<p>Yes you may be right. But how many hours do you usually work while on campus? And I am hoping that they have some sort of merit based scholarships for students, they should have at-least SOMETHING, You know!??</p>
<p>Also when I cancel my housing contract will I get significantly less money from aid!!? :/</p>
<p>What is your COA breakdown?</p>
<p>What is your aid breakdown? </p>
<p>Some aid is assured, so give us the details.</p>
<p>Row 1 - 3, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer and Total respectively…</p>
<p>FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN $500 $0 $500 $0 $1,000
FEDERAL WORK STUDY PROGRAM $1,000 $0 $1,000 $0 $2,000
RUTGERS ASSISTANCE GRANT $1,000 $0 $1,000 $0 $2,000
FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN-SUBSIDIZED $1,750 $0 $1,750 $0 $3,500
FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN-UNSUBSIDIZED $1,000 $0 $1,000 $0 $2,000
FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN UNSUB-ADDITIONAL $2,000 $0 $2,000$0 $4,000</p>
<p>Total - $14,500</p>
<p>What is your COA breakdown? The only thing that seems like it could be vulnerable is the Rutgers grant, unless that is also tied to income. Your COA will be more than $14,500, so you may not lose anything.</p>
<p>There should be a COA breakdown for commuters.</p>
<p>Rutgers has a commuter’s COA on Collegeboard.</p>
<p>…on cps…off cps…commuter
Tuition and fees $12,754 $12,754 $12,754
Room and board $11,262 $14,409 –
Books and supplies $1,431 $1,431 $1,431
Estimated personal expenses $1,631 $1,740 $1,764
Transportation expenses $714 $1,649 $1,649
Estimated Total $27,792 $31,983 $17,598</p>
<p>So, 17,598 is the estimated COA for commuters.</p>
<p>I am sorry but what is COA? And I just called up RU financial Aid office, and the girl there told me that most likely they will cut around half of all my aid, so I will be around 6,000 short! 
I am meeting with them on Monday to discuss the situation and explain that I will not be able to attend the university next year if I do on-campus housing, but she told me that more then likely they will cut it… Also I told them I will be living at home with my mother, will that impact it any way?</p>
<p>Note this is also not including commuting cost, and Books/supplies… What is wrong with them!!!</p>
<p>* I am planning on working some what, But I wanna really apply my self Freshmen year, So I can get high grades and hopefully more aid from the school…*</p>
<p>You will not likely get more financial aid from the school due to grades. Schools have waaaayyyyy too many kids with high GPAs, and high GPAs don’t really help the school with rankings (which is usually the motivation for scholarships). </p>
<p>The FA office doesn’t award more money for a 3.5 or 3.7 or 3.9 or 4.0. Depending on your major, you might get a dept scholarship if any are offered and you apply for one, but those are often one time and for very small amounts.</p>
<p>Since you’re going to have some costly transportation costs, you really need to find a job. If you have to pay $100 a month or more for transporation alone, how will that get paid?</p>
<p>Why don’t you think the other Awards wont change?</p>
<p>Also can I say that I will be residing off campus? Instead of with my Mom? Because the second she herd with my parent, she said the aid will be SIGNIFICANTLY cut!</p>
<p>What is your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>Work study doesn’t really go towards tuition. That is money paid to you twice a month as you EARN it at a job…which it doesn’t sound like you’re going to do. Work study money usually goes towards day to day expenses like your commuting costs.</p>
<p>My EFC is around 7000 I think, my mom only makes around 50k a year, and in NJ with its property taxes and what not, that is not allot. And yea that is what I am saying my Work-Study will probably go towards eating, books/supplies and commuting cost, not tuition. So in reality I got around $12,500 in aid, which the girl on the phone said will be cut directly in half due to me no longer staying on there Campus! [Also do you think they will do that?]</p>
<p>I think you need to call that person back and ask WHAT will you lose. I can see that maybe you’ll lose the $1k grant and maybe some sub loans will become unsub loans. Maybe you’ll lose Perkins?</p>
<p>COA for commuters is about $17k. With a $7k EFC, then you have about $10k in need. But, you can still use unsub loans towards EFC. </p>
<p>Telling the school that you’ll be living off-campus instead of at home is dishonest and may cause issues. Do schools ask for copies of lease agreements or what? </p>
<p>Call and ask what you’ll be losing.</p>
<p>So, you do plan on working the W/S job? That could make for a long day when commuting, but if that’s what is affordable, then you’ll have to do it. Maybe get used to studying on the train?? :)</p>
<p>Is it just me or do other people also think that this school is not affordable for OP, even with living at home?</p>
