<p>Did I hit the jackpot? >_></p>
<p>I know some of it may be in loans and such, but it can't possibly be too much, right? As of now the only source of income is my single, disabled momma. So I'm wondering if this sets me up well for college. Anything else I should be considering?</p>
<p>The only thing I would consider is that colleges will use the EFC to make their calculations, so it’s not guaranteed that they’ll decide that what to give and how the same way as the feds. But I think you should get significant aid. </p>
<p>You can probably use Google to find out if your school uses loans or not when meeting need. Try “Schools that meet full-need without loans” and see if your school is included in that list.</p>
<p>Did the school not give you at least a preliminary estimate of your FA package?</p>
<p>Well my dad is nowhere to be found, my mom has no assets at all, and her only income is a few hundred dollars every month from the government. So the college should see things the same way as the feds, I think o.o</p>
<p>Th school is trinity college (CT), no estimate yet, but I don’t believe they are not on the full need w/ no loans list.</p>
<p>Congrats!! What school is it?</p>
<p>Some schools limit their loans.</p>
<p>I would carefully read the website to determine their interpretation of “meets need.” eg. what about transportation costs, books, etc. What do “you” need to contribute in cash, e.g. does the school expect that you are currently holding a job and have savings…I would just read and read carefully all the information on the website and in any correspondence you have had.</p>
<p>Did you get a waiver from Trinity about your NCP? Trinity requires NCP info, so you’ll need a waiver.</p>
<p>Zero EFC can still mean small student loans (around $5K per year) and a work-study job at the best (not necessarily the richest) schools. This can allow another ~10% of FA students to be helped. I think it also makes students try harder if they feel they are making part of the investment.</p>
<p>If you got an NCP waiver, you should get fab aid, with Stafford and workstudy…</p>
<p>Did you use Trinity’s FA calculator?</p>
<p>[Calculator</a> v.16 for the 2010-11 school year - Copyright © 2009, Think Ahead, LLC. All rights reserved.](<a href=“http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/finaid/EFCCalculator/trinityStart.html]Calculator”>http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/finaid/EFCCalculator/trinityStart.html)</p>
<p>I did not get an NCP waiver, I shall look into it. Thanks :)</p>
<p>And I just filled out the calculator thing.</p>
<p>Still comes out to about 3k in loans. Kinda a bit though, but it’s just an estimate, would like to minimize that.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>If you’re an auto 0 EFC, then maybe you can work to reduce that. (If it won’t reduce your institutional aid)</p>
<p>Yes…find out about the NCP issue…their webpage says it’s required.</p>
<p>I love this story. You’ll be able to go to a fabulous school and you are the kind of person financial aid is meant for.</p>
<p>Anytime you talk about the size of a loan it needs to be taken in context with what you are getting for it. 3K of loans per year for the education you will get is well worth it.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very true…$3k in loans per year, will only be $12k total…</p>
<p>a payment of $138 per month. </p>
<p>Of course, you should find out if working in the summer to reduce the need for loans will hurt your aid for future years.</p>
<p>$12k debt from undergrad is extremely well worth it. There are remarkably few schools in the country where your debt would be less than that. $12k sounds like a lot, but like mom2collegekids says, it’s “only” $138 a month - and, you could easily throw $500 at the college every once in awhile to significantly reduce your debt load. If Trinity has a payment plan, see if you can’t find an on campus job and contribute $100 a month instead of taking a loan. That will save you $1000 a year in loans, bringing your debt load down to a mere $8k.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree…but he has to find out how working a lot might negatively affect his aid for the following year. Of course, during his senior year (and the summer before senior year) he won’t have to worry about that.</p>
<p>He needs to ask the school’s FA office how they take into consideration student earnings…</p>
<p>OR… he could use his school’s online FA calculator (link above) and play around a bit with the area that deals with “student earnings” to see how much he can earn before it affects his aid significantly.</p>
<p>…^^and the OP needs to figure out if or what the college will expect to be contributed from his/her own earnings.</p>