<p>hi all... really need your help with financial aid application. If my parents can afford $10k/year maximum for my college education, is that the amount I should offer to contribute when applying for aid? (btw, i'm international and I understand that the more aid i need , the more competitive it is to gain admission). Or must I offer less like $8K so I'll have allowance for clothing, transportation..etc. I'm applying to liberal arts colleges which charge a comprehensive fee.</p>
<p>No, write $10K because it includes all costs (except airfare) .. i think..</p>
<p>great question. I strongly advise you NOT to pledge the whole $10k/year for several reasons. Firstly, indeed, you need extra money for airplane tickets, insurance and other expenses usually not included in your financial aid package. Secondly, if you are going to apply to more selective colleges that have ~$40k/year comprehensive fees, it won't make a big difference for the college to award a student $30k or $37k per year, if there is a somewhat significant difference between 2 candidates (e.g. a stellar candidate pledges only 3k, but a good but less than stellar one will pledge 10k; the 7k difference to take the better candidate is worth it from the college's perspective). Lastly, colleges tend to ask for more if you offer them more. If you can prove that you have $10k lying around per year, the college will probably ask you to contribute more than $10k. Otherwise, if you offer 2000-3000 the college will not be that greedy and will stick to your pledged contribution. If I were you, I would honestly save up the extra money and pledge somewhere around 2000-3000 per year. But in the end this is only my opinion and it is your money, so do whatever you want to do with it.</p>
<p>i suggest pledging slightly less than 10K too... the two colleges which offered me financial aid somewhat matched the family contribution i pledged (one exactly, one requested slightly less). but bear in mind that there are still incidental courses not covered in the 'comprehensive fee', which looks like a bare minimum. Airfares, for instance, is gonna cost alot. especially domestic flights... it's highly unlikely that you'll have a direct flight from your airport to the airport of your destination... and budget airlines don't fly to every destination. Besides, a few thousand isn't really gonna make much difference to the college if they are prepared to award you in excess of $30K of aid.</p>