<p>Katie: My son is in a similar position to yours. He was accepted as an Echols Scholar into UVa. We are OOS and our EFC is about the same as yours. The financial aid package UVA offered includes loans (some subsidized, and some unsubsidized), work-study, and grant. In the fin aid workshop on Saturday, we were told that for OOS, need is met FIRST by maximizing self-help (that means all sources of loans, and work-study), and then grants. Importantly, only the SUBSIDIZED loans count toward the loan cap, so it’s highly likely you could graduate with much more than $25K in debt. We’re projecting $35-40K debt for our son. Furthermore, the work-study money is just a max amount that you are allowed to earn. I spoke to a UVa fin aid counselor who told me that students can work no more than 20 hours per week, and it’s up to them to find a job that pays enough to earn the w-s amount – but that’s not guaranteed, and if he doesn’t earn that amount, that’s more that we have to pay somehow. </p>
<p>Our son has scholarship opportunities at two other fine schools with Honors programs. He, too, is considering law school. He will most likely accept one of the scholarships and decline UVa because the promise of more than $25K in total debt is just too much.</p>
<p>While MomOf2CollegeKids’ suggestion that you could work over the summer to make some money is a nice suggestion, keep in mind that the EFC calculation considers 50% of YOUR INCOME as available for college, so for every $1 you earn over the summer, your EFC goes up another $0.50. It won’t stay at $23,000 if you work over the summer! If your tax rate is 10%, this means that only 40% of your summer earnings will offset part of your EFC (and that’s if you don’t spend your money on clothing, movies, etc. this summer).</p>
<p>Be aware of all the debt, the tuition increases (I read that UVA is raising tuition and fees 8.9% this year – not sure it’s true, but look into it), and make a well-informed decision.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your incredible offers, and good luck to you!</p>