one hosting her own Turkey Day dinner). We’ve flown her home for Christmas each year, and funded a Spring Break trip for her each year (hard to deny her this with the scholarship package she earned 
).</p>
<p>Travel to the airport has been VERY easy utilizing her UPass on the metro transit system ($97 per semester IIRC). With the light rail line on campus opening soon it will be even easier. She and her friends have used the transit system for several junkets to the Mall of America and D1 uses the bus to do her grocery shopping regularly. No issues with any of that. She’s currently doing some volunteer counseling work in Minnetonka and has to take a series of buses (and occasionally a cab) to get back and forth and that is a little more painful, but she needs the counseling experience for her grad school apps (looking to go into Genetic Counseling) so it’s a necessary evil.</p>
<p>Transportation issues as a whole (interstate and local) were a concern for us when she chose UMinn, but it’s really turned out to be a non-factor. Every family’s situation is different, but for us it hasn’t been anywhere near the problem we thought it could be. Given how much she LOVES UMinn, it’s ABSOLUTELY been worth it.</p>
<p>Not that it matters, but she passed on admission to UMich (with preferred admission to the College of Pharmacy) in choosing to be a Gopher and hasn’t looked back once. YMMV </p>
<p>@Wolverine86
Thank you very much for the info.</p>
<p>Don’t forget about the <a href=“http://us.megabus.com”>http://us.megabus.com</a> I think it runs twice a day from near the UMN to Chicago for less than $40. </p>
<p>@Kajon
Yeah. We are familiar with Megabus. So it will be two Megabus connection each way for us. The problem is the connection at Chicago may not be possible within the same day.</p>
<p>^True, but perhaps picking our student up in Chicago would be a possibility. Saves the drive all the way to Minneapolis!</p>