<p>Check and make sure it’s not Stafford loan that you’ll have to pay back.</p>
<p>Last year my son was offered a Presidential Scholarship that was merit based aid. No , it was not a loan. We did not qualify for any need based aid, but the merit scholarship basically covers tuition, so we only pay Room and Board.</p>
<p>Last spring, the Trustees at AU committed to an expansion program. AU is quite well managed financially, have been running a surplus for a number of years, and decided to spend to expand programs, hiring new faculty, and offering scholarships. It has been reported in the financial press that they have one of the highest bond ratings of any university. After having done college visits at a number of state schools who were all taking about that they were going to try to not let the economic crisis affect the student experience, it was a refreshing change to hear a school in the opposite direction. I imagine they are able to pick up professors who might be frustrated at other schools.</p>
<p>Did they ask for any form of tax returns and/or financial verification? I wasn’t asked for anything, and while I am somewhat embarrassed to say, my EFC is 0, and my package was barely a drop in the bucket.</p>
<p>its a mixture of both, but in my case i found that i wouldn’t get anything. My household income is $300k+</p>
<p>it really depends, au gave me a pretty good finaid package, basically about 32,000 a year but that left me a balance of 20,000 to pay off and my family cant afford it. also, i was accepted to oxy and they basically gave me full ride so… idk a lot of ppl told me before i applied that au was notorious for not giving their students enough money, but ppl here seem to have gotten a lot so it really depends.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I haven’t recieved anything from AU in terms of financial aid or merit scholarships! My EFC is around 32k a year and I received a $2500 grant and a very small loan! I’m not sure how anyone can actually afford this school! I love AU but I just wish they gave out a bit more $$ for how much they charge!</p>
<p>So it’s $47,000 a year? How many students do you think they give those $32,000 awards to? (or around that, whatever).</p>
<p>hjohnston2010:</p>
<p>That’s ridiculous. I may have an EFC of 0 too ($2,000 at most) which is very discouraging… You should appeal because that is very strange.</p>