I have been accepted ED for the class of 2019, and I am getting about $47,000 in financial aid, according to my financial aid estimate. However, since I still have an EFC of about $17,000, I want to do as much as I can to take out as little loans as possible. However, I just researched Barnard’s Outside Scholarship Policy, which states that if you are on fin. aid, your scholarships will replace work study and loans, followed by the Barnard Grant. So, unless I get more than $48,000 in scholarships per year, does this mean that the $17,000 tag price is set? Does anyone know if I can somehow close the gap on my EFC? (I know, if I’m on so much financial aid i probably shouldn’t have applied ED in the first place, but this wasn’t a light decision. My mom and I agreed that applying ED was the best way to go)
How does your Barnard EFC compare with your FAFSA EFC?
If, for example, Barnard has set you “family contribution” at $17,000 – but your FAFSA EFC is $5000 (which is pretty much what my situation was for 4 years) – then you will still be eligible to take subsidized FAFSA loans even though Barnard has “replaced” those with your outside aid.
Also, if you can’t get work study, you can still work and earn money – you can easily get work with the bartending and babysitting agencies – and of course in NYC you can get part-time work off campus, plus there are also some on-campus jobs that are not restricted to work study students.
So, for example, if your aid package includes $4500 for a first year loan and $1500 for work study – then you could get outside scholarships of up to $6000 without reducing your Barnard grant–and you could still take the same loan, and work during the course of the year to earn as much or more as your work study grant – reducing your out of pocket to $12,000.
Your eligibility for subsidized loans is dependent on FAFSA EFC only, and those loans can be used to fill any gap left by Barnard’s package.
Calmom has it right from what their web site says. You can probably still get a loan to help reduce your family contribution but if you hoped to use those scholarships to pay the family contribution, that wont happen. Why dont you just call the financial aid office and see if it looks like you can still get a subsidizied loan?