<p>What is the personal fee in the whole cost of Penn cover? I know about fees like housing, NSO, and health fee, but i never really know what personal covers.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about $2,224 “personal”, I think it’s your personal allowance. You’re not paying this to Penn, so it’s not part of fees. The overall costs include Tuition & Fees, Room & Board (Housing and Meals), Books, Personal spending money, and Travel cost. Of these, you’re paying tuition & fees and Room & Board, which sums up to $53,976. The rest is just to help you plan.</p>
<p>So wait, this personal fee that is in the overall cost is actual spending money that we get to use for whatever?</p>
<p>no. its just budgeting</p>
<p>That’s Penn’s estimate of your personal expenditure at Penn, which your parents or you have to come up with.</p>
<p>so if i have everything paid including the personal fee, does that mean i shouldn’t save for extra spending money because they’ll take off my financial aid?</p>
<p>yeah this was really confusing for me. can someone clarify? so the budget says upwards of $58000, with the EFC and the Financial Aid summing up to the $58000+ amount. So how much are we ACTUALLY expected to pay to Penn, since we technically don’t pay them for the books, travelling, or personal that they included in the budget.</p>
<p>haha confused as well. </p>
<p>Hypothetically, say that Penn gave me a full ride in financial aid and my EFC is 0. How do I pay for my personal expenses, books, etc? Do they give me some sort of credit or spending money once I get there? If not, then technically my EFC isn’t 0…</p>
<p>^^ Not to be that guy, but thats exactly my situation and I’m wondering if its worth saving money in the first place</p>
<p>and also, since EFC is usually required to be paid, if we don’t spend the 2000+ personal and 1500 books and all that stuff, does that mean our Financial Aid from Penn goes down? cuz when it says “monthly payment to be paid”, it works from the 58000+, not the 53 or 54000 without the personal, travel, books, etc.??</p>
<p>[Cost</a> of College - break down college tuition costs](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Costs: FAQs – BigFuture | College Board)
Please read this college board’s explanation of college costs.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Penn will bill you for tuition and fees, and room and board only ($53,976). The rest will not be billed, but Penn is telling you that you must be aware of these indirect costs. So, this information is just for your budgeting. As a matter of fact, transportation will cost much more than Penn’s estimate unless you live in PA, and personal expenses also will be higher than what Penn says. So, you need to have more money saved than the sum of $1,160+$2,224+$500.</p>
<p>If your family contribution is zero, then Penn will pay for your books and travel, and you will get personal allowance, too.</p>
<p>If Penn’s FA is $40,000, then you have to pay directly to Penn $13,976 (53976 - 40,000), and have to have $3,884+ saved to buy books, airplane tickets, and other personal necessities.</p>
<p>So, if i’m going to Penn on full Financial Aid up to $57,310, is it bad if i save any extra money for spending money if they take away on my award?</p>
<p>Again as far as I know, Penn wouldn’t take away a small amount of personal savings. In FA, there might be $2,400 student contribution and approximately $3,000 work study. Your personal savings will first count towards the student contribution, and then the work study. So, any personally earned money (including local scholarship) under $5,000 won’t make the financial office reassess your financial situation.</p>
<p>So, in my case, if i’m getting full FA and my student contribution is paid for, and i still get Work study, am i allowed to have a small amount of money i don’t have to give to penn (from scholarships, work, etc.) to take away my work study and leave it for whatever i want at penn? And would I have to send them my scholarship checks if their from my school or local area? (and their like below $300)</p>
<p>
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<p>Okay, I think you’re asking about what if you get a summer job and save a little bit of money before you go off to college at the end of August? </p>
<p>If you already filled out your FAFSA and CSS profile, and don’t need to submit any more information, then Penn has no way to take into account any little bit of money you earn during the summer. It’s not like you email them to let them know whenever you get another paycheck. Besides, the money you earn probably wouldn’t affect your financial aid anyway, unless you’re planning on making about 5000 or more dollars this summer.</p>
<p>So, basically, no it is not bad to save a little bit. If you are not receiving any money from your parents, you may want to save a little. If you think about it, you’re getting roughly 250 a month. Can you or can you not live comfortably off of that?</p>
<p>Another good thing to consider: does your financial aid package include Federal Work Study? (I think all full scholarships do, but I’m not sure.) If it does, you may want to think about working this summer to either come up with, or surpass, the amount that you’re getting through work study. That way you won’t have to have a job during your freshman year and you can take it a little bit easier.</p>
<p>PM if you want to talk more about it, I’ve looked a lot into it.</p>
<p>EDIT: Sorry, just saw your last post. Not too sure what you’re asking, hope I already answered it. As for the scholarship checks, I’m not 100% completely sure, but I think you have to let them know of all outside scholarships. They will take the amount of the scholarships to first reduce your work study.</p>
<p>Yeah, i’m going on a full one including work study to Penn. What I’m trying to say is, i might get potential scholarships that are from my high school that are very small in cash, around $300 range, and i’m wondering if i can just keep it and add it on to my savings like from work. And I guess it’s an outside scholarship since it’s from my high school, but i don’t wanna give it to Penn to reduce my work study cause i’d be willing to do the full work study. So overall, i’m asking if i’m allowed to just keep the money from my school for savings instead of reducing my work study, and also if i don’t have to report scholarships that are below $500 and local.</p>
<p>Okay, here you go:
[Outside</a> Scholarships](<a href=“Submit My Documents”>Submit My Documents)</p>
<p>And at the bottom, it says:
So, I’m guessing they want you to report any and all scholarships, no matter the amount. I’m not really sure if it would be a big deal if you didn’t send them or not. I guess you could always call or email further to ask, but I’m thinking you’ll get about the same answer as on the website.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about not having cash on you, the work-study part gives you a bi-weekly paycheck. You can also request for more hours, therefore getting more money, than penn is taking into account on your FA package. </p>
<p>I see that you don’t want your FA package reduced, even the work study part, but I’m thinking it’s kinda unavoidable with these outside scholarships : / Sorry.</p>