Hi, all. I am a prospective student of Cornell engineering. I have recently received my financial aid estimate and I am glad to say it is generous enough so that I will be able to afford college. However, I have been wondering about the details of how exactly financial aid is given to a student. For example, in my financial aid estimate page, there is a row for “books and supplies.” Does this mean that I will get a discount on all of my books? Will textbook costs also be paid for all/most of my classes? In addition, for dining expenses, will I just not pay a part of my meal plan?
I’m sorry if these are dumb questions; I am quite uninformed in the college financial aid process.
Financial aid is given in a lump sum through your bursar account. If your financial aid (everything except work study) exceeds your tuition, housing, and food costs (as well as those small miscellaneous fees like the activities fees and whatnot) you will be able to get a refund from Cornell to pay for your textbooks/supplies.
If these charges exceed your financial aid minus work study, you will have to pay some and books/supplies are on your own.
Work study (which you don’t have to do even if it is in your financial aid package) just comes in the form of a paycheck biweekly or however often your jobs pays you. It is also up to you to find a job on campus.
I hope this helped. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask or pm, I am very familiar with financial aid.
Not attending Cornell but another full needs school. If she does not do work study as a freshman, will that reduce her need based financial aid for sophomore year even if our financials are identical to this year?
@SeekingPam – the FinAid award won’t care how she made the shortfall by not working as a freshman. The calculations are made based upon what you submit yearly.
Side note: I worked from my 1st semester through my last – it actually helped me with my time management. Encourage kiddo to start sooner rather than later.
The financial aid is best viewed as a discount on your total bill. If your college bill is $50,000 and you got $40,000 in aid, you owe a total of $10,000. You don’t get discounts on specific things. It is all lumped together because the money is fungible (look that up if you don’t know what that means). The cost of books and supplies is calculated into the total cost of attendance so that they can figure out how much it will cost you to attend the school. They do not earmark certain dollars for books and supplies. Is that making any sense?