<p>Hey all, I know I made a similar thread a couple of weeks ago, but this is more different.
So, after gruesome debates with my parents (and rejections) I decide that I might as well go to a State School. My state school after all gave me a free tuition scholarship. I was expecting to see by April a relatively low price tag on my state school. Today, I received my F.A packet, and I have to read the numbers twice in order to make sure they were real.
Apparently, for someone who has an E.F.C of 7,000 I'm suppose to pay 10,000, and the school did not offer any scholarships and grants, but 5,000 worth of loans. I'm not believing this, but how do they expect me to pay for all of this?
I really need help on this problem, because I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford college. I usually work two jobs during the summer, but my other job closed and my last remaining job have been cutting my hours to 15 hrs/week. My parents jobs are also cutting hours, and it took away over time hours. Can anyone help me? Please.</p>
<p>You mentioned that your state school (which one?) gave you a full tuition scholarship. Then is the $10,000 the remaining cost of attendance? (Room & board, books & supplies, travel, personal expenses, fees)? Is the $5,000 they offered in loans part of the $10,000? Did they offer any work study money?</p>
<p>With a little more information we might be able to help a bit better.</p>
<p>I’m sorry Arabrab. My state flagship is Umass Amherst. Apparently the scholarship I got that covered tuition, only cover $1,700, even though it states in its letter that this is not the case. The remaining I guess is a combination of room&board, tuition, and etc. They only offered loans, and nothing more.
Also, here’s more information I found the scholarship I was talking about.
" The John and Abigail Adams Scholarship provides a tuition waiver for eight semesters of undergraduate education at a Massachusetts state college or university. The scholarship covers tuition only; fees and room and board are not included"
So, the rest must be fees then?</p>
<p>Okay, the financial aid letter ought to give you a specific breakdown of what kinds of loans they offered – that would be good to know – usually a freshman is eligible for $5,500 in loans – it would be nice to know if you were eligible for both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans. The financial aid award should also include any university or state grants or scholarships – how were those listed?</p>
<p>U Mass Amherst’s site shows the following for cost of attendance:
2010-2011 Estimated Tuition and Fees for Full-Time Undergraduates and Stockbridge Students</p>
<pre><code> In-State Out-of-
State NERSP*
</code></pre>
<p>Tuition/Fees $12,084 $23,926 $13,409
Room/Board $ 8,814 $ 8,814 $ 8,814
Total $20,898 $32,740 $22,223</p>
<p>If you provide a little more information from your F.A. letter it would be helpful. Also – are you in-state for Mass? (I assume so, but I want to make sure.)</p>
<p>First of all, EFC is a FEDERAL number. Colleges and states are under no obligation to do anything with that number except determine what fed aid you’re eligible. The federal gov’t has no authority to say to colleges: “This is the student’s EFC, therefore this is all you can charge him.”</p>
<p>What is the actual breakdown of the school’s COA and the actual breakdown of your FA package??? </p>
<p>Right now…you need to concern yourself with what I call the “basic COA” (not the COA the school gives). The “basic COA” are costs that you must pay for…tuition (yours is free), fees, room, board, books. </p>
<p>How much can your parents contribute each year?</p>
<p>It sounds like UMass is do-able, but we need the numbers first.</p>
<p>As someone who has attended one of the MA schools for grad school I can attest that the fees are more than the tuition. So while many students who do well enough on MCAS (statewide NCLB testing) to get free tuition, that only covers a small percentage of the COA any of the state schools. </p>
<p>There are a number of state schools in MA, perhaps you need to consider commuting the first couple of years and transferring to Amherst as a jr.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your reply, and I have more information.
For arabrab:
In my F.A letter it states that Umass Amherst is giving me 3,500 loan ( subsidized)
and 2,000 loan (unsubsidized)
and 1,700 for the John and Abigail Scholarship.
My total aid is 7,714, but the huge bulk is from loans.
That was about it. I also live in state M.A On my F.A letter, there was no grants or awards that the school have given me ( which is weird, since everything I have is above their normal pool)
For mom2collegekids=
As for the COA here they are:
Tuition-Free
Fees-10,032
Room & Board- 8, 276
books-1,000’ish
My parents can contribute about 5,000 MAX, and I could contribute right around 3,000 maybe more if I get a second job during the summer and add more hours to my job.
