Work study is money your college student can earn working a work study job in college. It is NOT money given to you up front. Your kid needs to earn it.
Like I said…this can be used for those personal expenses so you do NOT have to,give your kid money for those. That is a good thing…isn’t it?
Work Study earnings also do not count as income for the fafsa for their in which they are earned. That’s good too in terms of need based aid calculations in the future.
As noted already…a few times. Add up…tuition, fees, room, board, health insurance (if you will,be purchasing from the college). Subtract all the grants, scholarships, loans, from that total.
Remember that she will get 1/2 of the amount, and be billed 1/2 of the amount each semester.
Then have her use that work study money for HER expenses.
And look into the monthly payment plan option.
Why is this costing you more in terms of budgeting? Did you think she would have NO personal expenses?
Yes, your BILL will not show the work study on it. The bill will be for tuition, fees, room and board, and any other things required by the school (insurance, lab fees?). Then the credits will appear - Pell grant, school grants, loans, deposit credit…There will be a grand total and that’s what you’ll pay. In your example, $21,500
FA that you didn’t accept or earn yet, like work study, will not appear on the bill. My daughter’s bill has 3 little items on the charges side - tuition, student fee, lab fee - and a zillion on the credit side as the school lists out every single payment or credit separately. Merit aid, state grant, alum grant, visit grant, subsidized loan, unsub loan…
Then, for a reason unknown to the accounting world, they credit things and unpost things and repost the exact same item, over and over. I.Do. Not. Know. Why! Drives me crazy. Instead of 3 items on the debit side and 9 on the credit side, there are 5 on the debit side and 32 on the credit side. Makes doing taxes fun.
@thumper1 I know she will have expenses but easier to do little bu little than 1 large lump sum payment eac month, I want to finance as little as possible. I just am trying to do this the way the school told me math wise but no one seems to understand what I am asking which I know is 100% my fault & I can’t figure out how to ask it. I need to do this math wise the way the school did it in order to understand. Do I budget in my example above $20K or $21500?
@blossom, ok, you are talking to me like I am 3, that is good! So do I subtract it if I ignore it and that means I owe more, for example the $21500? So I owe more - damn I am confused again!! Arghh!!
The $1500 does not count. It is money that your D could potentially earn if she gets a job and that money will go directly to her as she earns it like any other job would. It does not go to the school and will not help pay your bill. I know how confusing this all can be. If you would like to PM me a copy of your FA package I would be happy to go over everything with you line by line. Every school presents the figures a bit differently, so there is no one size fits all answer to your question and it is really hard to answer accurately without seeing what the college sent you.
@planner03 Ok, does not count toward what I owe or as aid? So in my examples, I really, desperately need someone to tell me for budget’s sake, do I budget $20K or $21500? Can you tell me?
Think of it this way. The $1500 is not money they are giving you to reduce the cost of tuition. It is future earnings payable to your D. It is your D’s money, if and only if she works. After she earns it, she can give it to you to help pay tuition or she can spend it on whatever she pleases.
So to answer your question, you need to budget $21,500.
You also need to budget in for books - which tuition does not cover and can be expensive ($1,000 perhaps) and any costs she may have if she joins Greek life.
Budget 21500 (although if we saw your actual bill that would help… especially if there are many choices for meal plans for example, and you end up picking a cheaper one than your estimate, and you may not have to pay every single fee depending on what they are for- if your D is staying on your health care the college may waive a health center fee, etc.).
Right now you are dealing with estimates- you won’t get an actual bill to pay until August. And your D won’t get her first actual paycheck until October most likely if she starts a Work Study job once classes begin.
@mommdc Thank you but I only have a total # from the school that includes T, R&B, fees, I don’t know what those are separately. So it looks like bad news for me if I follow what you say. It looks like I leave the $1500 out of the aid so I really have less aid than I thought, therefore I owe more than I thought - by $1500. Is that right?
@thumper1 Yes it includes Unsub & sub loans totalling $5500 for the year.
Budget the higher number, because your D will need things for her dorm, books, money to get to school.
If she doesn’t have time to work this summer she will need it.
My D worked from June to August last summer and earned quite a bit. Fast food stores would still hire, or ice cream places. If the budget is tight, and it will get tighter every year with tuition increases, she should help contribute if she wants to go to this school.
Other things to look at…is this the least expensive housing option? Is this the least expensive meal plan option?
@cloudysmom what are the costs you are inclidingnfor Richmond? Do they include books and personal,expenses?
You need to look at the billable costs right now…those are the costs the college will bill you each term…tuition, fees, room, board, health insurance (if you are buying frommtje school).
Ok everyone, think I am finally getting it A LITTLE - they said this was for books too. There is a required meal plan for freshmen so that’s included. Seems like everything but spending $. She isn’t interested in sports or Greek Life so no extra $ there.
So if I don’t accept the ws I only budget $20K? While I like the principal of ws, I need to get my payments as low as possible. This is another thing that doesn’t make sense. I’m paying her $1500 to work there?