<p>It’s not just you. Attending Rutgers, even as a commuter, involves too much debt and still a gap… Then when you add in the commuting costs (and commute TIME!!!), it just doesn’t seem do-able. </p>
<p>The student could get into a situation where he has an unpaid balance at the school and then he’ll be stuck not being able to continue there or even at another school.</p>
<p>The student has about $10k in loans for frosh year. Each year that will be higher. </p>
<p>Tevin…what is your major and how much do you think you’ll be earning when you graduate? </p>
<p>I think he needs to start at a CC for 2 years.</p>
<p>I just called up the Housing office and explained to them that at times I will be living with a friend who lives near the train station that I will be using to commute down there, a motel/hotel and/or a friend who lives in the dorms at times when I go down there and have classes 2 days in a row, and will probably stay with my mom or such on the weekdays and days I am not going to school/ doing work study, and she just basically said that that will constitute as off-campus housing. So do I have the get go to put off-campus housing?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A better question would have been: What are my AFFORDABLE options?</p>
<p>Say again? What do you mean?</p>
<p>COA stands for Cost of Attendance. Every college has COA figures for various categories. One category is Freshman On Campus. That figure is what the college estimates is what the average cost will be for a freshman student living on campus. They will take the average of all meal plans and room plans, books, transportation, living expenses to come up with that figure. If you are living in the cheapest room available and are subscribed to the smallest meal plan, buying very few books and living close by, getting friends to drive you home and there, you can beat that COA figure by a few thousand dollar. If you spend a lot of money, have a major that has a lot of textbook needs and supplies, have to fly or take a train home, have a single room, have the all you can eat meal plan, and you will go over that COA figure in expenses. But that COA figure is what is used when determining your aid and how much you are permitted to borrow or get in aid.</p>
<p>A different COA figure is used if you are a commuter. A commuter lives with parents who are presumed to be supplying some of your needs, like your three squares and a cot. THat COA number averages those commuters who live walking distance from campus ( some who are chlldren of campus employees and professors and students even) and locals. Some have to travel a distance like you do. But the numbers are averaged, and for commuting, you are unfortunately at the high cost end of the COA but it does not get adjusted. You have to go with the average. </p>
<p>But your problem is that once you tell the school that you are a commuter, your COA is changed from the on campus COA which is much higher, to the commuter COA, and that COA is what your aid is based on. Your EFC (expected family contribution) always remains the same as far as the school is concerned. You need to come up with X dollars. You cannot reduce your EFC by changing to a commuter and getting the benefit of the savings. The school will take that out of your aid as you have discovered.</p>
<p>Yes, you can lie and say you are living off campus and get the Off Campus COA, when you are living with your mother. But usually there are requirements for freshman to either live on campus or commute and since 18 year old freshmen rarely go right into off campus housing, the school is likely to check out the situation, if they even permit it when a freshman claims s/he is living off campus but not commuting. </p>
<p>As for merit money in future years, yes, it is possible, but unlikely, simply because colleges do not have much merit money for upper classmen. They have very little. Much, much less than they have for the freshmen. Most of that kind of money goes to draw in the freshmen to the school, and those who get the money as freshmen are first in line for the funds in future years. Those funds also take into account attrition so it isn’t like there is anything left over if someone drops out or loses eligibility.In any case, you cannot count on it, and it is unlikely that you will get money, and nearly impossible to get a sizeable amount.</p>
<p>College is a business. It’s all about getting money FROM you, not giving money TO you. The money that is given in merit draw certain students to a school so that more paying students will come to the school. If you are not in the group that the school is willing to pay a lot to come, then you are in the paying crowd, so the school is not going to be interested in giving you any money. They usually don’t care if you come or not if you cannot pay. They certainly are not going to pay for you any more than they have to do so, and beyond a point, it’s a no go. If you qualify for government money, good for you, the school is happy to take it.</p>