<p>I was recently accepted to RPI under ED. My financial aid package is as follows:</p>
<p>$15,000.00 Rensselaer Medal Scholarship
$4,000.00 Federal Perkins Loan
$2,000.00 Rensselaer Grant
$2,000.00 Fed College Work-Study
$500.00 NYS Tuition Assistance Program
$3,500 Fed Subsidized Stafford Loan</p>
<p>Is this all I'm getting per year? I come from a fairly low-income family where my parents will only be able to contribute a few thousand dollars each year. With RPI's all-inclusive $47,000/yr expected cost, how do they expect me to pay the rest? The Award Notification letter that RPI sent me says the following:</p>
<p>"Submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is also required and is available January 1, 2008 at <a href="http://www.FAFSA.ed.gov">www.FAFSA.ed.gov</a>. Both of these applications are required for need-based consideration."</p>
<p>Does this mean that the I will be given additional money after I submit the FAFSA in January? I already submitted the CSS Profile, and it was probably considered in my admissions decision. Is al the money I was already awarded only scholarship-based? Can someone please explain this to me. In advance, thank you for all your help.</p>
<p>Well...not including your work study, you have $25,000 in financial aid from RPI. Tuition alone there is $34,900 or so. Room and board is just under $10,000. You can call the financial aid office to see whether there will be additional aid offered after you fill out the FAFSA. You should also try one of the financial aid calculators to help determine what your EFC is per FAFSA. That will help you know whether the school has already met a good chunk of your need or not with the award you already have. Someone else can correct me, but I don't believe RPI meets full need. That means that there could be a gap between what they offer you, plus your EFC...and their cost of attendance. But you should call and ask re: additional need based aid...but I would run one of the EFC calculators first. Since you have already done the Profile, the school already has a sense of your need and what THEY think your family can contribute. Schools using the Profile DO use that information to determine the awarding of all finaid.</p>
<p>a friend of mine made an appeal for more need-based aid and his package shot right up. so try that.</p>
<p>sleepyhead17, if I made an appeal, would they let me know right away if they were going to increase the package? The reason I ask is because I am planning to apply to a 3rd party aid that gives me a certain amount of money to compensate for the difference between the cost and my EFC and aid package. I would need to know the correct amount for how much RPI is giving me in order to apply for this 3rd party aid.</p>
<p>to be honest i really don't know. but i would like to add that some of the people who appealed for more aid (and i'm not talking about my friend - who got more grants) had an increase in aid, but that increase came in the form of loans and not grants. so if that happens, i guess it's better to have your need fulfilled by the third party. i would still sugggest you to appeal as soon as possible and see what the outcome is.and then take action. who knows you might get lucky. you can get a lot of solid info from the RPI thread too.
good luck dude!!</p>
<p>you really need to know your EFC before you can have a strong case to appeal. Use this financial aid calculator -- and make sure the numbers you input are exact (look at taxes for 2006 and alter them for 2007 if necessary).</p>
<p>FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid</p>
<p>find your EFC for both the institutional method (Profile) and the Federal method (FAFSA)</p>
<p>From the info you provided, I would not think you would be getting any additional aid after completing the FAFSA. According to the information you provided, it doesn't look like you qualify for an Pell Grant -- which means that your EFC is at least $3600 and probably more.</p>
<p>Rensselaer is not a school that meets 100% demonstrated need. According to their own common data set, on average the school meet 85% of demonstrated need (pg 22) where the average FA package is $28,734. sorry to say that your package is pretty much in line with the avg FA given.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rpi.edu/about/cds/CDS2007_2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.rpi.edu/about/cds/CDS2007_2008.pdf</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately the school has left a gap (and with schools that gap, you have to fill the gap the best way you can). Since OP applied ED, unless there has been a major fluxation between his best guestimate and his families actual 2007 income, I do not see this package radically changing.</p>
<p>Also beware that if you receive additional outside scholarships, you are required to tell RPI about them. Unfortunately, RPI will see this extra money as reducing your need, and MAY adjust their FAid pkg accordingly. After using some of the money to reduce my son's loans, his school's grants were reduced to reflect the additional outside aid. Different school, though, so maybe you'll be lucky.</p>
<p>This is a attractive offer from an attractive school. 50% tuition subsidy is good. There is a gap but the alternatives may not be as good. A instate school may not offer any discounts on tuition thus leaving op the same gap that he is looking at RPI. Even a few $K more out-of-pocket by OP for RPI, may still give a very good value. </p>
<p>Be careful in looking at price vs value they are different.</p>