My son received is financial aid award letter. EFC $8,400. Estimated need $20,773. But he go no aid, only the $5,500 loan. Am I missing something here? I am assuming that I am expected to take out loans for the rest of this?
Not many schools have much money to give out for need based aid, especially out of state students. You probably did everything correctly, but there was no money to give.
Which school did you apply to?
Illinois State University. I am just…wow…freaking out here!!!
The VAST majority of colleges do not meet full need…meaning that your EFC is the minimum you can be expected to pay.
Your EFC is too high to qualify for the Pell Grant which is federally funded.
How much does this college cost? And how much can you contribute?
Estimated total cost of attendance is $28k-$29k…and this is an in-state school! My husband (not my son’s father) and I make $100k/year together, but he has 2 daughters that he pays child support for. I have taken my son’s father back to court for college expenses, but not sure how much he can afford, either. Wow, I guess I just thought he would get a little help…man.
Where else has he applied?
How much can you afford to pay?
What are his stats?
Some colleges are still accepting applications.
If push comes to shove there will be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield around May 5th. Many still have financial but perhaps not down to $8,400. Still worth a try.
But overall only about 80 colleges out of 3,700 ‘met need’, meaning they provide enough money for people to attend.
Run the NPC on all the colleges your sin has applied to to see if any comes in cheaper.
Sadly, Illinois is in sad, sad shape. State schools are in a tenuous state right now. We are from IL too and didn’t even look at IL state schools for this reason. Are there other schools he might look at? Many neighboring states offer reciprocal tuition or close to in-state rates. Southeast Missouri or Murray State might be schools to look at. I’m not sure where in IL you are from. What are your son’s grades, ACT like?
Ha! Nowhere else…he wants to be a Redbird and I thought it was one of the cheaper options… ACT 26 and GPA 3.4…kinda average I guess. IDK I feel like I could pay $10k a year if I had to… Harsh dose of reality.
I thought maybe he would get MAP grants…ISU honors them even though the state has issues…but nope.
@MaryB7899 , ISU has some really good merit money available - I assume he didn’t qualify for that?
But remember; Illinois is broke. We can’t get a budget passed (you can blame the Governor or the Speaker depending on your party affiliation). Some schools can’t even cover the MAP grants which the state is unable to pay for (again) this year. The money is just not there to hand out.
So, he did get $2k/year from the Redbird scholarship…forgot about that. He was offered that before we even got the financial award letter, and was based on his stats. But that is it. Loans are the only other thing he was offered.
Could he go to CC for a few years and then transfer to ISU? That could be a way of saving some money so he won’t graduate with huge debt. Our D started at CC and then transferred. It worked well for her–not ideal but nice to graduate debt-free.
Yeah I wish I had known then what I know now! We have already put down deposits and he has already arranged housing with his friends and I feel like it is too late now to switch. Hindsight is 20/20. Parkland Community College is sounding pretty damn good right now…
Going away to school is often a luxury. If it’s not affordable, then have him go to a CC for two years, save the $10k per year that you would have spent, and put it towards those last two years.
I asked because my daughter’s best friend got a huge scholarship from them, much more than we would have thought based on the website. I thought maybe they were trying to make up for lack of need-based money by relaxing the requirements for merit.
Probably too late, but have you looked at out-of-state schools that participate in the MSEP program? They give instate (or close to it) tuition to Illinois residents, and may have more money than Illinois schools. Illinois just can’t legally fund the schools without a budget, and I don’t have any hope that one will be passed soon.
Friggin Illinois. Going to a dinner where Bruce Rauner will be next week…maybe we need to have a chat (no I am not a Republican). 
And before anyone says anything…the tickets were free.
I wish this fact were more highly publicized. Just because your EFC is $8,400 does not mean that all colleges will make up the difference. Very, very few will.
Does your son have other options?
Sorry, I missed a bunch of posts when I posted the above.
Playing around with the MAP estimator, it looks like your EFC has to be around 5400 to qualify (and that only gets you a couple of hundred bucks). Maybe you could ask the office for a professional judgment review based on your child support circumstances.
^ Exactly!!! Looking into it. I might be getting some help from my ex-husband. I do have some savings but not THAT much.