<p>My D has been accepted at a school that meets "full need" and states it does not give loans to incomes less than $80K. What does that actually mean? Our income is $58 and efc is 5K for Fasfa. She was going to attend a lower ranked school that would offer a $34K/yr scholarship but we would still have loans of about 12K a year. Would it be better to go to a full need school high ranked school if she likes it also? We are just submitting the Profile we didn't think it would be needed. Can someone explain a no loans policy?</p>
<p>I think the main thing to remember is that a school’s definition of “full need” is not necessarily your family’s definition of full need. So you might find that the school expects your family to contribute an amount; that amount might be more than you expected; and with a no-loans policy, you will not be able to fill the gap with subsidized or unsubsidized federal loans (though you could get private loans). Other people on CC probably know more about this than me, though, so I hope others will chime in.</p>
<p>There are colleges that will not offer loans to meet the need defined for a family. That you have to complete a PROFILE application means that the school has a definition of need that is not the same as FAFSA’s. So what they come up with need will not likely be the same as the school offer that you already have. it’s a bit late to be completing the PROFILE right now. Did they know your D needed financial aid? Really, until you have the award letter in hand, it is impossible to predict what you will be getting. It comes down to the bottom line of what the school expects you to pay either from your account or by loan.</p>
<p>Our D was accepted at a similar school and our income was almost identical; she is a sophomore now. Basically, our expected contribution was our EFC as they calculated it. Since they use institutional methodology it might not be the same as your expected family contribution with the FAFSA alone. In our case it was almost identical.</p>
<p>After our EFC, they cover everything else in the cost of attendance (housing, food, tuition) with grants that do not need to be paid back.</p>
<p>If we have a difficult time paying our EFC our D can take out an unsubsidized loan. So their “no-loan” policy is saying they won’t meet her need with loans, but we can still use loans to pay our portion.</p>
<p>For us, it is cheaper for her to attend this school with a huge price tag than for her to attend an in-state public where she would receive a 50% reduction in tuition.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help. So if I understand this right the more expensive, highly selective school might in fact be cheaper for our family than the other lesser ranked scholarship school in the end. At the same time, if we need loans to make up our “contribution” it is up to us to find the loans. Is that right? I should have done the profile but we believed her only real option was a merit scholarship at a lesser ranked school. I will finish the Profile and see what happens. The school in question did say today we could still submit the Profile in the next few days and have an offer by April 15. I have so much to learn and appreciate all of you on CC’s help so much.</p>
<p>Yes, you understand correctly – you & your daughter would still have the option to take loans, but the college would not use loans to fill the financial aid package. So the bottom line is that you will pay less at that school that a school that gave you the same amount of financial aid, but included loans with the package.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter!</p>
<p>At the same time, if we need loans to make up our “contribution” it is up to us to find the loans. Is that right?</p>
<p>You can take out a Parent Plus loan if you need to. And, if the school doesn’t put a student loan in the package, you can still have your child take out a 5000 unsub loan to help with EFC.</p>
<p>Your daughter might also qualify for a subsidized loan if the school does not meet FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Example: the college considers home equity in determining financial aid, which is not included on FAFSA. So lets assume a FAFSA EFC of $5000 an a college expected contribution of $10,000. We’ll assume college COA is $55,000, and that they give the d. a grant of $45,000. Because under FAFSA there is still $5,000 of unmet need, the d. would qualify for a $3500 subsidized Stafford loan (max allowed for the first year).</p>
<p>Once you have the financial aid award in hand, I think your options will be a lot more clear.</p>
<p>megdog, Not only can students still take out loans at no-loan schools, but students who get financial aid packages (at schools that aren’t no loan) normally can’t take out loans to fill in a gap at all. Generally speaking, most schools use govt loans as part of the financial aid so students can’t usually use loans to fill the difference between school’s definition of need and family’s. In no loan schools, the schools are just promising to meet need with scholarships and grants. The student can still take out govt loans and the parents can take out PLUS. </p>
<p>mommidwest, </p>
<p>As was written above, yes, your daughter will be able to take out loans. Your daughter is a very strong student with very diverse schools. I think more than one of them will offer very good, need-based financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Do consider that the schools still expect the student to work so there will be a summer work component and many no-loan schools have schoolyear work components. Also, in our experience, the estimated family contribution for no-loan Profile schools tend to run a little higher than schools that give loans-- but we had a lot of variety in our packages. If you only filled out the FAFSA, please go on each school’s website. When my daughter applied to one of those schools a few years back, it had its own form.</p>
<p>2collegewego: Thank you for the correction. I suspected I was off, but I wasn’t sure. I will be sending all my friends with younger kids to CC in a few years, at least for the financial aid help!</p>