I’m curious whether anyone knows the degree of relative neediness among work study, Perkins loans, and Direct Subsidized loans. In other words, if one of these was to be lost because of decreased need, which would go first?
This might be a question to ask on the Financial Aid forum. Just be careful over there. They’re not nearly the sweethearts that we are on this forum! ;
No unicorns and rainbows?
Yes - I think it could be the school’s prerogative, so you might want to actually go to the specific school’s forum and ask about the FA experiences of the students there.
I cross posted. So far, opinion is that work study is lost first. Anybody have a different experience?
from limited experience… You’d lose a Pell grant first, then Perkins loan, the FWS, then the subsidized Stafford. Un-subsidized is avail regardless.
So, you believe you would lose the Perkins first (if not a Pell grant recipient) then work-study, then subsidized Direct. Anyone else?
This may be slightly off-topic, but not really: What is the maximum one can receive from each of Pell Grant, Perkins Loan, Federal Work Study? (assuming one has the greatest need)
If the EFC is 0, the maximum Pell Grant is $5,775. Perkins Loan $5,500. Not sure about Work Study but it’s subject to job availability at the school.
I was trying to figure out when we lose work study as well. Just anecdotally, at around 70K the kid gets workstudy, Stafford subs/unsubs, but no Perkins or Pell. But I think work study varies by school and has to do with the gap between EFC and net parental contribution (so if you get a lot of merit aid, it might knock out your work study). Pell goes up to about 50K in income if you have no savings.less if you do.
Work study is, incidentally, one of the best things that’s ever happened to my son, and I would hate for him to lose it.
We have gotten such different packages and some have had work study, some have not had any, the ones with work study have vastly different amounts…it is frustrating to have such a wide variation. If D does work study, what types of jobs will that entail? How many hours will be devoted to that? So many questions and we find ourselves yet again comparing apples and oranges.
Work-study awards can be kind of arbitrary. At both of my older kids’ schools, it was sort of the way the college filled in the gap between the cost of attendance and the grants/loans package, but at one school–Kenyon–there were many jobs available, with flexible hours and decent pay, whereas the other school (Wittenberg) had very few jobs available even for kids who qualified. I’ve heard similar stories from other parents. So your financial aid award letter may designate work-study, but the reality is that the student has to be pretty assertive in seeking out jobs that will fit their skills and schedules, and even then the jobs may not be plentiful. 
To clarify my first sentence above: my daughter was given financial aid at two private colleges, Kenyon and Davidson, covering the full cost of attendance. Both packages included identical loans; Davidson was more expensive, and they gave her a somewhat bigger grant, but the rest of the difference was made up by work-study hours. She would’ve had to have worked many more hours there to cover her costs, but it would have been optional–for instance, she could have simply chosen to spend her summer earnings and NOT accept the work-study hours. With my son at Wittenberg, we appealed the aid offer, and they ultimately “gave” him more work-study dollars in his FA package; however, there was hardly any work that fit his qualifications and would match his schedule (and jobs were few and far between). Once a work-study recipient had a job, they were entitled to keep it during the rest of their years at the school, so it was rare for a flexible job to open up to new applicants. So he never received any work-study dollars.
These situations may have changed, but that’s how it worked for my kids (they graduated in 2007 and 2014).
I think my son had to hustle a little bit freshman year to get his current work study which is in the set construction shop, but it has been an incredible learning experience for him, and he now regularly gets outside carpentry/set painting work from other theaters. He spends about 12 hours a week working on sets.
Also keep in mind that some schools cap student debt, which can be a huge downstream benefit that may be easy to overlook when comparing initial offers.
That $25k is for the entire four years, and once that cap is reached all remaining need is met with grants.
Not sure if all schools allow this, but D was able to do work-study hours during the summers she stayed in town doing shows. She also found flexible capus jobs to be plentiful, and really enjoyed hers over the years. Some kids give tours, others do tech, work in the box office, tutor, work in offices… you name it.
Best of luck to all!
We are struggling right now with the loan situation. How much debt is too much? After all, our children are going to be actors, not doctors. On the list of uncertain earnings right after graduation, our children’s chosen occupation has to be at the top of the list. If the stress of auditioning for that first job isn’t bad enough, add the stress of debt repayment. 
I saw a rule of thumb suggesting no more than one year’s expected income right out of college. Which to me means 25K or less for actors, who may make a lot more if they’re lucky but could worst case make that much waiting tables/tending bar etc. Your son has such fabulous options, though…he seems likelier than most to make it. I would maybe go a little higher in his case.
Also bear in mind that the government loans (stafford, perkins) have income-based repayment options. The private ones do not.
@MTDadandProud Not all debt is created equal. If one attends an institution with high standards and a long-standing, solid reputation that will provide the training to succeed, as opposed to another school (that may be cheaper) but where it is too new to evaluate (there are many schools, even “Top” ones in this category) it may be pennywise and pound foolish to forgo a more expensive opportunity.
I see your son has been accepted to Carnegie and I think it just might be worth $40-50K of debt (the average cost of a new car) to have that training, connections, resume. You are not buying a widget. This is an Arts education. They are not similar, one to the other. Carnegie is not a Johnny-come-lately school. Newer, untested programs may turn out fine, but they are iffier. Of course there are no guarantees either way. But for me, I’d go with the tried and true, even if it means taking on the equivalent of an auto loan. He won’t need a car in New York anyway!
If your son decided to buy a $40K car on credit after graduation, would it cause this much angst? Probably not.
In the end, it is his choice. Your job is to make sure he understands the consequence. (I know, very difficult at this age, where many – my D included – have never held a job, and don’t understand the burden loans entail).
Good luck with your choice, and congrats to your son for having these “problems of success”.
I think there is a valid point in the idea that not all debt (or schools) are created equal. My D will not have any debt when she graduates, but her father and I will. During our process of finalizing her applications we spent a lot of time thinking of the value of the school overall- over an beyond the value of the BFA. It’s one of the reasons I was such a fan of Northwestern - graduating from a school that well regarded is an accomplishment no matter WHAT the major. In fact- graduating from college- while not quite the “guarantee of success” is was a generation or two ago, still holds plenty of value. And there are plenty of people who major in history, or literature, or philosophy, or any of a dozen other things at college that are not inherently “practical” - they are studying what they love. So is my kid- and whether or not she ever makes a living as a performer, she will have a degree from a really well respected school, which will allow her to have a productive and successful life. But I do think that looking at the value of a school’s entire package- rather than focusing exclusively on the theater program- have merit.
Our D will graduate debt-free (we felt that was critical for an MT grad) but as it turns out even all during her senior year she has had very nice MT contracts that could easily have serviced the full allowable debt load from her program (knock on wood!), many of which were at least indirectly the result of school connections, so I agree that all diplomas are not created equal.
Another seed worth planting - although she’s graduating debt free we did have her take whatever subsidized loans she was offered during the two years she had a sibling enrolled, viewing them as interest-free money to be paid off (by us) on the day she graduated. We did get caught off guard, though, when interest started accruing when she took a quarter off for a contract, so we didn’t escape totally interest-free as planned. Keep that in mind in case your child is ever in the position to consider taking some time away from school for a contract.
Opinions on this will vary, but in my case I would STRONGLY discourage our MT from taking a $40K car loan until she had socked away at least a year’s worth of living expenses. But then again I am fiscally conservative. 