<p>This is true, but they won’t actually take your entire paycheck; there’s some kind of federal law against that. However, it is definitely a hefty chunk of your pay, and as kmcc said that’s such a crushing burden that you would be better off going to a community college for a year and transferring. If that’s out of the question, you might want to consider joining the military or considering some sort of [student</a> loan forgiveness](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml]student”>http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml) program if you’re interested in any kind of public service. If that’s out of the question and your parents won’t consider a PLUS loan, you might have to either get private student loans or become involved with prostitution or narcotics, and I’m honestly not sure which one of those latter options would be worse.</p>
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<p>Now that’s a little pessimistic! I think that the University of Texas would at least give the OP $30.00 in grant money. I agree with you though that it’s unlikely to be enough to even reach OSU’s costs, much less meet the OP’s need and it definitely wouldn’t be loan-free.</p>
<p>FWIW, I didn’t mean they <em>would</em> take ALL of a paycheck; just trying to help the OP get a real sense of how much money that is and why it’s so important to apply to schools that can help meet the need or at least plan for a fiscal safety.</p>
<p>And for the OP’s benefit, of that $68k (at $17k x 4) you could only put $25,000 of it in federal student loans which DO have a pro-rated-to-your-paycheck scale. The REST would have to be private if your parents won’t sign a plus loan. And private lenders just don’t “forgive” debt ;)</p>
<p>FWIW, I didn’t mean they <em>would</em> take ALL of a paycheck; just trying to help the OP get a real sense of how much money that is and why it’s so important to apply to schools that can help meet the need or at least plan for a fiscal safety.</p>
<p>Exactly…you were just trying to quantify the amount of money that was at stake. Gardna seemed to have missed that point.</p>
<p>As parents we were also shocked at the fiancial aid packages. We have a low EFC, but no one came anywhere near it. </p>
<p>We had to compromise and so did my son. He loves Penn State --and got into University Park Engineering School with honors–but almost no financial aid for OOS tuition.</p>
<p>He will not attend Penn State.</p>
<p>We said we would not do a parent loan at all because of our responsiblities to our other children and our low savings.</p>
<p>We will do a small parent loan.</p>
<p>It is all about compromises–on both your parts–but especially on the students. You may just have to choose a different school, and move on. Find out if your parent may be willing to help with books first term until work study kicks in. If they can , they cant. Move on. It is a difficult time, but you have come this far!!</p>
<p>People have to understand the FAFSA EFC is a FEDERAL number. Colleges are under no obligation to do anything with that number except see what small federal benefits you’ll get. </p>
<p>The federal gov’t (with its EFC number) can’t demand or expect colleges or states to provide an education on a “sliding scale” based on what people can afford. OOS Publics can’t be expected to help OOS students. They charge OOS tuition for a reason. If they covered it with financial aid, what would be the purpose of charging OOS tuition?</p>
<p>The term EFC needs to change to sometime like Federal Benefits Number. Right now, the term EFC suggests that schools charge a sliding scale based on income.</p>
<p>“need” is the amount of money that is necessary to enable a student to meet the cost of attendance, taking into account what the student and/or family is able to contribute from assets and earnings. </p>
<p>Even if your family has no income, it is assumed by just about every college that a student is able to work and earn something. Unless a student has some sort of physical disability that precludes working, it certainly is reasonable to assume that the student can earn several thousand dollars over the course of a year. </p>
<p>OP, please do not just go blindly into thinking you can go to OSU. If your parents will not take extra loans, you very well may not even qualify for a private loan. You could get an extra $4000 unsubsidized Stafford as a freshman, but only if they are denied a PLUS loan, which may or not be the case.</p>
