Financial Aid Packages

Paying for College
1

<p>My daughter has received the following financial aid packages:</p>

<p>Our FAFSA EFC was 4722</p>

<p>College A
Your Estimated Cost of Attendance totals $48,022 and includes: </p>

<p>Tuition and Fees 35,540<br>
Room and Board 10,832<br>
Books and Supplies 1,650 </p>

<p>Award Package<br>
Achievement Award 14,500.00
Presidental Scholarship 2,500.00
Estimated Cal Grant 9,708.00
University Grant 8,532.00
Sub Direct Loan 3,500.00
Unsub Direct Loan 2,000.00
Fed. Perkins Loan 1,500.00
Total Aid Credited to Student Account 42,240.00 </p>

<p>Federal Work Opportunity 2,400.00 </p>

<p>Total Financial Aid Including Work Award 44,640.00 </p>

<p>College B
Tuition $36,428.00
Room & Board 11,644.00
Campus Comprehensive Fee 917.00
ASMC Fee 140.00
AC Transit Fee 100.00
Books and Supplies 1,400.00
Personal Allowance 2,000.00
Average Loan Fee 77.00
$52,706.00 </p>

<p>Financial Aid </p>

<p>Presidential Scholarship 18,500.00
Residential Grant 2,000.00
College Scholarship 4,240.00
Cal Grant A 9,708.00
Federal Direct Sub Stafford Loan3,500.00
Fed Direct Unsub Stafford Loan2,000.00
Federal Work Study 3,000.00
42,948.00 </p>

<p>So what should I be looking at? Is College A's package much better than college B?</p>

<p>Any advice would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Well college A has approx 1000 more in loans…
Not much different…
I would pick the college I liked better</p>

3

<p>College A is 44,640.00 of which $7,000 is loans and $2,400 is WS and there is a $3382 difference between the aid package and the COA that you will have to come up with.</p>

<p>College B is 42,948 of which $5500 is loans and $3000 is WS BUT there is a $9758 difference between the aid package and the COA that you will have to come up with.</p>

<p>If you have to borrow for the EFC then your loans will be $10,382 for school A and $15258 for school B. So it depends on how you feel about that sort of debt.</p>

4

<p>First you need to make both schools that same so you are comparing apples to apples. Use a common ammount for books/supplies/personal (3000)
College A: 49372 (35540+10832+3000)
Grants: - 35240
…======
School cost 14132
Loans - 7000
Work Study - 2400
…======
Family cost 4732 - This is family and student additional contribution </p>

<p>College B: 52306 (52706-3400(books/supplies/personal+3000 common book allowance))
Grants: - 34448
…======
School cost 17858
Loans - 5500
Work Study - 3000
…======
Family cost 9358 - This is family and student additional contribution </p>

<p>I like to get a “net” price of the school after grants. The loans allow you to go to the school but it is still your cost, just a defered cost.</p>

5

<p>The Package B includes a “personal allowance” of $2k in its COA, while the other does not. </p>

<p>So, to fairly compare, I think you need to add $2k to the COA of Package A or subtract $2k from Package A’s COA.</p>

6

<p>Well, school B is pretty far away and she would need to take a plane to get home for visits. School A is close by and there would be no transportation cost.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. splat11 I appreciate the breakdown, I hadn’t realized the net cost to us for each of these schools.</p>

7

<p>Good point about the transportation cost! I may be overlooking, but I don’t see where either school includes travel costs! Strange!!! </p>

<p>If a school is far away and involves plane travel or very long car rides a few times per year (including parents travel), then that would really add up.</p>

8

<p>I use a two figures to get an apples to apples comparison: billed costs (tuition, fees, room, board) - free money (grants and scholarships).</p>

<p>college A:
46,372 (tuition, room, board)</p>

<h2>35,240 (grants)</h2>

<p>11,232</p>

<p>college B:
49,229 (tuition,room, board, fees excluding loan fee)</p>

<h2>34,448 (grants)</h2>

<p>14,781 </p>

<p>College A is $3,549 better than college A. Multiply by 4 years and that comes to $14,200 in favor of college A.</p>

<p>The costs that I did not include will be approximately the same at A and B, unless there is a significant difference in travel costs.</p>

<p>These numbers only provide a comparison. You would need to add in the variable costs, books, incidentals to determine what you will need to borrow/work/pay for.</p>

9

<p>^^</p>

<p>well, since College B is far away and would incur travel costs for the student a few times per year (and maybe for the family a few times during the 4 years, including hotel, rental cars), that mean that attending College B will likely cost the family about $20k+ more than College A.</p>