I recently got accepted to my top choice!
I am a first generation so bare with me if my questions are a bit “dumb”
The break down of the cost is as follows:
Tuition and Fees: $47,632
Room and Board: $15,150
Books and Supplies: $900
Personal: $1,200
Travel: $800
Total: $65,682
NOW for the Aid they offered me:
$60,782 (including work study)
My Family contribution is right now is at $4,900.
My question is, we have to make eight payments in the school year.
Would my parents pay the full $4,900? The personal and travel depend on me don’t they? How much will my parents get billed by the college?
What you and/or your parents will actually be required to pay the school is tuition & fees plus room & board ($62,782) minus the aid that was offered less the work study component, which would probably be something a bit less than $60,000. (Caution: assumes that loans were not included in the aid package.) So to pay the bill to the college each year, you will have to come up with approximately $3,000.
Your work study earnings will probably cover the personal items in the COA you listed ($1,200). You will also have to come up with money for books and travel, either through a summer job, personal savings or educational loans.
Check to make sure that the package isn’t mostly Parent PLUS loans or something; some schools slip those in their “financial aid” packages for giggles.
Additionally, work study works exactly like a regular job for the most part – you have to find a job, do the work, and get a regular paycheck paid out of your work/study award. This means that the work study money is not available right away to pay for tuition, room and board, or other bills that come up before you get to campus.
You’re right – the personal and travel are estimates and you may spend more or less than that over the course of a year. I remember my ‘travel’ for college was an inflated number, hundreds of dollars even though I went to college two hours away from home and didn’t drive there (or anywhere) nearly enough to burn through $800 worth of gas in a year. You can probably use your work/study earnings to support yourself as well.
That’s a really good aid package. The one thing I would further check is to see the requirements for them to renew each year (for example - do you have to maintain a certain GPA?) Other than that, if your family can cover the remaining balance then it’s pretty good.
(If your family can’t cover the remaining $4500, you could always take out a Stafford loan from the federal government; as a freshman you can draw $5500).
Pretty much. What usually happens is that you will get a bill – or several bills – with the total direct charges from the college (tuition, room and board, fees). The bills will have credits posted for your scholarships and any loans you may choose to take out, and the net amount is what you will have to pay by the deadline. If your parents have trouble coming up with the money up front you can take out a federal Stafford loan for that amount or possibly enroll in an installment plan where they can pay part of it each month if your school offers that.
It’s definitely a really good aid package though.
(Does anyone know if there’s some kind of taxable scholarship issue here, since the grant aid is more than tuition and fees? I don’t really remember how that stuff works.)
It might be hard to do that because in most cases when you have work study you have to get to campus, find a job, work it, and then get a regular paycheck. Depending on your job it might take the whole semester for you to earn the full amount. It’s more likely that you will use the work study money for your living expenses, social life, etc. just because you will have to have paid tuition, fees, room and board before you get your paychecks.
Yes there is a taxable scholarship issue here. If the OP spends the COA amount on books and supplies, about $9750 will be taxable. Whether it will be that much for tax year 2015 depends on when the school bills and credits scholarships for second semester. It could be half that amount if those things are done in January 2016. OP, save receipts from all your required book and supply purchases.
ETA: Taxable scholarships/grants are considered earned income for the purposes of filing requirements and the standard deduction. For a taxpayer who can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return(your parents) you would owe tax on the amount over $6300.
I see great information. Now, my dad does not claim me due to immigration status. When I file, does it mean that I will have to pay the $6300? I mean I don’t have any other income.
Keep in mind you will also most likely have to prove you have health insurance. Otherwise you’ll have to purchase it through the school. That can be a few thousand $$.
Tuition and Fees: $47,632
Room and Board: $15,150
Books and Supplies: $900
Personal: $1,200
Travel: $800
Total: $65,682
College scholarship: $54,282
Student employment: $2,500
Annual scholarship: $4000
Total: $60,782
So, you’re getting $58k in scholarships (free money)?
Directly to the school billed expenses (tuition, room and board) is about $63k…so your parents will owe the school about $5k.
The work study will go towards “day to day” expenses
Unless this school is within driving distance, your travel costs will be more than $800. How far is this school???
the estimate for personal expenses is lowish. Those will be at least $2000 per year.
I suggest that you do some or all the following:
work/save over summer to provide “book money” and “dorm stuff money” and some “pocket money”.
Take out a student loan if your parents can’t pay for the remaining dorm costs.
