<p>Dream school has admitted me, but no merit aid. The second-line 'aid package' will be sent out in March sometime.</p>
<p>Our EFC is $8500, leaving approx $25,000 in unmet need (full expenses).</p>
<p>I know the literal worst-case scenario would be $25,000 in loans. </p>
<p>What might a TYPICAL scenario be?? Obviously we'd hope for a majority of grants.</p>
<p>I'm thinking there's probably no good way to answer this (too many variables), but throwing it out there anyway.</p>
<p>is this a school that meets 100& of need?</p>
<p>Not sure but here is an example. When my daughter started, the EFC was about $15,500.00. She did not get merit aid.</p>
<p>She got a $16,300 need based grant. The subsidized stafford loan and we ended up paying about 18k.</p>
<p>The next year, tuition went up, the Perkins grant went away and she ended up taking other loans. We still paid about 18k-20k.</p>
<p>For next year, her efc is $8500.00 as her brother is going to college. We are asking them to review the aid and increase it, but not sure.</p>
<p>If it is a fairly decent school and they want you (ie, either you come from a geographic area not represented or something like that) You can typically expect a package that includes a need based grant and the loans that first year students can take. I would expect some bit of gap. Just remember, the loans are part of the package (unless you are lucky enough to be at a no loan school)
Tuition almost always rises, however and the grants typically never do.</p>
<p>Actually, if this school does not meet 100% of need, the real worst case scenario is $10,000 in loans, and you need to come up with the other $15,000 in addition to your EFC.</p>
<p>Also, is this your FAFSA EFC? If this is a school which requires the Profile or some other additional financial aid forms, your "institutional" EFC may be much different (usually higher) than the $8500 you project.</p>
<p>From what I understand, as curlygirl61 alluded to, many colleges practice "preferential packaging" - they give the top students packages more heavily weighted towards grants and students they're not so concerned about packages more heavily weighted towards "self-help", i.e. loans and work-study.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, since you didn't get any merit aid at a school that gives it, you're probably not one of their top students. You are more likely to get a mix of grant, loans and work-study.</p>
<p>what school is it? they are all different, maybe some one has real world experience with your school.</p>
<p>cbheck,</p>
<p>You're an international student, right? If so, the aid issue becomes even more murky.</p>
<p>Just an FYI...Perkins is a loan, not a grant.</p>
<p>Yes, the EFC is off FAFSA.</p>
<p>For admissions purposes, I was an international student, but for aid I'm not, because I'm a US citizen just living overseas.</p>
<p>Our unmet need is actually about $30,000!! This is a school which according to data at PR or CB, I can't remember which, meets on average about 90% of need.</p>
<p>But all of that is irrelevant if it ends up looking like I'd leave school with $40,000 in loan debt.</p>
<p>I was the school's top baseball recruit but it's a DIII so no athletic scholly. I was hoping for merit awards based on essay or leadership or some other non-gpa/test thing. I assume this type of merit would have been awarded in the acceptance letter, too, though, and....nothing mentioned. </p>
<p>I'm terrified of getting an aid package that is going to bury me in debt. Is there a max limit on the grants? Even if I get, say, $15K in grants, that still leaves $15,000 unmet that would have to be in the form of loans, PER YEAR!! How my family and I could manage that, I'll never know.....but I guess I just have to wait.........and see.</p>
<p>Not all merit awards come in the acceptance letter. My son got an acceptance letter from one school and then about 1 week later a letter awarding him a merit scholarship. We are still waiting on the additional financial aid letter. The initial acceptance letter mentioned nothing about merit awards coming later, it just did. Each school is different in regards to that I think.</p>
<p>I would be very curious to know the outcome of your request for increased FA for your D as I believe we will be following a similar course over the next few years. My D will be a freshman this Fall and I can see having to pay more the next year as COA always rises. The following year her younger sister will start college and I just wonder what we will be paying with two in college.....Please keep us posted. Thanks.</p>
<p>FAFSA will take into account number of kids in college at the same time. Your EFC will decrease accordingly.</p>
<p>Not true. The second child will likely get a bigger package, but there is no guarantee that the first child will. It's not a 100% need school and she is going into her last year, they kind of have has by the nuts if you know what I mean. Additionally, returning students don't get their packages until July. Not alot of time to plan when the money is due the first week of August.</p>
<p>^^^^
That's what I'm afraid will happen and I hope your bid for increased aid for your first child is successful :)</p>
<p>Each school may handle it differently- if your EFC is cut in half, some will adjust your package, some will not</p>
<p>Has my thread been hijacked? We seem to now be answering another question........</p>
<p>cbcheck, there isn't much more to be said about your question, until you answer ours. Is it a 100% of need met school? Did you have to file the Profile or some other financial aid form, in addition to the FAFSA? Which school is it?</p>
<p>Sorry, thought I'd answered these questions in an earlier post:</p>
<p>"....Yes, the EFC is off FAFSA (no other forms)........This is a school which according to data at PR or CB, I can't remember which, meets on average about 90% of need...."</p>
<p>I prefer not to name the school.</p>
<p>I know that any guesses are just that -- I'm just hoping the ratio of grant aid to loan aid is heavily weighted toward the grant side, but just won't know that until they send me the award offer........</p>
<p>I would assume, that at the very least if you qualify for aid you will have the subsidized stafford. Not sure if the Perkins even exists any more, my daughter got the Perkins her first year, but not any years after that. If there is a 90% average need met, I would anticipate a gap and plan for that. I would assume a fairly large percentage of the aid would be in grants, but that information is also usually available on the common data set info page. Also, a lot of schools financial aid pages give examples of families and how their aid is packaged. There really should not be any mystery to it.</p>
<p>Where would I go to find this info? It's not on the school's website, and I've looked at Collegeboard and PR.......there's some data, but nothing specific as to grant-loan ratios.........??</p>
<p>If it is the school that I am thinking- in Conn- according to US News students only owe $12,000 or so at graduation, which is much less than most schools that meet 100% need.</p>