<p>I’m a rising sophomore at a state university, so I thought I’d give my experience on this matter.</p>
<p>My preliminary Aid Award that was given to me around March before my freshmen year had around $11k, $5k of which was grants/work study. I submitted the actual numbers for my fafsa before that, and the school verified it periodically. My EFC never went higher than a couple hundred points (my efc was around 7000). So when my final award letter came in in July, I was surprised to find that my only award was $5500 in stafford sub/unsub loans. Turns out the universities budget got cut, and a lot of people (with similar efcs) got cut thousands. Mine was one of the higher cuts, but it happens. Its possible something similar happened. Or, because of a FAFSA problem, your school verified information and messed up your aid. I would say, call the financial aid office. See if anyone on your schools facebook page is having similar issues. It could very well just be a mistake. Best of luck.</p>