Hi, I live in a one parent household and our EFC is 00000 while my mother’s adjusted gross income was $12k
I got the Preliminary Financial Aid Award Notice and saw that my net cost is $17,581.
This the notice I received:
Costs in the 2015-16 Aid Year
Estimated Cost of Attendance $23,856 /yr
Tuition and Fees $9,852
Housing and meals (on campus resident) $8,828
Books and supplies $968
Transportation $1,860
Other educational costs $2,348
Grants and Scholarships to pay for college
Total Grants and Scholarships (“Gift” Aid: no repayment needed) $6,275 /yr
Grants and Scholarships from your school … $500
Federal Pell Grant… $5,775
Grants from your state … 0
Other scholarships you can use… 0
Ouch. It looks like you’re looking at a pretty big gap.
If you enroll, you will have to pay the school the tuition and fees ($9,852) and the cost of housing and meals ($8,828). When you back out your Pell grant and school grant, you will have $12,405 of just the direct costs (this is ignoring the books and other things for now).
You should also be eligible to borrow $5,500 of federal Stafford loans. But even after that you are still $6,905 short of covering tuition and room and board, and you still don’t have any money for books, transportation, and other costs that you will incur throughout the year.
@DmitriR@mom2collegekids I also got accepted to George Mason University, with net price $10k, University of Mary Washington, with $7k, and I also got waitlisted to two other good schools. I was looking forward to James Madison University, but seeing I may be stuck in debt, I’ll probably go to either of the other two and wait for the waitlists.
Thanks anyway.
As for being “stuck in debt” for JMU…you can’t borrow much, so that’s not likely going to happen. Your mom wouldn’t likely qualify to cosign extra loans. Besides those extra loans would be a bad idea.
I added tuition and room/board only and subtracted your grants and loan. I didn’t add transportation and “other costs” because you pretty much pay that in day to day life anyway. You are gapped $6630. Get a job now and get a second job after school lets out. You should be able to save $5k before the end of August. Get a part time job when you get to Harrisonburg and save as much as possible. You are billed twice a year so you have time to pay for second semester.
FWIW I took a couple of classes without purchasing the textbook. I went to the library before making the purchase and if they had it or an earlier copy I checked it out. Colleges may be wise to that tactic now though.
You should also call Financial Aid and see if they can give you a little bit more. I wonder why they are not offering you Federal Work Study?
Also look into the little local scholarships that are out there. Most seem to have April 15 deadlines but you might find some available. Churches, any organization you might have volunteered for, the Burger King you or your parent might have worked at, your bank etc. Google. You can borrow a bit more in the next years of school. You can become an RA (free or low cost housing) or move off campus to cheaper digs next year. Good luck.
<<<
I added tuition and room/board only and subtracted your grants and loan. I didn’t add transportation and “other costs” because you pretty much pay that in day to day life anyway. You are gapped $6630. Get a job now and get a second job after school lets out. You should be able to save $5k before the end of August. Get a part time job when you get to Harrisonburg and save as much as possible. You are billed twice a year so you have time to pay for second semester.
<<<
No.
First of all, it is very hard for a graduating HS senior to work enough over the summer to SAVE $5k. He’d have to earn around $6k to net that much. If he got a job that pays $10 an hour, that’s $400 gross a week. If he works 12 weeks, that’s $4800 gross. He’d be lucky to net $4000. THEN he has to subtract any summer expenses, which a teen WILL HAVE. How will he get to this job? Car? gas? insurance? public transportation?? All of it costs money. He will likely have to purchase some food if he’s working full time…another expense. He may have to purchase some work clothes, another expense. What if he gets sick and misses a week of work ? All of this hinges on saving $5k, and it won’t likely happen.
it’s just very overly optimistic to think that a low income HS student should choose a pricier school with the hopes of working/saving $5k over the summer. Both of my kids worked over summers and they were lucky to end up with $2500 saved.
Plus, you didn’t add in health insurance, books, personal expenses, and travel costs…or even purchasing things for that first dorm. These aren’t “small potato” expenses. These easily could add up to $6k. Where is THAT coming from? A part time job during the school year typically only nets about $60 a week…much of which will go towards day to day expenses, haircuts, shampoo, clothing needs, etc.
This school is NOT affordable because he doesn’t have family that can fill in any gaps.
I used rough numbers because I didn’t know that state’s tax laws.
But, my point remains the same…too risky for a student to choose JMU (a good school, but not worth risk) when the gap is that big and he has no safety net (no family that can pay).
And, as you also noted, to expect that there would be no other costs is not realistic. Likely the student would have at least transportation and some food-related costs.
Besides this gap is not just a one year thing…it would be every year…and with price increases, the gap could get bigger every year.
I never heard of a hall director at JMU who wasn’t a senior or a grad student. I don’t think these positions would be of any help to this student though; they can’t afford even their first year and I doubt that there are many slots for sophomore and junior hall director positions. What’s worse, becoming an RA means having to live on campus that year and that generally students more money up front than living off-campus for the most part.
I think it’s unfortunate that this student wasn’t granted the VGAP funding. With an EFC of 0 that might have been enough to cover most if not all of their costs.
@tealjam I think it’s worth calling JMU and the other Virginia schools to see what’s going on, actually. If you have a 2.5 GPA you should have gotten something. It’s been a while since I did the financial aid thing so I don’t know if the preliminary award might not have everything on it. It’s worth your time to call them up to make sure before you give up hope on the school.
The cost of attendance to UMW is $25270 while I got:
Federal Pell Grant 5775
Blue and Gray Award 1000
Federal SEOG 800
VA Guaranteed Assist Program 6000
Federal Direct Loan Subsidized 35000
Federal Dir Loan Unsubsidize 2000
Grand Total 19075
I have emailed the fin aid for jmu and they said they cant offer me any more money. I had submitted my FAFSA after March 1st which is the reason. I had my FAFSA submitted in January, but realized after the March 1st that I had applied for 2014-2015 instead of 2015-2016. Lousy mistake.
Most RAs are juniors or seniors, so I wouldn’t be able to qualify for that my freshman year. I have a part time job now and am planning to do full time in the summer. However, for now I’m planning to put my deposit in the most affordable, wait for my waitlists, and wait to hear back from scholarships I have applied for.
<<<
wait to hear back from scholarships I have applied for.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Keep in mind that even if you win some, those will likely only be for frosh year. They can make your first year at Mary Washington easier, but they won’t make the more expensive schools affordable.
