Help? Fin Aid Comparisons

Paying for College
1

<p>Ermm… I’m not sure this is the appropriate place to post this, so feel free to move this around and slice my head off.</p>

<p>I’ve gotten some of my fin aid letters back, and between the adrenaline rushes and the afterglow, I’m massively confuzzled. Thrilled and stunned, but confused:</p>

<p>SCHOOL A:
(Total expenses: 45,440)</p>

<p>Student Contribution from Income 1,700
Parent Contribution 2,075
–Total Family Contribution: 3,775</p>

<p>Federal Pell 4,050
School Grant 31,990
Subsidized Stafford Loan: 2,625
Work Study: 3,000
–Total Fin Aid: 41,665</p>

<p>SCHOOL B:
(Total expenses: 43,272)</p>

<p>Student Contribution from Summer 1,450
Student Contribution from Assets 25
Parent Contribution 100
–Total Family Contribution: 1,575</p>

<p>School Grant 33,572
Pell Grant 4,000
Perkins Loan 2,625
Work Study 1,600
–Total Fin Aid: 41,797</p>

<p>Obviously, to have the costs be almost completely covered puts me in the ‘poor’ category. Help me figure out beyond that, though.</p>

<li>Perkins vs. subsidizied Stafford - I’m confused what subsidized means. Obviously you don’t pay interest while you’re in school, but then you start paying back + interest after 6 mos out of school/graduation? Perkins is 5% interest, Stafford is around 2-3% while you’re in school (if not subsidized) and up to 8% after graduation? </li>
</ol>

<p>Now if both are subsizided, is Perkins definitively better? Per se, couldn’t it be that Perkins is capped at 5%, but Stafford could be at 4% after graduation; then Stafford would be better, right? Or is Stafford always higher? 0-o Help!</p>

<li><p>Work study. For 1,600, I’ve been told I’d hafta work about 7-8 hours a week. Sounds manageable, considering I work between 15-20 hrs a week now with three APs and a time intensive art class. (Right?) But does all the money I earn go directly to paying off bills, or can I get a certain amount to myself, for spending money and so forth? How does work study work… exactly?</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve reached the second round for Gates Millenium Scholars; this scholarship pledges to meet all unmet financial need. From what I can tell, I have no unmet financial need. True?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>To answer your question about GMS- It replaces loans and work study. (I guess it could also depend on your college)</p>

3

<p>Both schools have met 100% of your demonstrated need. Should you get a gates scholarship, it is probably first going to reduce your self help aid ( loans and workstudy) then it will reduce your scholarship aid.</p>

<p>Thread about work study</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=43307%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=43307&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Difference between the 2 loans:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>**Stafford Loan **that is subsidized means the government pays the interest while you're in school. Stafford Loans allow dependent undergraduates to borrow up to $2,625 their freshman year, $3,500 their sophomore year and $5,500 for each remaining year </p>

<p>The Perkins Loan is awarded to undergraduate and graduate students with exceptional financial need. This is a campus-based loan program, with the school acting as the lender using a limited pool of funds provided by the federal government. (The Perkins Loan is the best student loan available. It is a subsidized loan, with the interest being paid by the federal government during the in-school and 9-month grace periods. There are no origination or guarantee fees, and the interest rate is 5%. There is a 10-year repayment period.</p>

<p>The amount of Perkins Loan you receive is determined by your school's financial aid office. The program limits are $4,000 per year for undergraduate students and $6,000 per year for graduate students, with cumulative limits of $20,000 for undergraduate loans and $40,000 for undergraduate and graduate loans combined.</p>

4

<p>would you mind posting your efc?
thanks</p>

5

<p>Student Contribution from Income 1,700
Parent Contribution 2,075
--Total Family Contribution: 3,775 (This is the EFC this school gave)</p>

<p>Student Contribution from Summer 1,450
Student Contribution from Assets 25
Parent Contribution 100
--Total Family Contribution: 1,575 ( This is the EFC that the school gave)</p>

6

<p>Congradulations on your award. Not many worthy students achieve this amount of award. Make yourself worthy for this honor because what you received, someone else did not receive.</p>

<p>Roger Dooley, moderator has several fine essays on FA.</p>

<p>See salliemae for exact conditions for the type of loans available. SallieMae is the government's sponsered agency (GSA) that buys and brokers the loans.</p>

<p>OK. Life is not static and likewise Money is not static. What you see today may not be what will be tomorrow. </p>

<p>Perkins loans may not be around by fall 2005, because of its high cost to us taxpayers (government deficit). see comments by MIT's Barkowitz.</p>

<p>The Stafford loan is based on 90 day (13 week) treasury bill on July 1. On July1,2004 it was approx 1.0% and thus the Staffords outstanding today is approx 3% to the student in nondefferred or in payback status. see Sybbie719, #3. BUT, and its a big BUT, if the Stafford is given at today's current 90 Tbill rate (~2.75%), you'd be looking at ~4.75% variable! For the class of 2005, they should be consolidating loans NOW, to lock in ~4.0% fixed.</p>

<p>All the parts are changing. The interest rates change based on the world economy, and all of its changing variables. The programs change based on the President and Congress. The school changes the tuition amount. You change because of age and hopefully, experience.</p>

<p>In summary, if you can get a Perkins Loan, great; but don't expect it.
Stafford and PLUS loans will regress to the mean average because interest rates will regress to the mean. (An improving economy with a lot of jobs and opportunities means higher interest and thus higher schooling costs. A poor economy and poor opportunities, last 4 years, means lower interest and lower schooling costs.) As Murphy says, There is no free lunch and you can't have it both ways; Education costs still looks ugly and stinks but less so if you are upwind. </p>

<p>Good luck on your economics.</p>