I'm in a Bit of a Bind Here

Paying for College
1

<p>I just got my Financial Aid package and being the first of its kind that I and my parents have seen and we didn't expect things to be this expensive. I just want to ask if there is any other way to lower the cost of this tuition outside of "3rd party scholarships" as or "need-based" was not met. Thank you, this is my information</p>

<p>FAFSA EFC: $35,000
Illinois Wesleyan University EFC: ?
Tuition: $45,078</p>

<p>Financial Aid Package:</p>

<p>Alumni Scholarship: $9,000
IWU Alumni Grant: $4,080
Fed Direct Stafford Unsub Loan: $5,500
Total: $18,580</p>

<p>I just wanted to ask if there is anything in the package that looks strange, I thought that the "need-based" aid was rather low/underwhelming. Is there any other outlet for "need-based" aid? </p>

<p>$45,078-$18,580= $26,498 (with unsubsidized loan and scholarship)</p>

2

<p>Your FAFSA EFC is $35,000. Your aid from IWU is $18580</p>

<p>That brings you to a total of $53,580 which is $8502 MORE than the cost of attendance.</p>

<p>Schools don’t usually give aid to cover the EFC or family contribution.</p>

<p>I’m not sure there is a way for you to get more need based aid from the school.</p>

3

<p>Unless I am missing something - this package looks quite good. Look at it this way:</p>

<p>COA-EFC=need</p>

<p>So - 45,000 - 35,000 = 10,000 need - but you rcvd over $18,000 - $13,000 of which is grant/scholarship money that does not have to be repaid. Looks good to me.</p>

<p>PS - I am assuming that $45,000 is the total COA - not just tuition, right?</p>

4

<p>It is total but I thought that the only thing that counted for “need” based aid here was my IWU Alumni Grant which is only 4,000 dollars, not my 10k need.
I was under the impression that an unsubsidized loan and merit-scholarship did not count towards need.</p>

<p>I just haven’t gotten anything from the government (Fed Aid) to cover the difference on tuition and EFC. Is that what is missing or am I just stressed out and ill informed?</p>

<p>Thanks again</p>

5

<p>

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<p>You got $18,500 of aid from the schoool but you only had $10,000 of need. You did VERY well in the financial aid department. </p>

<p>Total cost of attendance $45K. Subtract the grant and stafford loan and you have a balance of $35420. If you subtract a FAFSA EFC of $35K from that you have $420 to contribute beyond your EFC. NOT BAD.</p>

<p>NOW…the school gave you scholarship in addition which was $9000…so now the balance is $26420. Including your scholarship, the school is meeting MORE than your need by over $8000.</p>

<p>This is a good financial aid package from this school, it seems. </p>

<p>If your FAFSA EFC is $35,000, your family income is in the $100,000 to $140,000 range. Is that correct? I’m not sure your family would qualify for more need based aid at this school with an income somewhere in this range.</p>

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<p>You got a Stafford loan. With your EFC, that is the ONLY federally funded aid for which you are eligible. The federal government does NOT provide aid to fund the EFC…that is the Expected FAMILY Contribution…and that is what your family is expected to pay (minimally). The government does not cover the family contribution with financial aid money.</p>

6

<p>Because your EFC is high the only Federal aid you qualify for is the Stafford Loan. The primary grant from the Federal government is Pell and that is awarded to very low income families (EFC much, much less than yours.) </p>

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<p>I’m not understanding this comment from you. You’ve stated that your EFC is $35,000 so you have been covered on the difference between your family EFC and the cost of attendance… the alumni scholarship and the alumni grant covered the difference. The college would use the FAFSA and the College Board Profile you filled out to compile a package using federal aid (if you qualified) and any institutional money (the alumni grant/scholarship). Colleges allocate the federal monies so you get one financial aid statement that reflects any federal monies plus any college monies. You do have the option to add the additional federal Stafford loans to decrease the family contribution. Does this answer your question? If not, maybe rephrase and repost. How much have your parents told you they can afford?</p>

7

<p>Thank you everyone for your insightful comments. Again I am sorry if I am a bit unclear as I have no experience with this topic. I’ll try to clarify.</p>

<p>My previous belief was that, in regards to paying for college, the FAFSA determined what I would have to pay out of pocket (this I had right) but I thought the federal government would have covered that themselves and not the school via Federal Grants and Subsidized Loans regardless of EFC so long as it met this criteria; EFC<COA</p>

<p>So I thought that, from $45k-$35k, the government/state would cover that cost exclusively. I then thought that the IWU Supplement would have resulted in a lower EFC and they would have provided the difference. In my mind this is what I had been told:</p>

