<p>I'm completely new at financial aid, but I need it desperately if I want to go anywhere. I know it depends and all that, but it'd be great if people could share the amount that it helps.
Either state colleges, privates, or out of states. </p>
<p>I only have my mother to pay for my college expenses and her income is very low...I'd really appreciate having an idea of how much she'd have to pay per semester.</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>You need to go to the webpage of the school you’re considering and go under their financial aid page and use the aid calculator. It will give you a good estimate of what you can expect.</p>
<p>Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using CC</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, I had not tried that lol, I always felt it wasn’t accurate.</p>
<p>Some are probably more accurate than others.</p>
<p>A way you can get an idea of what you might get is to take compare your test scores with those of the ranges of the colleges you are considering. Look at what the % need the schools are covering, and also what % are getting merit awards and what average awards in those areas are. Basically you have to be in about half the percentile that is getting the awards, to be getting a sizeable award from that school.</p>
<p>Example, if a school tends to meet on average 40% of need, and 10 % of the kids get full need met, you know that if you are in the upper 5% test score wise, the chances are on your side of getting most of your need met. ll</p>
<p>Schools that use FAFSA only do not tend to meet full need for most of their students so if you are average in terms of the school’s statistic, you are likely to get about 20-30% of your need met, in the above example. </p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC is a number that give PELL eligibility and a basis for federal aid. Other than PELL there is not a lot out there in terms of federal grants. SEOG is limited and not guaranteed. Only a few schools subscribe to the program. The rest of the money is loan money,with Perkisn being limited, and the guaranteed Stafford limited to $5500 freshman year. The rest is through Parent Loans. Thos schools that use the FAFSA for need purposes do so to give out what you can get of Federal and if the state chips in, that money, and whatever the school can scrape up. For top students, they might need, but for most kids, there is a gap.</p>
<p>That’s why it is important to have some schools on your list, like state school where you can commute that you know you can afford, and that you know will take you.</p>