<p>So I'm pretty much clueless about FA so I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out.</p>
<p>A college I applied to emailed me and told me that I did not qualify for need-based aid but that I should look at my FA award offer. My FA award consists solely of loans and they all add up EXACTLY (to the dollar!) to the tuition of the school. </p>
<p>Why would they be offered in such a manner? I was always under the impression that you have to pay interest on loans so wouldn't this mean that if I accepted this offer, I'd actually be paying MORE than if I didn't take the loans?</p>
<p>The reason loans are your total financial aid is that this college determined you didn’t qualify for any need based aid. </p>
<p>You are being offered loans IF you would like to take them. You do not have to. If you have other ways of financing your education, don’t take the loans. Regardless…I would advise you NOT to take loans out for the total cost of attendance…too much money in loans.</p>
<p>was your EFC => the COA. If so, then you have no NEED for institutional based need. If your school doesn’t offer merit aid, only need, then they would expect you pay the COA. If it does have merit need, perhaps they didn’t feel you qualified.</p>
<p>what school and what was your EFC (also a school that uses Profile would calculate your ability to pay differently than a fafsa only school</p>
<p>I swear that thumper1, swimcatsmom and me are really 3 different people although we often reply at the same time to the same posts and say the same thing :-)</p>
<p>So you can attend the school without coming up with the cash all upfront. In theory, you earn more after college to pay the loans and/or it extends the period over which your parents can help you pay for college.</p>
<p>It is similar to buying a house. You can either pay $200,000 up front, or borrow $200,000 over 30 years (ignoring the down payment issue). Why would someone want to borrow $200,000 over 30 years to buy a house? Similar to the reason you would borrow to go to college.</p>