<p>Hey guys, so I was curious to how this process of financial aid is going to work for me next year around this time. One of my parents is employed with a university that has an education benefit which will pay 75% of its tuition to another school after a $2,000 deductible paid by us. (It's a private school, so the 75% will cover all of the other tuition bills for the schools I'm interested in, its ~ $31,000). As you could imagine, I am taking an opportunity to go out of state for an education and experience a different part of the country.</p>
<p>I have been told by admissions officers that schools won't know about this benefit on a FASFA form or really any way else when evaluating financial aid. My parents are separated, and I am considered a dependent with my mom. We're fairly certain that we don't make enough that we would be able to sensibly afford an out of state education without this benefit, even if my parents were together I don't think we would. </p>
<p>My question would then be - Is it possible for schools to really determine that you are going to be "too needy" to be offered admission, and won't waste a spot on someone who they think can't afford their school? Assuming we qualify for the Pell grant, ~$5,000 a year, I would only need a relatively small amount of help from the university to get through school.</p>
<p>Assuming you qualify for the max $5,500 Pell is not at all a good assumption, unless your mother makes very little money. Max Pell is awarded only to those with an EFC of zero.</p>
<p>What is her approximate income and have you run an EFC estimator?</p>
<p>We haven’t ran any of that yet, but $5500 is the max, and I’m sure I won’t qualify for all of it, but hopefully something decent. She makes probably ~$30k, shes self employed, when my parents were together her salary kind of paid the unexpected and my dads paid the bills since his is the set salary with the university</p>
<p>& Edit - I didn’t know about the max pell grant/EFC of 0 thing, thats the kind of stuff I need to find out haha</p>
<p>You have to report the tuition benefit to the financial aid office. If they need to adjust your package, they’ll do so after receiving the grant from your parent’s employer.</p>
<p>My guess is, in your case, you have to fill out an application, your school certifies it and forwards it to your parent’s employer. The employer will cut a check to your school. Now, the treatment of this amount is different from school to school. You should contact those schools you’re interested directly. You can do this by email, so it’s not that hard. Make sure to explain to them clearly. Williams and Stanford, for example, consider the tuition grant a family resource. They will reduce your need based grant dollar for dollar after the student’s contribution exemption.</p>
<p>@jvt Should I talk to those schools about it now or around when i’m applying? I figure they’ve got enough to do right now with this years admitting class, but is that something I should really find out ahead of time?</p>
<p>But my original question that is irking me still remains - Is it possible that an out of state school could look at me and say “no, theres no way you could afford this” and not admit me, without knowing I can cover most tuition? I don’t know if thats unethical or something, but it seems logical, since without the benefit I would definitely not be going to an OOS school, and they wouldn’t know about that until I was accecpted</p>
<p>The second part of your question… FSU says “Florida State offers admission to students on a “need-blind” basis. Your ability to pay has no bearing on our admission decision.”</p>
<p>Now the first part… Contact them now so you can plan better. The beauty of email is they can answer you when they can. No rush. </p>
<p>For you, the number one heartbreaking event would be that you are accepted and you can’t go because you can’t afford. Send an email like this to the financial aid office if you know the NPC estimate. If not, you can change to something more general. (I assume the COA is over $50K a year).</p>
<p>–
Hello,</p>
<p>I am a high school junior and I’ve just started the college search process. I have a question about financial aid. </p>
<p>I ran the net price calculator and it shows I could qualify for about $30,000 per year in aid. I will receive a tuition grant from my parent’s employer and it is capped at $30,000/year. Can I use both of these sources to pay for my college costs?</p>
<p>Alright, thanks! I just shot an email off to Penn State asking them about it, although I think with or without all I’ll be getting there is loans…</p>
<p>Thank you for finding that bit on FSU too, I didn’t see that</p>