<p>both usafa and drewdrop
(:</p>
<p>Lol, I got my FinAid today (Connecticut). Apparently, my mom received it but did not tell me while I was at school. I’m very happy with it. However, in my document, the estimated COA is $57,212, not 54,700.
Now I’d like some clarification. I have Federal Pell Grant Estimate and Federal Supplemental Grant. This is not the money I’m going to get from FAFSA, right?
And I also have Employment Earning: Acad Yr-4 (what does Yr-4 mean?) and Federal Work Study-UG. For Employment Earning, as far as I understand, I need to work somewhere. And for FWS, I need to work on campus (do I have to, or I can just pay the money without working?).</p>
<p>Sorry for so many questions. But I’m pretty sure a lot of people have same questions.</p>
<p>Hey y’all.
They still haven’t sent me the package via mail so I called and the [very] nice lady over there said she’d email me it.
So, I got it and received around 30k aid and my parents would have to pay 20k and I, 2k.</p>
<p>Pretty good package since they covered more than half of the total, but that 20k from my parents might be hard to pay off -.-
Also, now I have to start looking for work!!!
Don’t really want to work at college as an investment banking internship would be nice. o.O</p>
<p>I didn’t understand my financial aid pkg when I received it. I called the financial aid office and they explained it to me. I feel much better.:)</p>
<p>Ok, so I aplied RD so I don’t know if I’m getting in and thus don’t have a FinAid package, but I’m a college nut and know a lot of the financial aid stuff.</p>
<p>Ok, so the parts of your fin aid package that have to be paid for are the work-study, student contribution, and parent contribution. Everything else is most likely covered by Cornell grants, or federal aid.</p>
<p>Oh, and the cost of attendance includes tuition, room/board, books/supplies, and attendance. That is why the cost of attendance varies by applicant, it is the variance in transportation cost estimates.</p>
<p>Oh, and actually you can get rid of the work-study with outside scholarships. But the student contribution cannot be replaced with outside scholarships. I’m not sure about the parent contribution, according to my estimate mine will be around zero so I never looked into it.</p>
<p>thanks Jalmoreno.
More questions though, so you are saying that if I receive a few scholarships from local businesses or win one big scholarship I can replace my work study with that?</p>
<p>Since books/supplies are need to be paid for, are they covered by Cornell grants already and I don’t need to spend money on books? Or the cost of books/supplies is included in student contribution? I’m asking this because if I have to spend my own money on buying new books, can I buy used ones (save money), therefore, lower the cost of attendance (thus, reduce student contribution/FWS). </p>
<p>I hope it’s clear enough what I’m trying to say.</p>
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<p>The cost of attendance actually does not vary based on transportation cost estimates. Cornell includes transportation in with personal/misc. You can see the cost of attendance for the current year here: <a href=“https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/costs/[/url]”>https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/costs/</a></p>
<p>@sxeYustas</p>
<p>There is an “estimated” amount include in the Cost of Attendance for books/supplies. You will be paying for your books yourself and you can buy them new or used or not buy them at all. Up to you.</p>
<p>The thing you guys need to understand. Even though there is a student contribution and/or work study. That doesn’t mean you will have to pay that entire student contribution to Cornell. It just depends.</p>
<p>Keep this in mind.</p>
<p>For someone that gets a full aid package.</p>
<p>Cost of attendance includes Tuition, Housing & Dining that all get paid to Cornell. The rest is for personal expenses, books and supplies which gets paid to whoever you purchase those services/items from.</p>
<p>so for example, in the 2010 - 2011 school year. If you got a full aid package, the allotment for books/supplies and personal expenses is $2,360 and the student contribution is $2,370. So technically, if the numbers were exact, after your grants were credited to your account, you would actually only owe Cornell $10.00. If you have $2,000 in work study as part of the aid, then that would reduce grants by the same amount and you would then pay $2,010.00.</p>
<p>I hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>thank you, usafa2011dad.</p>
<p>So whatever number they put for the total cost, I can really pay less by buying used books and spending less on personal expenses. THAT reduces my student contribution, right? And if I have a few thousand in FWS, it means that I only have to pay that amount to Cornell, right?</p>
<p>I’m so sorry guys… after all these explanations I still don’t get it…
so the student contribution IS the cost for books/supplies and personal expenses?
so after I pay for the books/supplies and personal expenses, ( let’s say I spent $2360), that amount is deducted from the student contribution which is $2370, so I would only have to pay $10 … correct?</p>
<p>only 51k dang it</p>
<p>Well, the student contribution is what is believed that a student should contribute to his/her education. This includes a standard summer-work expectation (probably that $2360 figure floating around). This amount goes up progresively each year at Cornell but also opportunites to make $ increase while in college (think research/co-ops for science/engineering majors). Additionally, students are expected to contribute 1/4 of their assets entering college (so if u have a $2000 checking account, u add $500 to the contribution/year) This amount does not change and the idea is that after 4 years those assets will be gone. There may be another part to the student contribution but I can’t think of it now. Also, just because you have a summer work expectation, doesn’t mean you have to work. Your parents could spot the extra or you can take out loans. basically, the student contribution is money that somehow has to be paid and cannot be made up with Cornell or outside scholarships
Every aide package will include work-study, and I believe it hovers around $1000. This work-study can be replaced with outisde scholarships.</p>
<p>As far as it goes for cost, basically everything that is not covered by the Cornell/federal grants, outside aid, you and your family will have to pay (this may just be the personal expenses, or it may be more)</p>
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<p>What if a student has a credit card instead of a debit card? Does he need to contribute 1/4?</p>
<p>The student contribution is what students are expected to pay from either their summer employment or on campus job. That is seperate from the EFC because you are expected to have some skin in your college education. It is a good idea to have jobs in the summer so that you will be employable upon graduation. Students who don’t work during the summer at internships will have a hard time getting a job at graduation.</p>
<p>@sxeYustas
A credit card is not an asset, u don’t have to use it. In fact, using it would be more like a loan ('cept maybe a higher interest rate).</p>
<p>@momma-three
The on-campus job is sperate from the student contribution. There is a work-study portion, then the student contribution, then the parent contribution. That is what u need to pay (whether it is to Cornell or for personal expenses). Everything else constitutes aid from either the university or federal/state grants (free $$$!).</p>
<p>Credit line on your credit card is a liability, even if it’s not used. I am not a FA guru, as in how it is calculated. But when calculating how much credit is still available to you, they would take all of your credit lines into consideration(liability), and it should be less than x% of your income(or ability to pay). Higher the percentage is, lower your credit score It is always prudent to close out any unused credit cards(like store cards).</p>
<p>If it makes anyone feel better, I got absolutely nothin’ for financial aid. Lol.
But I don’t feel bad, it’s fair. Obviously my parents can pay it (damn you income…their income is about 1 mil.) but still it must feel good to know that you won’t be having to pay for college! Congrats to everyone!</p>
<p>PS- I still feel sad though 
I want freee education! haha.</p>
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<p>Well if your parents are paying, not you. Then it is still free education for you.</p>
<p>satisfied, still gonna take some loans</p>
<p>(damn you income…their income is about 1 mil.)
^ are you kidding me</p>
<p>@Iwannabeavet, $1mil? lol Of course Cornell isn’t going to offer you financial aid. My family’s income? Less than $50K. Not embarrassed to say it.</p>
<p>EDIT: Iwannabeavet, I totally just lurked your CC profile to see your stats (since you got accepted). Your b-day is the exact same as mine, if that’s your real b-day. I purposely put the wrong b-day on CC b/c that’s what I do with all my accounts hehe</p>