<p>I was admitted for Fall 2014 and saw my financial aid package on Thursday April 3 but the dollar amount shown for the offered financial aid (loans/grants) is much lower than the Estimated Cost of Attendance. </p>
<p>Does this mean that I will need to find the difference elsewhere (about 7K difference between offered aid and ECA) or is the offered Fin Aid the amount of money that is to be paid to the school (regardless of grant or loan)? </p>
<p>I wouldn't expect FSU to just tell me to find money elsewhere especially since my EFC is 0.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that FSU, like many colleges, often inflates the cost of attendance. This is especially true if you aren’t living in an expensive dorm, aren’t taking 15+ credit hours (with Bright Futures, once you are above 12 credits, you’re really losing a lot of $), etc. </p>
<p>FSU Financial Aid also likely isn’t finalized at this point. Keep in mind that incoming freshmen have until May 1 to formally accept FSU’s offer of admission by paying their deposit. A large number of freshmen have likely filed their FAFSA and sent it to FSU when they likely won’t ever enroll. Any funds they were offered can often be re appropriated to other students.</p>
<p>One thing to remember is that your financial aid package is really only finalized on the day that aid is disbursed during the semester. When I was an undergrad I had my financial aid change the day of disbursement more times than I would like to admit (it happened a LOT, put it that way). FSU is really bad with that, in my opinion and experience.</p>
<p>So, even though I got in my FSU email that I received my financial aid offer, it can still change on the site? </p>
<p>And if it is finalized (they did say Fin Aid info would come in early April and even the new ECA has been updated), the $14K+ in aid offered is the amount it would cost? I’d love to know because that’s the difference between my parents telling me go to USF over FSU (and I don’t want to go to USF at this stage). </p>
<p>It’s going to cost more than $14k to attend FSU. Maybe not just your tuition + books + housing, but when everything is totaled it’s going to be more than that. About 3 years ago it was about $16-17k to attend for me. </p>
<p>Yes, financial aid can (and does) change. It’s not finalized at all until the day it gets disbursed. The university is constantly updating financial aid for students (keep in mind, a lot of students likely have not filed their FAFSA yet). It can change. </p>
<p>One example is that Bright Futures has to be finalized still for the upcoming year. If you had an offering that included Bright Futures, it likely included last year’s rate ($103/credit hour, with a per semester value of $1545). If this year’s rate is finalized to be different, your financial aid is going to change. </p>