<p>COA is 14579.00 in state
Federal Direct Sub. Loan 1181.00
Federal Direct Unsub. Loan 3955.00
Federal Work Study 2610.00
Federal Pell Grant 1600.00
Guaranteed Assistance Grant 5233.00</p>
<p>It looks pretty good. Basically, you’re getting $6833 in free money that doesn’t have to be repaid and $5136 in loans. This will leave you with close to $25,000 in loans after 4-years, which is fairly high but average these days. You might be able to reduce your unsubsidized loans by getting a summer job during the year and if you or your family can kick in anything from savings or current earnings it could help reduce that portion of your bill. </p>
<p>I’m not counting work study since you probably have to pay off the college’s tuition and fees before you find a job, work at that job, and then get paid. Without work study, this means that you have a gap between the COA and the combined value of the grants and loans. Do you know what that $3000+ amount goes towards? If it’s not a direct fee charged by the college, you might be able to reduce that amount significantly.</p>
<p>My expected family contribution is 3955.00. The school didn’t ask this from us and it seems that they put it in a loan package. We will be sending them our EFC so that will eliminate the federal unsubsidized loan.</p>
<p>I think it’s just a coincidence that the EFC matches up with the value of the unsubsidized loan. They aren’t connected to each other directly; however, you do have the option of picking and choosing which grants and loans and work-study aid you agree to, and you can reject part of it (ie taking out less loans and paying the rest out of pocket).</p>
<p>COA - EFC = FN</p>
<p>14579 - 3955 = 10624</p>
<p>Total aid = $14,579</p>
<p>They beat your EFC and put a full need package together. It’s a good offer.</p>
<p>*COA is 14579.00 in state</p>
<p>Federal Direct Sub. Loan …1181.00
Federal Direct Unsub. Loan …3955.00</p>
<h2>Federal Work Study …2610.00</h2>
<p>total self help…7746.00</p>
<p>Federal Pell Grant …1600.00</p>
<h2>Guaranteed Assistance Grant …5233.00 </h2>
<p>Total free aid…6833.00
*</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your COA? Does it include any indirect costs like travel and personal expenses? If so, then this is a good package.</p>
<p>It looks like the “free aid” will likely pay for mostly tuition, and your parents EFC can be put towards Room & Board. Your sub loans can pay for the balance of R&B. Your work-study can pay for incidentals. </p>
<p>You probably don’t need the unsub loan - which does look to be your EFC (which is probably why it’s an unsub loan.)</p>
<p>Does that sound right.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids is right in the overall sense, but don’t forget that there is a significant advantage in your family paying enough of the tuition, books and supplies to qualify for the full tax credit. The loans can pay for R&B expenses.</p>
<p>^^good point ararab. It is a good package. Accepting the Stafford is also a way to get the feet wet with regard to how expenses will fall and occur for books, supplies, transportation, etc. and could be declined in year two if not needed. Any extra parent cash can pay down the unsubsidized Stafford at the end of the year or at any point along the way once the family and student are comfortable with the cash ebb and flow. The work study will take care of the spending money, incidentals.</p>
<p>*but don’t forget that there is a significant advantage in your family paying enough of the tuition, books and supplies to qualify for the full tax credit. The loans can pay for R&B expenses. *</p>
<p>Good point.