To Mamom:
Yes, I’m planning to maybe attend a closer school. I happen to have applied to Umass Dartmouth because my friend asked me to, but now I’m highly considering of going there and saving more money from dorm.</p>
<p>It sounds as if you’re still $10K away from your target. Does MA offer state grants to students with your EFC or stats? If not, the local campus seems to be a much better solution financially.</p>
<p>I’m ADD, so I needed to organize this a bit for me to see what the situation is… :)</p>
<p>Umass Amherst is giving me
3,500 loan ( subsidized)
2,000 loan (unsubsidized)</p>
<h2>1,700 for the John and Abigail Scholarship</h2>
<p>7,714 - but the huge bulk is from loans.</p>
<p>7,714 aid from school (mostly loans)
5,000 from parents</p>
<h2>3,000 from student summer job</h2>
<p>15,714 </p>
<p>Ask them for some work-study. I wonder why you weren’t given at least $2500. If you could get $2500 in work-study, you could almost close that gap. </p>
<p>I also live in state M.A </p>
<p>On my F.A letter, there was no grants or awards that the school have given me ( which is weird, since everything I have is above their normal pool)</p>
<p>COA
Tuition … Free
Fees- …$10,032
Room & Board-… $8, 276</p>
<h2>books-…1,000</h2>
<p>Total…$19,308</p>
<p>RedUnicorn – You’re right – U Mass Amherst doesn’t seem to work for you. If you can go to U Mass Dartmouth without the room & board expense, you’ve got a much more friendly option. If you can get the John & Abagail scholarship from them (does that apply there?) and earn $3K a year, and your parents contribute $4K a year, you may be able to get by with just the subsidized loan, which the government (not U Mass) pays interest on until you’re no longer in school. You may not need the unsubsidized loan. If they would give you even $1500 a year in work study you’d be in pretty good shape. Ask for it.</p>
<p>And I think that it is a dirty surprise to tell kids that they have “free tuition” if tuition is a trivial expense and fees are huge. That really feels like bait & switch, and I’d be angry too. (Remember that when it comes time to vote.)</p>
<p>UMass-Dartmouth… <a href=“http://www.umassd.edu/undergraduate/costs/[/url]”>http://www.umassd.edu/undergraduate/costs/</a></p>
<p>$10,358…Tuition and fees</p>
<h2>…$1,000…Books</h2>
<p>$11,358 Plus incidentals like parking decal, gas, supplies, etc.</p>
<p>Possible scenario…</p>
<p>$5,000…Parents
$3,000…Student contribution
$2,000…Unsub loan</p>
<h2>$1,500…Sub loan</h2>
<p>$11,500</p>
<p>When did you apply to UM-D???..you might get a scholarship that pays a decent amount.</p>
<p>Yes, the Adams scholarship is a bit of a nasty surprise - free tuition sounds great until you find out it is only $1700 and the fees are $10K+. The problem is that tuition is set by the legislature, and they refuse to raise it for political reasons. And for political/budget reasons the UMass system gets less and less money from the state every year. So the only recourse for the schools is to raise fees.</p>
<p>And Red - the fees would have increased about $1500 this year at UMass Amherst (not sure how much at the other UMass campuses), except the school got enough stimulus money to postpone it. But the increase will most likely be back for the fall semester, so make sure you budget for it.</p>
<p>The good news is that the Adams scholarship is worth ~$1400 for UMass Dartmouth.</p>
<p>This is so embarrassing for our state. Write your legislators that you were fooled. Many people are. I believe this is another Romney deception, but I’m not completely sure. </p>
<p>UMASS 2009-2010
Tuition: $1714 - THIS IS ALL THE JOHN AND ABIGAIL ADAMS SCHOLARSHIP IS WORTH
Fees: $10018 - THIS IS NOT COVERED BY THE SCHOLARSHIP!</p>
<p>Yes, I am correct, this IS a typical Romney deception. </p>
<p>[Mitt</a> Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC](<a href=“http://www.freestrongamerica.com/pa/ge/55/learn-about-mitt]Mitt”>http://www.freestrongamerica.com/pa/ge/55/learn-about-mitt)</p>
<p>“In 2004, Governor Romney established the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to any Massachusetts public university or college.”</p>
<p>Doesn’t that sound wonderful. </p>
<p>RedUnicorn, I feel your pain.</p>
<p>What a bait and switch deal!!! Think you’re getting full tuition,AND you are…However, tuition is almost free, and then they whack you with “fees”…What a rip-off</p>
<p>This is bizarre. What were the “fees” back in 2004? Judging by what I’m reading in the Boston papers online, the “fees” have jumped year after year after year. It’s like some kind of silly game the universities are playing.</p>
<p>When I look at the COA page, I am SHOCKED by how ridiculous and numerous the line items of fees are…just nickel and dime-ing students to death!</p>
<p>Does each school set its own fees?</p>
<p>
That’s Massachusetts for you. :</p>
<p>Since the legislature won’t allow tuition increases, yet the amount the state gives the UMass system decreases every year, fees are the only tool the schools have to cover their costs, and they have been going up rapidly (it would have been a 15% increase this year except for stimulus money).</p>
<p>And it is very difficult for UMass to get decent mindspace from the politicians because there are so many prestigious private schools here - Harvard, MIT, BC, BU, Tufts, Northeastern, etc. And the state flagship is waaay across the state where they have no clout. If it was in the Boston area things might be different.</p>
<p>
Fees for 2004-2005 were $7294.</p>
<p>Tuition hasn’t changed since 1999, but in that time fees have increased from $3498 to over $10,000, and for next year probably over $11,000 .</p>
<p>Kind of like the University of California for in state students: no tuition but rather “Educational fees”</p>
<p>Well, but UC doesn’t try to fool people by telling them “free tuition”. That’s my problem with U Mass.</p>