<p>That’s still only $9500 in Stafford, and even if your parents pay the EFC of 3900, that’s still only $13,400 plus your $3111 in grants. That’s not enough. When you don’t pay your bill in the first semester, you will not be able to register for the second semester. Additionally, you will not be able to get your grades out to transfer elsewhere and any college will require a transcript from all previous institutions. In PA, they are required to get the transcript within one semester. They need to know you satisfied your financial obligation to your previous school. As a result, you will be attending college for one semester.</p>
<p>Your financial options are simply to either go to CC or to a local state U (one poster mentioned PSU) and commute. Even then, you will need to earn something via work study or something else to pay the balance. Don’t forget books and other incidentals. </p>
<p>SImply taking a “damn the torpedoes, full spped ahead” approach will only work for 1 semester. I assume you want to attend college longer than that.</p>
<p>*SImply taking a “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” approach will only work for 1 semester. I assume you want to attend college longer than that. *</p>
<p>Very true. We’ve seen that happen here on CC. Kids take an unrealistic and stubborn approach and then realize that the $$ isn’t there and have to leave their school. Sometimes they end up owing their school big bucks. The problem with THAT is that the student cannot enroll elsewhere until that debt is paid off.</p>
<p>Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2collegekids
People have to understand the FAFSA EFC is a FEDERAL number. Colleges are under no obligation to do anything with that number except see what small federal benefits you’ll get.</p>
<p>Aglages quote: *I understand this. Thus my question to hollyanne: Why was she “shocked” and what was her expectation of the government and the colleges? *</p>
<p>I know that you “get it.” My point was that others get confused by the EFC language. They think that schools are supposed to meet their EFC - as if a federal govt number is going to decide what a school can charge you.</p>
<p>I agree with the others who said that the term “EFC” is unreasonable. At the very least, they should hedge it by mentioning the possibility of gaps at most colleges. EFC isn’t really the maximum that you have to pay at most colleges; it’s closer to the minimum, and there might be more (a lot more) on top of it. And even if a school meets your EFC, it might be in the form of loans that are basically a form of deferred payment that costs much more than if you had had to pay the money up front.</p>
<p>*And even if a school meets your EFC, it might be in the form of loans that are basically a form of deferred payment that costs much more than if you had had to pay the money up front. *</p>
<p>That’s what so many people are confused about. They think that “aid” is free money, when often there are loans, work-study, summer contributions, and big ole’ gaps. Some people do these financial gymnastics to reduce their EFC, but unless it’s in the Pell range or the school is an elite, the FA package is likely going to contain loans and such.</p>
<p>I don’t know what agency would be responsible for changing EFC to something else, but those people need to hear loud and clear how misleading “expected family contribution” is.</p>
<p>Unsubsidized and Parent Plus loans are “aid” in the same way that throwing out an angry venomous snake as a rope to a drowning person might be considered “aid”. </p>
<p>And even if you qualify for Pell grants, you will still get loans. The Pell grant is nowhere near the cost of tuition at even state colleges. Outside of some elite colleges, being Pell-eligible only shields you from loans at community colleges for two years.</p>
<p>I think the agency would be the Federal Student Aid Office at the Department of Education.</p>
<p>And even if you qualify for Pell grants, you will still get loans. The Pell grant is nowhere near the cost of tuition at even state colleges. Outside of some elite colleges, being Pell-eligible only shields you from loans at community colleges for two years.</p>
<p>Very true. I didn’t mean to suggest that Pell eligible students don’t get loans (or even gaps) in their FA packages. They certainly do unless they go to a top school that meets need without loans.</p>
<p>Okay, everyone can think I am a loser for being shocked.
