<p>Hi Reeze,</p>
<p>Congrats on being admitted to UMich.</p>
<p>U of M did do what they said they would, they met 100% of your demonstrated need.</p>
<p>The $3000 in federal work study is the amount of money you will have to earn during the school year ($1500 per semester) through an on campus job and this amount is non-taxed.</p>
<p>
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I received a letter saying I was nominated for one of UMich's scholarships for students who have need and it said that it ranges from $2000-$12000.
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<p>It looks like they have given you a merit scholarship of $4126 (which is included in your package)</p>
<p>What are the terms of your merit scholarship? </p>
<p>Is it consistent through out your 4 years?
What GPA will you need to keep it?
Does it have the potential to be increased?</p>
<p>Your package has $6,625 in loans which really is not bad for a public university especially for an out of state student. However, my concern is that you could end up with a lot of debt at the end of your 4 years especially with the new changes in stafford loans.</p>
<p>Consider the following scenarios:</p>
<p>If you got the same amount of loans through out your 4 years, you will graduate with $26,500 of debt.</p>
<p>I also think that if you get a couple of outside scholarships, it would be applied to your self help aid (the loans and work study). Your is a scenario where applying and getting those small local scholarships ($500 - $1000 per pop) could really pay off for you.</p>
<p>I also think that if you work a summer job, start trimming back on the non-essential stuff that you buy only to find out that you really don't need, save this money along with any money you get at gifts for birthdays, graduation you could probably refuse the loans and pay the difference out of your own pocket or accept the loans, and just pay them off immediately.</p>
<p>I beleive that your debt will be more because your stafford loan will increase each year. Keep in mind that starting on July 1, 2007, Stafford Loans allow dependent undergraduates to borrow up to </p>
<p>$3,500 their freshman year (up from $2,625),
$4,500 their sophomore year (up from $3,500) and
$5,500 for each remaining year </p>
<p>I think that you should set up a spread sheet and figure out your best and worse case scenarios regarding the amount of potential debt you could incur over 4 years. The worse case would be if U mich gave you the maximum amount of loans each year (which is what they have done this year), The best case would be if you could get an increase in non-need based merit money. The middle ground would be about the if everything stayed the same over the next 4 years.</p>
<p>For example: should your EFC remain the same, work with the different loan scenarios.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>Sophmore year: 3500 in loans, (if you are still borrowing the same $6625 per year) your Perkins would be $3125. If they keep giving you the same amount of money in perkins loans, then your sophmore year you would have 7500 in loans.</p>
<p>Hey, this is just the firs offer on the table, you will have more acceptances coming. Sit down talk with your parents, and work out the best overall scenario for you regarding your course of study, the environment you want to study in and the amount of manageable debt you would want to incur.</p>
<p>all the best.</p>