<p>$45,000 (COA)-$35,000 (EFC) =$10,000 “Need”
Need was paid via Federal/State Grants and Loan then, institutional EFC kicked in
$35,000 (EFC) - $30,000 (Institutional) = $5,000
Institutional was then covered by School Grants then my scholarship (saw that as non-need) kicked in
$30,000- $9,000= $21,000 (COA)</p>

<p>THE ABOVE IS INCORRECT IF YOU ARE BROWSING THROUGH THIS THREAD. DON’T LISTEN!</p>

<p>Obviously I was ill informed (and my School Guidance Consoler is horrible) and I optimistically say my “Need” being much greater than it is (at least what counted towards it)</p>

<p>Thank you all</p>

<p>PS: In order to afford it needs to be lowered to about $23,500 minimum to attend</p>

8

<p>My previous belief was that, in regards to paying for college, the FAFSA determined what I would have to pay out of pocket (this I had right)</p>

<p>You don’t have this right, either. FAFSA does NOT determine what a family pays out of pocket. FAFSA only determines if you’re eligible for the small amount of fed aid that is available. </p>

<p>Most of the time, students are “gapped”…which means that they don’t get enough aid to fill “need.” </p>

<p>* but I thought the federal government would have covered *</p>

<p>**think about it…do you really think the federal govt is going to fill the need for students to go away to private colleges? If it did, everyone would go away to pricey privates on the gov’ts dime. ** </p>

<p>If your EFC had been - say 10,000 - and a school costs 50,000 that does NOT mean that the federal gov’t (or anyone) gives you aid for 40,000. </p>

<p>* but I thought the federal government would have covered that themselves and not the school via Federal Grants and Subsidized Loans regardless of EFC so long as it met this criteria; EFC<COA*</p>

<p>No! Federal aid is for small amounts. fed grants are for those with LOW EFCs…under 5000. And the fed grants are SMALL. Even fed loans are small.</p>

<p>So I thought that, from $45k-$35k, the government/state would cover that cost exclusively. I then thought that the IWU Supplement would have resulted in a lower EFC and they would have provided the difference. In my mind this is what I had been told:</p>

<p>You must have misunderstood. Schools use grants, loans, and sometimes scholarships to meet need. And, often, schools can’t meet need… </p>

<p>*In order to afford it needs to be lowered to about $23,500 minimum to attend *</p>

<p>then you may need to go to another school.</p>

9

<p>BabyRudy,</p>

<p>Wait until all of your acceptances and aid packages are on the table. You may have better options then. If you suspect that all of your colleges are going to be more expensive than you really can afford, you need to look around for at least one solid admissions and financial safety that is still accepting applications.</p>

10

<p>If you like this school, take a close look at what they include in their cost of attendence. If you clearly know your parents are willing to pay $23,000 then you are approaching that number. You may be able to trim transportation costs and a few other costs that you can control. You should also be able to earn a couple thousand with a summer job. Clearly this is a conversation you should have in tandem with your parents.</p>

<p>While you and your parents are figuring that out…do wait until all your acceptances and packages are on the table.</p>

11

<p>balance is $26420</p>

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<p>The difference between your total aid and this $23500 is just under $3000. Is it possible for you to get a summer job or two and contribute that amount?</p>

<p>Also the costs of attendance posted by schools include direct billed costs (tuition/room/board/fees) which are paid directly to the school. THEN there are personal expenses, books, transportation which are included but not billed by the school. You can save money by economizing on these expenses.</p>

<p>Agreed with others…wait and see what else happens at other schools.</p>

12

<p>OP. I also believed last year that merit aid would be in addition over need-based aid. I still think it should be, but that’s frequently not the case.</p>

13

<p>Colleges rarely award merit dollars over and above need if the student also qualifies for need based aid, though they will sometimes use the merit money to reduce the “self-help” portion of the award (loans and work study). </p>

<p>The bottom line is that one way or the other, the college is subsidizing the student. If the merit award by itself is greater than the need, then the student is fortunate – very often merit awards are set in specific dollar amount ($5,000, $10,000, $15,000, etc.) so it works out that way. </p>

<p>But if the merit award isn’t enough to cover need, it is still having the effect of REDUCING need. A student who has $15,000 of need and no merit award still has $15K of need. A student who has $15K of need and a $10K merit award now has only $5K worth of need – so that is what the college might give. The need-awarding arm of the financial aid office isn’t going to ignore the merit-award – they just look at that as a different source of funding for the needy student.</p>

14

<p>*I am assuming that $45,000 is the total COA - not just tuition, right? *</p>

<p>NO…it’s not COA…it’s direct costs. so, no room to economize with personal expenses.</p>

