I need helping understanding my Financial aid reward. I'm doing this alone.

@HImom I just found out today that I got into one of my top choices, Case Western, after being deferred. They gave me a pretty decent package. It comes out to around $9k/yr in loans. I’m going to be considering all my choices, also as seeing that UD ended up not giving me that $5,000 scholarship it’s going to cost me around $5k/yr to go. I really want to get out of Dayton so atm I’m considering Miami U which is ~$7500/yr loans and Case which is at ~$9k/yr loans. I would have to keep a 2.0 GPA at Case to keep my scholarships there and like a 3.0 at Miami. I can’t say what I prefer because I haven’t actually been on Cases or Miami’s campuses so I’ll be visiting those soon. I knew that a long time ago that UD was probably going to be giving me that awesome scholarship, but I always told myself that if another school out of state or really nice gives me anything to where it would be under $10k/yr I’d most likely choose that over UD, just for the pure experience of new cultures and what not.

I’d go with Case. That scholarship basically requires you to notbfaol out so it’s guaranteed all four years, whereas keeping the 3.0 is a bit less guaranteed and objectively a higher bar to pass. In addition, for the $1,500 difference, Case is a top50 National University and is in my opinion a better value. (You get more for what you pay).
See if they have admitted students days where part of your costs are taken care of. You really want to spend time on campus, attending a freshman class - I recommend freshman English and an intro class in your major- , talking with students around a drink*, eating in the cafeteria and observing if people char IE if they’re all bent on their cell, etc.

  • (coffee or homemade orange juice or soda or whatever you like... Not something alcoholic that would place you in an awkward situation and may lead to losing your scholarships as can and has happened.)

@MYOS1634 Case is definitely my first option atm. I feel like paying $4k/yr will most likely be irrelevant when it comes down to the grand scheme of things. If I truly enjoy the school better than UD. Then I don’t mind having to pay more for the better education.

Check with your reply to see if they could bring you to campus and put you up with a student. I bet they organize first-generation/diversity weekends and it’s be free. If you can, go. It really matters to decide which place is the best for you. All your schools are good.

But how is that $7,500 to $9,000 going to be paid? You can only borrow $5,500.
Was there a Perkins loan in there too? You might be able to get it for this year, but not the next.

Case’s cost will go up in the next few years.

Miami Promise might be the best deal since costs are supposed to stay at the same level as the year you start.

Or U Dayton since you said your aid is supposed to go up as costs go up there too.

Ok, now it’s time to make a chart of the estimated costs of each U and the NET cost of each place you’re considering. When calculating the net cost, it’s total cost minus grants and scholarships ONLY. Do not count the loans or any work study.

Also make a note of what is required to keep each scholarship/grant.

As others have said students have a cap on how much they can borrow every year. You have to pick an affordable choice, especially if future schooling (like Med school) is something you’re expecting.

@mommdc well I’m borrowing $5,500 I also plan on doing the $2,500 work study at where ever I go. And my sister I asked her and she said she would be willing to pay for like $1,500/sem so $3,000/yr.

@mommdc Also I’m really worried about the cost and stuff of a school like Case. But I’m reading online and they have a ton of scholarships that people can apply for like their sophomore year and up to get like alumni money or something , IDK. But could you give me like a link to a good scholarship website, that could find like local scholarships and such? I figure that’s probably what I need to be doing right now until I find out my acceptance decision from Vanderbilt.

@mommdc Also I’m going to email Case’s FA office to see if they could give me some more money in grants and such. I’ve read that they don’t do that often but it can’t hurt to ask, I mean I’ve already got it haha.

I think that if Case is affordable, it’s the best value for you. Its connections and students are quite different from Dayton. UD is a great school, but Case is quite a notch above it.
Can you make it work without parental loans?

Please do NOT count on getting more funding after you start a U. You have to start with s form plan on how you will pay for all the projected costs for 4 years, including predictable increases. Generally most schools give the entering freshmen their best possible offers to entice them.

If you happen to get scholarships, that could lessen your loans but they will be VERY competitive.

If you want help, you have to use numbers–
Total projected cost per school for 4 years
Minus total scholarships and grants per school for 4 years

That is the Net number you have to laser in on. Everything else is just noise. If you want folks here to weigh in, list each U and those numbers.

Your best bet for finding local scholarships is your high school guidance counselor. Ask them, since your are low EFC you should hopefully be able to get some, but they are often $500-$1000 and not renewable.

Also, you may want to ask the FA dept eat each school if students have difficulty earning their full work study offer. I was recently reading another thread where students were complaining that there were not enough work study jobs available - or the ones that were offered too often conflicted with class times etc.

Make the chart! I’m glad to help with that if you need, I have one from D’s senior year. Just PM me.

Right now it looks like you have offers from:

U Dayton
Miami U
Case Western

cost roughly in that order?

I would not count on work study. Work study is taking a major cut in the new budget and SEOG is being eliminated.

^Yikes: Especially since work study is already need-based so it already goes to “those who would benefit the most”.

Yes, but they might make it so that it is only for students with the lowest FAFSA EFCs. Especially if they take SEOG.

At the public uni where my D attends, she doesn’t have a FWS award. But when she got a financial aid package at a private school when she was applying as a high school senior, she was packages with FWS.

Same FAFSA EFC, but higher COA at private school, so higher need. But that doesn’t mean that our EFC was very low.

Yes it’s in that order. I’ll pm you for the chart!

I ended up getting an email back from the Case FA, and they said they reviewed it and of course they said they wouldn’t change it. I’m wondering if I could somehow get that loan reworked to someway I could take it out without it being like 100000x more in interest and all that crap you know. I would jump completely on board with Case if that loan was not having to be a parental loan. I know that it will have to be most likely but IDK. Although my sister is willing to give me some money for college I would prefer not having to take any money from her. So if I can do work study and take out my max loans, I really don’t mind taking any money from her and would prefer not to. If I have this parental loan I may just have to take money from her.