<p>I know all about the cost of living, tuition, and expenses, but other than budgeting for that, how do you know if you will have enough aid.</p>
<p>Right now I'm living with my parents since I have gone and will go to school close to home (don't go off topic...). I work and cover my own expenses, and help with household expenses where ever I can. I've been awarded aid from the college I will transfer to next fall (SDSU). I've also been offered subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. In addition, my Cal Grant award letter came in the mail this weekend and I've been awarded Cal Grant B.</p>
<p>Does everything get added up all together or does everything get balanced out so I don't get "too much" aid? Does accepting the Cal Grant reduce the aid package from my college?</p>
<p>All I need to do to get the Cal Grant is submit a Transfer Entitlement Certification form.</p>
<p>I know this may all sound ridiculous, but I want to take my fair share, but at the same time I don't want to regret not asking for more/all I could get. If anything, keeping loans to a minimum would the priority.</p>
<p>The school will put an award offer together that includes all the aid you are being offered - State, federal, institutional. The aid package will be based on your ‘need’ as calculated by your EFC and the school’s COA (which will probably be lower if you are living at home). The calgrant will be listed as part of that package from the school. Any other aid offered will be based on whether they consider you to have remaining need based on the school’s COA and your EFC. You will not be given too much aid.</p>
<p>The thing you might do is not take the full amount of loans if you’re not going to need them. CSU’s tend to give a high estimate of cost of attendance. Many kids can live cheaper, spend less on books by buying them used and work more than their work study amount. If you can do some of that reduce your loans so they are not a huge burden when you graduate.</p>
<p>Do not take any more loans than you must take! You can also request a portion of loan offer be transferred to be work study, if you need a work study job</p>
<p>Or take the subsidized loans for now since they’re not costing you interest on money you may not need to use. You can ask for the unsub portion if you find that you do need additional funds. Really, though, how variable do you think your expenses will be? I assume you know what the commute will cost per week, have a food budget/meal plan for lunches and books are not difficult to reasonably estimate. Is there something else? Do you need a car or anticipate repairs that your income won’t cover?</p>
<p>You can simply repay the unused loan amount if you decide to take it and don’t use it. No penalties for early repayment:)</p>
<p>The only variables that come to mind are auto repairs. Living with my family, I help with expenses, and that means repairs with the cars we have. I really don’t have one car; we (dad and I) share and trade off once in a while, but this mostly comes when things are failing on one.</p>
<p>Other than that, I guess there are no other unexpected expenses. All other bills are pretty consistent. I guess they should be covered with my savings and work income.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it!</p>