Financial Aid!?!?

<p>I have yet to hear back from NC State about my financial aid application; May 1st is less than a week away and I need to make my decision ASAP! Has anyone else not heard from them!?</p>

<p>Vero -</p>

<p>I JUST got my D’s Financial Aid Statement in the mail Saturday (it was online on MyPack Portal Thursday night). Call the FinAid office as ASAP Monday, and ask wants holding it up.</p>

<p>I had been calling them weekly, because end of March we had completed everything they requested. Last week they confirmed ours was going online in 2-3 days, which it did. Unfortunately, our FAFSA was selected for verification. So, all the back and forth of forms, updates, etc. delayed the file being finalized, in addition to the budgetary problems that have delayed almost all NC Universities offices from finalizing aid.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Same here. We haven’t heard but we were chosen for verification. Lots of back and forth to confirm if forms were received, but they were very good at getting back to us. Last week we were told it would be two weeks which puts us right at the deadline. We check everyday.</p>

<p>I contacted them this morning and they said it was taking longer because they were verifying forms and stuff but they didn’t tell me if I would find out before May 1st which is very nerve wrecking because I need to let other schools know as well.</p>

<p>We may wind up putting deposits down on two schools just in case NC State is not affordable. The lesser of two evils is losing the $200 versus losing a spot at the other school if we can’t afford state. The only suggestion I have is to use aid packages at other schools you got into as a guide. The federal part should be pretty consistant, so if you got x in federal grants and y in federal loans it should be the same all around. Its hard to guess any school scholarships or grants, but we assumed since she was OOS she wouldn’t get any.</p>

<p>OOS state here. Got 19k in instutional money on top of pell grant.</p>

<p>State must have a nice war chest to be dishing out like that.</p>

<p>^When did u hear? we can only pray she’s that lucky…</p>

<p>Another recent thread stated that ncsu only gave NON-need based aid (ie., merit) to 20 or so students in the freshman class this year. they do not have a large “war chest.” So unless you have clearly demonstrated need, the comment about federal aid above is probably right on the mark.</p>

<p>Wow! I hope I’m that lucky as well. But I have a feeling I won’t be. Hopefully I hear something soon.</p>

<p>FYI - </p>

<p>I spoke to one of the Asst Director’s in the OSFA yesterday, as I had questions re: our Award Letter. Keep in mind, we are In-State. Out of State student may vary, depending on how hard NCSU is trying to attract OOS students.</p>

<p>Two learnings:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>NCSU reserves their awarding of Federal Work Study, SEOG, and Perkins Loans to students with an EFC of zero. I asked because we have an offer from a Virginia Univ. that includes all 3 Federal awards (plus numerous other scholarships to attract my D), Our EFC is not zero, but is not very high either. BTW, the VA award package brings out of pocket cost down pretty equal to in-state NCSU.</p></li>
<li><p>Third-party, outside scholarships, will be applied first toward lowering the Direct Unsub Loan amount, then to lowering the Sub loan amounts. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>If anyone can confirm or refute what I was told, please contribute. I’m always a skeptic when getting answers from just 1 counselor in an office that handles 10,000’s of aid packages.</p>

<p>I got my letter April 12. </p>

<p>FWIW I’m independent student who made just under 16k in tax year 2010.</p>

<p>Curious thing is UNCW gave me +2000 in In-state tuition grants while State gave me +5000 as OOS. </p>

<p>I’m not sure what the factors are in these grants but I’m wondering if GPA/race/age/major plays a part.</p>

<p>Abdul –
I’m confused. Are you in-state or OOS? I know you stated OOS earlier, but you listed both in-state and OOS aid.</p>

<p>Amazhon-
Caution …I’m not sure it is permissible to deposit on 2 schools simultaneously. I’ve heard that you can risk having both schools rescind their offers. You might want to call each school being considered to explain your situation and request an extension for your decision. Or possibly deposit on the school that you have the facts for and request the extension from NCSU. If their FA comes through, you can enroll at NCSU, then withdraw from the first school. Good luck on a timely and generous offer so that you can make an informed decision.</p>

<p>FWIW - My daughter is OOS and her FA information was available on MyPack Portal on April 13 … could have been there earlier, but that’s the first time we checked. She received her FA letter in the mail on April 16. Based on their generous offer, I would say that NCSU is eager to entice OOS applicants to enroll. With the current economy, I would imagine that many public schools are seeing a decline in OOS applicants; as a result, they are taking measures to try to prevent a drastic decline in OOS enrollment. IMO</p>

<p>Well shoot. She already put her deposit down on State, but told me this morning she’s now still considering school #2 because she knows what that package looks like. I think I finally starting making sense explaining loans.</p>

<p>SnlMom - I went to high school out of state but community college in North Carolina.</p>

<p>So each university analyzes residency status using their particular criteria. Thus I was classified in-state at one school and non-resident at the other. </p>

<p>The remarkable part is that even though OOS at State is 19k and In-state at UNCW is 5k, the amount of free money was still higher at the former. Of course it doesn’t really matter what NC State classifies a financial aid student as because they’re just paying themselves at the end of the day. The excess money is what surprised me.</p>

<p>^ Thanks for the clarification.</p>

<p>Amazhon - -
Keeping my fingers crossed for you for generous FA from State.</p>

<p>Thanks. How thoughtful of you. The other school said its fine to leave a deposit with them also as long as you notify them by May 31st, but you will lose your deposit which is higher there than State. I can’t get a live person in Admissions at State so she has to email them if its allowed.</p>