Hello, so I really don’t know a lot about the whole college aid process. Neither of my parents went to college and my older brother goes to a community college.
I am really hoping to attend Ohio Wesleyan University, I think it would be a really good match for me, I’ve heard good things, and I live in Delaware so it’s about 8 minutes from me. So I applied, got in, and got a 22k scholarship. Now recently I got my aid package stating that their price tag is around 54k/y, and I’d be receiving 22k/y from my scholarship and around 9k in their grants. There was some other loan and work study stuff, so basically my total cost for a year would be 19k.
Now I am planning to meet with a financial aid counselor soon to talk about this stuff, but I was wondering if a lower price tag would change my grant money? I plan on living at home so that takes about 12k out of that 54k/y, yet I can’t fill that paperwork until after I’m officially enrolled.
I’m really worried about the price of college, so far I have about 7k saved up, and if I continue working and work full time in the summer, hopefully I can get it to around 10-13k before I start school. I was wondering if you guys have any advice, or if I’m going to be paying to much regardless?
My plan was the major in neuroscience, and minor in either genetics, biology, or psychology. At least a route where I’m still taking lots of bio courses in case I change my mind, so I won’t be stuck another year or in this path. My routes were either get a graduate degree in neuroscience/neuropsychology, or get a masters in genetic counseling.
OWU is a residential college. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a requirement that all freshman live on campus. That’s something that you need to check on.
It is a requirement unless you or your parents live in Delaware County, so they said it will be fine for me to live with my parents.
Then it sounds like you get out of that $12K cost. Definitely work over the summer, and see what jobs they have on campus. One of my Ds worked in the library, the other tutored math.
OWU has tightened its residency requirements. Used to be 25 miles from campus, now only in Delaware County. You’re good!
http://reslife.owu.edu/residencyRequirement.php
With the loan and work study, it looks to me like your net cost is more like $7,500. Room and board is about $11,500 which if subtracted from $19,000 is $7,500.
http://choose.owu.edu/financialAidAndScholarships/tuitionAndExpensesOverview.php
The COA for students living on campus is different from the COA of students living at home 55k vs 43k. So I imagine the scholarship should remain the same but the grants may be reduced you will have to check with them what your aid look like with the 43k COA. If you print the rest of your package we can suggest if it looks feasible and what to ask.
Good catch about asking for potential differences in the scholarship offer @BrownParent
A couple years ago, my nephew moved to an off campus apartment for sophomore trying to save some money. It turned out the financial aid was reduced even more than the cost difference from on campus housing.
Yes, if your COA (cost of attendance) changes, your grant and/or scholarship could be reduced. The school is looking at it from the perspective that you/your family can pay $xxxx. So if they reclassify you from being a boarder with COA of $54K and change you to a commuter with COA of $43K they could possibly reduce your total FA package by $11K.
But keep in mind, it’s “Cost of Attendance” not strictly the difference between tuition plus room and board vs.tuition alone. They know commuters still have to eat, will have costs for car, gas, etc. Many colleges publish their COAs on their websites. The figures I used in my first paragraph are from prior posts and may not be actual COAs.