<p>I used an online Financial Aid calculator and got an EFC of $5,193. The total federal aid I’m eligible for is $6,965, thus the difference is approximately $42,000. Based upon people’s experience with AU, how much of this should I expect to receive in grants, and how much in loans? I’m pretty confident I will receive some merit aid, but at this point, I have no idea what the breakdown of my financial aid will be. Should I anticipate receiving all or most of the $42,000 from AU in financial aid, or will there be a significant gap between my need and the financial aid they will give me?</p>
<p>I don’t know how good American’s FA is. I heard it’s not that good, or as good as the other DC colleges like GW and Georgetown.</p>
<p>American places more emphasis on merit based aid than many similar colleges. If you are near the top 15% of the applicant pool, I believe you are more likely to get the gap fully funded. If not, they may tell you to take out some private loans or PLUS loans.</p>
<p>If you look at the “common data set” (find on google) for AU, you can see detailed info on financial aid for last year. It is usually toward the end of the long form.</p>
<p>In terms of merit aid, top students can get offered full tuition, that still leaves approximately $20,000 a year in room and board costs. I don’t know anything about need based aid - I don’t know if there is an interaction between merit and need based aid.</p>
<p>As I remember, on campus room and board averages about 13K a year. DC is an expensive city overall for both housing and food. Books are typically another 1,000, and then there is travel.</p>
<p>Well here’s what I can tell you: </p>
<p>My family income is roughly $100,000, with my sibling in college as well, and a significant amount owed on our mortgage. AU gave me roughly $11,000 for the academic year. HOWEVER, only $4,000 of that was in a grant, the rest was in federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans. </p>
<p>I would expect you to have a gap of about $10,000 per academic year, which puts you at a $40,000 gap plus loan interest if you graduate in four years. And as Charlieschm put it, you need at least $1,000 a year for books and then expenses (metro and fun) go on top of that. I go through about $400/month on a moderate social life and an internship that requires riding metro to and from work in Farragut North twice a week.</p>
<p>Hope that helps?</p>