<p>How was your package? I got mine and even though my EFC is <1000, they only gave me 14k of aid (including loans) which definitely takes them out of my possible choices. Anyone else experiencing this?</p>
<p>shameless bump</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>It’s not really all that surprising. Your financial aid package likely isn’t finalized (especially if you haven’t been awarded Bright Futures in that amount), and the page even says that usually (something about being preliminary or something). </p>
<p>Your EFC doesn’t necessarily mean that you automatically get every single dollar in aid that your school’s cost of attendance minus your EFC equals. It’s a guideline for colleges to use when calculating what aid you qualify for and what to offer. It’s also somewhat dependent on when you file your FAFSA. </p>
<p>If you’re surprised by your financial aid package from FSU, you’re not alone, although it’s not exactly surprising to a lot of people. FSU’s financial aid office is wonky. </p>
<p>(Also, you posted after midnight, and then bumped this before noon… You do realize that most sane people are asleep then and then go to work/class, right?)</p>
<p>$14k, assuming you weren’t awarded Bright Futures yet (another ~$3k if you get the top level), and assuming you weren’t awarded work-study, is somewhat generous if it’s only $5500 in loans + Pell + other grants. That’s almost $9k just in grants, which is almost half the cost to attend FSU (also, don’t worry about what FSU lists as their cost of attendance… this is often inflated).</p>
<p>What my friend Pasbal said is pretty spot on. As he said, you recieved about $9k in “free money”, this is actually a pretty darn good package. And as far as FSU including loans in your package…this is something that all schools do. Some even include PLUS loans, so that is something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>One thing I will say is that at this point in the year your financial aid package is final except bright futures, which usually gets posted sometime in July (if you are eligible).</p>
<p>Remember, financial aid exsists to “assist” you in paying for school, it is not intended to pay for your entire education.</p>
<p>lol, yeah didn’t think about the time of my posts i guess 
i did understand that EFC is really more of a guide, but I did some of research of FL colleges and it just seemed as if I could expect more. Sorry if I came off a certain way also. Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>Wow, i only got about $8,000 in grants from FSU.
Let me you, it is extremely expensive in order to go to the school.</p>
<p>The school gave me $17,000 dollars in aid including loans which is something I REALLY dont want. 
I thought I was the only one…</p>
<p>“it is extremely expensive in order to go to the school.”</p>
<p>This could not be more true, and it will only get worse if our Governor Scott, in all his infinite wisdom continues to cut 10’s of millions from the state university budget each year. This will only cause tuition to increase each year and it also directly affects the amount of financial aid that universities can offer to their students. </p>
<p>On a related note about loans, Congresses decision last year to keep the lower interest rate on student loans is set to expire on July 1st of this year. If this extension is allowed to expire, it will double the interest rate of the subsidized Stafford loans from 3.4% to 6.8%…better contact your congressperson on this one.</p>
<p>Actually, FSU’s really cheap, especially when compared to a lot of other schools in other states. Not to mention that the cost of attendance is often inflated. Back when I was a freshman, the COA was something like $20k. I calculated what it would realistically cost me to attend FSU, and it only came out to about $15,000. I’m sure that a similar difference exists still. </p>
<p>
Actually, it’s because of Governor Scott that things like the pre-eminence bill, which would have caused tuition at FSU to skyrocket, were not put into place. It’s also not Gov. Scott’s laws that allow for the up-to 15% increase in tuition every year for the state universities. In fact, Rick Scott has actively campaigned for cutting tuition costs- he was completely against any tuition increases for this current school year, and practically campaigned the Board of Governors to not allow any increases.</p>