<p>tuition and fees: $35,256
Room and board: $8,106 </p>

<h2>Books and supplies: $780 (This is a bit low estimate…unless you find some good buys on used books)</h2>

<p>Direct costs are about $45k</p>

<p>$45,078 - $18,580= $26,498 (with unsubsidized loan and scholarship) </p>

<p>If you can only afford 23,500, then you’re going to have to talk to your parents because although getting a summer job can close that gap, that would mean that you would have no money for personal expenses, travel costs, etc. there are always some unanticipated costs.</p>

<p>BTW…23,500 is an odd amount. How did your parents come up with that budget? If that is 1/4 of what’s in your college fund, then can’t the family come up with a bit more out of current funds or a small Plus loan?</p>

15

<p>It may be doable with summer work, a little extra from your parents etc. but also very tight and this is only for the first year. But will the costs go up and will the aid keep up in subsequent years? That’s another question to consider. You probably wouldn’t want to have to transfer after one or two years because it became unaffordable later.</p>

16

<p>*But will the costs go up and will the aid keep up in subsequent years? That’s another question to consider. *</p>

<p>since a chunk of his “aid” is merit set scholarship and since his aid exceeds need, it’s unlikely that he would get any increases in aid as costs go up except for normal increases in loan amounts.</p>

<p>It may be doable with summer work, a little extra from your parents etc</p>

<p>I agree that summer work and a little more from parents might do it, but he would also likely have to work during the school year as well because if all of his summer money goes towards tuition, then he won’t have money for “daily expenses” …and we know that student have daily expenses. lol</p>

17

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<p>Books and supplies are NOT direct billed costs. The university does NOT send you a bill for these items. They also don’t send bills for transportation and student personal expenses.</p>

<p>The OPs direct costs are $35256 (tuition and fees) and $8106 (room and board) for a total of $43362. THAT is the amount the university will bill (probably a bit higher than that because there will likely be a cost increase for the 2011-2012 school year).</p>

<p>The issue that I’m seeing here is that it appears that the OP’s parents were not expecting to have to pay the EFC amount in total…and are not prepared to do so. OP, you need to discuss this with your parents. You need to figure out IF they can cover the amount that the college did not award you in financial aid.</p>

18

<p>I agree that books don’t get billed by the school. However, books are a rather req’d expense…especially with a modest book cost estimate like this one. </p>

<p>I was really just pointing out that the $45k doesn’t include personal expenses and transportation…so not a lot of wiggle room there like Rockvillemom thought.</p>

<p>And…Since the books estimation is quite low, it’s hard to economize much there.</p>

<p>*They also don’t send bills for transportation and student personal expenses.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>I agree…I didn’t include those costs in the $45k. If those costs were included, the amount would be 48k or more.</p>

<p>However, the direct cost is going to be about $45k for next year…even without books, since that estimate is for the current school year. Then add books on top of that. Even if a person is reasonably good at getting books at a discount, it’s hard to spend consistently spend less than 600-700 per year on books. We’ve had times when books have exceeded 600 for only one semester. :(</p>

<p>*The issue that I’m seeing here is that it appears that the OP’s parents were not expecting to have to pay the EFC amount in total…and are not prepared to do so. *</p>

<p>I agree. Somehow this student (and parents) thought that the federal gov’t covered “need” and that everything else from the school went to reduce EFC. </p>

<p>I would like to know how they’ve come up with such an odd amount for what they can afford…23,500. I find it hard to believe that a family that can come up with 23,500 can’t come up with a few thousand more.</p>

19

<p>The OP said that the current award leaves them paying $26,498 (or $26,500). My guess is that the OP’s parents told him (her?) that they can’t pay the current amount, but that they would be able to manage if the OP could get $3000 more in aid from the school. So the OP did the math.</p>

<p>In other words, $23,500 is the amount the parents think is a reasonable target for negotiation based on the current award. I agree that if they can come up with $23,500, they can manage $26,500, even if some parental borrowing is involved – but I can see where they are coming from both practically and psychologically. They have to draw a line somewhere. </p>

<p>When my d. was going off to college, my mental barrier - the max I thought I was willing to pay – was $20K – but then awards started coming in. First one that was $30K. Obviously way too much. Then $29K… still too much. Then $26K — still too much, but by then I was thinking, what if a college costs $22K? And if $22K, then why not $24K? And if $24K… well, then how can I tell my d. she can’t attend a top college that wants $26K…</p>

<p>Luckily, another school came in with an offer for about $16K, and I was doing the happy dance. </p>

<p>But I can understand where these numbers do come from. The OP’s parent were probably also hoping they could pay about $20K, with merit aid – they see an award for $26.5K and it seems way out of line… and from there $23.5K seems like something the can live with.</p>