For direct costs, do schools always let you direct what YOU’RE paying for and what LOANS are paying for? Do you get to state …“our money is for tuition” and the loans are for R&B???</p>
<p>Loans are “your” money, from a tax perspective. It’s what grants pay for that can impact taxes. You want to designate “your” money as having paid for tuition, with grant (or scholarship) money going to R&B</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I thought it was pretty good. I live very close to this school and I think I may commute. That will make me only have to pay 6904.00 for tuition and about 1100.00 for books not counting travel. That makes it really good I think.</p>
<p>I am curious to know how they arrived at the loan amounts. It doesn’t make sense to me to have the UnSub larger than the Sub.</p>
<br>
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<p>Direct student loan limits for freshmen are $3500 Sub and $2000 un sub.</p>
<p>I really don’t have any idea why or how they came up with the loan amounts. The only thing that I think is it seems as if they are offering a loan amount that is the exact amout of my EFC so that if I don’t have it I can still go to school.</p>
<p>The freshman loan limits for Stafford are $5500 of which *up to *$3500 can be subsidized if there is financial need. If there is no financial need then the whole $5500 can be unsub. If there is only $1181 need then $1181 can be subsidized and the rest will be unsubsidized.</p>
<p>Sounds like the OPs remaining need was less than $3500 and part of the Stafford was being offered to cover the EFC of 3955. The loan to cover the EFC is not need based aid so would be unsubsidized.</p>
<p>Regarding the subsidized vs unsubsidized amounts: there is a maximum of $3500 of subsidized Stafford loans allowed. However, based on EFC/need a student may not qualify for the entire $3500 to be subsidized. The student may still have $5500 total in Stafford loans. Many students are offered the entire $5500 unsubsidized.</p>
<p>oops swimcatsmom beat me to it!</p>
<p>^
correct but with since he was granted a pell grant that seems odd that they would not subsidize the whole $3500.
Also it seems odd that the work-study would trump a subsidized loan. It’s a lot of workstudy money.
But yeah swimcatsmom - that would explain the $3500 efc and loan amount are not coincidental at all.</p>
<p>The OP got a great package, however, if I were the OP I would inquire about converting some of that unsub loan to a subsidized loan using some work study money.</p>
<p>Even with a Pell grant if the full need (COA-EFC) has already been met, they cannot give a subsidized loan. A subsidized loan can not be used to cover the EFC as the EFC is not need based.</p>
<p>Order of aid probably depends on the school. At my daughter’s school they seem to package in the order of grants first, then work study, then subsidized loans, and only then any unsub loans. Personally I would prefer the WS over loans of any sort as loans still have to be repaid and long as a WS job is availabe. If not WS could be converted to a loan later (easier than trying to convert a loan to WS as WS has such limited funding).</p>
<p>My daughter did not get WS this year but $3400 in sub loans which is very dissapointing. Would have much preferred to see WS not loans. We filed a couple of weeks later than I have in the past so I suppose that is why. :(</p>
<p>good points - however, if the OP will live on campus the work study may not supply the cash flow to pay the bill.</p>
<p>IF the college has assigned the grants first, then the sub loan, then the work study, then the un sub loan - he would have gotten the whole $3500 sub loan.
it’s too bad so much of his loan is un sub since he has to either carry or pay the interest for 4 years. This is the only <em>flaw</em> in the package.</p>
<p>I have found that every college seems to do work study differently. My oldest always got it as part of her package and lived off it- she even went over and the college didn’t mind.
For one kid - they say every kid on FA gets work study so they don’t even package it. They tell them if they want it to find a job and take it to the FA office.
Another kid tells them essentially the same - find a job then we give the money, first come first serve.
I did not know that WS could be converted to a loan.</p>
<p>Yes the WS can be converted to a subsidized loan (but the total sub loan still can not exceed the maximum in sub loans, so if someone already had $2000 in sub Stafford they could only convert $1500 from WS to sub Stafford). My daughter did this with 1/2 of her WS her freshman year as she was not sure how everything would work out and wanted to get the lay of the land first. She asked the FA depeartment and they said that if she was not going to use the full work study they would prefer she let them know so thay could reaward it to someone who would use it. The WS funds are very limited so they have more stuent who want WS than they have WS funds. SHe decided to keep 1/2 as WS and get the other half as a sub loan.</p>
<p>The WS funds are probably awarded first because they are so limited so they award them to the neediet students who have filed early. It makes sense to do it that way in my opinion as it is easy to convert the WS to a Stafford loan as loans are not limited funding (other than the max allowed), but it may not be possible to convert the loan to WS as those funds are limited.</p>
<p>Ohh… interesting.<br>
So, if the OP finds a non-work study job he can convert his work study $$ to a Sub loan and reduce or eliminate his un sub loan? I would think that might be something worth considering…</p>