I just didnt understand the system . Our EFC was right at $3000. We knew we would have to pay more than that , and son is working, we are both working (even though I would love to be at home part-time with my younger kids!) to do everything possible.</p>
<p>Son applied at one Ivy (Penn) who said they would meet EFC with no loans. He did not get in.</p>
<p>He applied at a total of 7 colleges, got in 5. His (new) first choice left a gap, after student loans , of 19,000. Yes , we were shocked. No, I don’t expect the govt. to pay for my child , but I wasnt expecting that. </p>
<p>Our in-state school left a gap of 10,000 after student loans.</p>
<p>Another private school left a gap of 8,000 and that is where he will probably attend. We will take out a Parent Loan and hope for the best. We have a child with a chronic illness and honestly we need to take care of her.</p>
<p>So I apologize for saying I was shocked. We just had always thought that somehow this
would all come togerher. I was really just trying to say that there are compromises that have to be made–some that were not planned for.</p>
<p>Have you considered appealing to the private school with the $8k gap? Since you have another child with needs, maybe they can provide more aid.</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like a good idea for a family with an EFC of $3k to borrow $32k in Parent Loans (actually, it may end up being more since school prices go up). You have younger children. Surely you can’t afford to borrow that much for each one.</p>
<p>What private school is this?</p>
<p>Can your son quickly apply to any other schools? Isn’t there a SUNY that would be more affordable? Wouldn’t you get both Pell and NY aid?</p>
<p>What are his stats? (I’m guessing that if he applied to UPenn, they must be high).</p>
<p>Thanks mom! I am really in need of some help.</p>
<p>I get afraid of posting too much personal info–</p>
<p>The school coming in with an 8000 gap is RIT. They started out with a 10000 gap and I appealed and they gave me a Pell and a SEOG, so now we are at 8000. </p>
<p>UB is the SUNY and he is not crazy about going there–we applied much like the young woman in this post, thinking it would be a financial safety. But even after scholarship,loans we are still at around 10,000.</p>
<p>Rose -Hulman is coming in 19,000 gap–and I guess we need to just let it go. We applealed there too, but have not heard.</p>
<p>This has been the hardest thing we have ever been through and I dont want people to think we just expected handouts. </p>
<p>My son is extremely bright in Math and Science . But I guess it wasnt enough to carry him through to Penn , which we realized was a long shot.
His ACT was 32-…34 on Math
GPA -only around 3.6—he has 6 APS this year and comes from a very tuff grading school
EC–were good, but i dont think he told colleges enough about them. He started the FIRST Robotics at his school- they did not have one, and helped to get funding, an advisor and team members–but then did not want to be president!!! was on math team, chess club.<br>
Essay–I think was awful–he would get no help and would not let us read it.
Appl–same as above. He did not highlight himself the way he should have.</p>
<p>Our other thought has been to apply to more schools for a Jan start and just let him stay home and work in Fall. It will work out.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have him start in the Spring unless a school would give him a scholarship/FA for that. However, that is unlikely. Another girl on this forum tried that for this year and got horrible aid and no scholarship money. </p>
<p>Your son may have to do a gap year.</p>
<p>Or, as a back up…have him quickly apply to some more schools that might still give him a scholarship/aid… (I will try to find some for you.)</p>
<p>Will he be majoring in engineering? </p>
<p>Can you give the breakdown of the UBuffalo package. Did they forget to include Pell? IF you got Pell at one school, you should get it at EVERY school.</p>
<p>With a 3000 EFC, your son should get at LEAST $2400 in Pell at EVERY school. And, perhaps some SEOG on TOP of that. Did BU give you Pell? If not, call and insist…it is an entitled right that they must give it to you.</p>
<p>There must be some mistake with the UBuffalo package. Post what is in the UB aid package and also post the breakdown of UB cost of attendance. We may be able to figure out how to pare down those costs to make that affordable.</p>
<p>Hey, Hollyanne, you’re not a loser, I promise. People have strong opinions on CC – it’s the Internets! That’s what it’s all about! I had my shocked moment this year, too. Daughter got into many great schools, but she’s ending up at one of the smaller lesser known ones, because she was gapped so badly. So, my advice is to have your shocked moment, let yourself grieve the death of those hopeful expectations for great aid, and then get to work trying to find a solution. I can’t suggest what your solution will be; I just wanted to make sure you knew that your experience is not unique and that you’re not a terrible person for feeling shocked.</p>
My point was that others get confused by the EFC language. They think that schools are supposed to meet their EFC - as if a federal govt number is going to decide what a school can charge you.</p>