<p>Long story short: </p>
<p>I've been accepted to North Carolina State and due to various reasons, among which is taking forever to get my parent's tax information together, am probably going to miss out on any institutional aid for this fall. </p>
<p>My tuition, housing fee, and book budget comes out to ~$6,500. </p>
<p>From what I can tell, I am at least guaranteed $4,500 for an unsubsidized stafford loan with another potential $2,000 based on my EFC.</p>
<p>Now, I'm still waiting on the Financial Aid office to process my documents, but I've got a couple questions in the mean time.</p>
<p>According to my finance page:</p>
<p>"Following is a summary of all awards, by category, you have received while enrolled at NCSU:</p>
<p>Federal Pell Grant Undergraduate $2,400.00
Non-Federal Awards Undergraduate $4,800.00"</p>
<p>These are listed without my acceptance of any aid package.</p>
<p>(afterthought: Perhaps this means that these funds have already been credited to my account? If so then I have been freaking out over nothing this entire weekend.)</p>
<p>The Pell Grant is in line with what is listed on my FAFSA's SAR:</p>
<p>"Based on your EFC of 03179, you may be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant of up to $2400 for the 2010-2011 school year."</p>
<p>I don't know what the non-federal awards entail, but I'd guess it would be some kind of education lottery scholarship.</p>
<p>Now, I realize that I am pretty dumb for not getting this taken care of ahead of time since these funds alone would cover my entire fall tuition and then some, but life happens and I'm not sure if some or any of these funds will still be available come tuition bill time, as I've heard that Pell Grants, if unused will be redistributed to non-lazy students.</p>
<p>If nothing else, the Pell Grant and Stafford loan minimum will see me through this semester.</p>
<p>I realize that this post is getting a bit long-winded, so I'll end with a list of the basic questions I have:</p>
<ol>
<li>Am I, in fact, guaranteed $4500 in an unsubsidized loan? (Sophomore)</li>
<li>With an EFC of 3179, will I be eligible for any of the extra $2000?</li>
<li>If/When do Pell Grants expire if unaccepted?</li>
<li>Can anyone comment on the non-federal aid and/or the likelihood that it is too late to accept them?</li>
</ol>
<p>I realize there is a good chance that I am making my situation out to be far worse that it actually is, and that most of these questions could probably be answered by my financial aid office, but they're not open right now (though I will call as soon as they are) and I could use a reality check and/or reassurance. As they always say, plan for the worst.</p>
<p>Preemptive thanks to anyone who can shed some light on my situation.</p>
<p>-Matt</p>
<p>(ps. so much for 'long story short')</p>
<p>edit: I should probably note that I am transferring in as a sophomore after a year at a community college, so in actuality this is my first time dealing with a 'big-time' school. Needless to say, things work a bit differently here than there.</p>