Help figuring out my financial aid package?

Paying for College
1

<p>So, I (finally) received my FA package from Florida Southern College and, since no one in my family has any idea how college works, I would like to have some more experienced opinions.</p>

<p>Total Aid:
Federal Pell Grant - $2,100
ACG - $750
FL Student Asst. Grant - $1,800
FL Resident Access Grant - $2,510
Bright Futures (Academic) - $4,032
Hollingsworth Scholarship (for Dorm) - $4,000
Book Stipend - $500
Hollingsworth Scholarship (for tuition) - $6,000
Music Scholarship - $4,000
Direct Subsid. Loan - $3,500
Direct Unsub. Loan - $2,000
Direct PLUS Loan - $1,080
-Also, in the following paragraph of my letter, it says I can borrow an additional $2,428 for additional expenses.
Work Study - $1,200</p>

<p>Total Offer: $33, 472 (not including the addition to the Direct PLUS Loan)
Total Cost for 2010-2011 Year: $32,972</p>

<p>So, at first this looked really good to me, but I don't want to be disillusioned. Is this a good package? If not, how should I negotiate my FA package? (since I have a financial aid meeting tomorrow at the college) And how do loans work? Do my parents need to sign for them or is it all on me? I'm just worried about loans because my parents have filed for bankruptcy, so I don't know how that will affect my financial standing. (Plus, there credit score is pretty sucky, too.)
And one last question is if anyone has been selected for FAFSA verification. My FAFSA has been chosen to be verified and I don't know what that entails.</p>

2

<p>I’d say it’s a pretty darn good package.</p>

<p>Your parents’ signatures are not needed on the Stafford loans. those are yours alone.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’re going to avoid the Plus loans. That’s fine, since those would require your parents signatures and credit approval. </p>

<p>However, if you need to borrow more from Stafford unsub, then have your parents apply for Plus, they will get turned down, and then the school can offer you more Stafford to cover that Plus loan</p>

3

<p>I’m not an expert but that looks really good to me. You have a lot of scholarships. Make sure that you are aware of all the conditions for your scholarships and grants. Grants usually require you to be enrolled in a minimum number of credits for you to receive them. If you are going to school full time and taking a normal freshman load you won’t have any problems. </p>

<p>Direct PLUS loans are taken out by your parents and they need to pass a credit check. </p>

<p>Direct Subsid. and Unsub. would be in your name and you don’t have to make any payments until 6 months after you graduate (or drop out, resulting in no degree and potentially tons of debt) You don’t have to have any credit for these.
Subsidized are the best because the gov’t pays your interest while you are in school. Unsubsidized gain interest while you are in school but you don’t have to pay anything until you graduate.</p>

<p>I heard about 1/3 of students are selected for FAFSA verification.</p>

4

<p>You have a combination of merit and need-based aid that has been cobbled together by the college. All in all it looks pretty good.</p>

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<p>This cannot be overemphasized. Have the college identify which grants/scholarships are merit aid and which are need-based. Is the merit aid for all 4 years? Is the merit aid for a fixed amount or will it increase as tuition or room costs increase over the next 4 years? You need to get rough idea of how the aid will change (or not change) after the first year so there are no unexpected surprises in the future.</p>

<p>Congratulations on all of the scholarships.</p>

5

<p>As for verification, I have to show our tax returns and W-2’s and my child’s, she has separate tax return/w-2’s.</p>

6

<p>Yup I’d agree, you look good for year number 1. Do find out what aid is automatic every year and what aid will be reviewed each year and if any of the aid requires the student to maintain a certain GPA and what that minimum GPA needs to be.</p>

7

<p>Looking at the school’s website, the figure of $32,972 is only the “direct” or “billable” costs. They are giving you this, plus $500 extra for books (it is a bit unusual to package PLUS loans as part of financial aid, but still.)</p>

<p>Just to give you a feel for what other expenses you will need to budget for:
The school’s website says that first-semester books usually come to around $400 (but can vary a lot depending on major)- so the year’s cost for books could be $800 or more. Could be quite a bit more - my D1’s school listed almost $1700 for books this year on her financial aid “budget”, D2 just received a very nice FA offer from a school that listed $1400 for the budgeted amount for books. </p>

<p>HOWEVER, and this is very important – by buying books used, either from upperclass students or off the internet, or by possibly sharing a book with a dorm-mate in the same class, you can shave a LOT off of your book expenses. If the book is a new one, and therefore very hard or impossible to find used, there are some websites that rent textbooks - another good way to save $$.</p>

<p>You will also need money for “personal expenses” (sometimes called “miscellaneous expenses”). Schools typically budget between $1000 -$2000 for these. But this is another area that you can trim down a LOT by living frugally. You will need money for doing laundry, laundry soap, toiletries, haircuts, clothing, the occasional pizza or meal out, movies, etc. Eating out (even fast food) is a real budget-buster – stick with dorm food as much as humanly possible. Cell phone bills, especially with texting, can really add up, too. Also, transportation -money for buses, subways, etc - but Florida probably doesn’t have these. Having a car (even a used one) is a HUGE expense. Have good comfortable shoes so you can do lots of walking - free transportation, and good exercise. :-)</p>

<p>A summer job (and living frugally this summer so you can save most of the money) should yield enough to cover any book expenses above the $500, plus personal expenses, and maybe even enough to eliminate the PLUS loan.
Also, $1200 work study job is not that many hours. You may be able to also get another job (on-campus or off) to supplement, especially second semester (when you will be better at time management).
(you’ll also need some things for your dorm room - highly recommend bumming some sheets, blankets and towels from your parents!)</p>

<p>Looks like a very good package! I just wanted you to be aware of other expenses that you will want to have some cash saved up for, so that you can (hopefully) avoid the extra loans.
I second the congrats on all the scholarships!</p>