<p>I will be a freshman in 2014 and am a first generation college student. My question is, do i have to pay any type of money while im in college? I will be living at home, and plan to take out a subsidized loan for whatever scholarships don't pay. Is my thinking correct? Any help is appreciated, because i have no idea!</p>
<p>Suggest you read the Financial Aid FAQ at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>Go to the website for the college you are expecting to attend, and run the net price calculator on the school’s financial aid page. Find out how much you’ll be expected to pay. There’s a limit to how much you can borrow, and it’s quite possible you’ll need to take out both subsidized and unsubsidized loans (and possibly get a job as well) to cover your costs.</p>
<p>Start with the net price calculator.</p>
<p>Once you file FAFSA, you will receive your SAR (Student Aid Report) with your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) amount. Of course, your parents may not be able to pay the full EFC or will refuse to pay any of it at all. Nonetheless, your EFC will not be waived.</p>
<p>Let’s assume your EFC is $5K. If you attend a college where the COA (cost of attendance) is $20K, then your “financial need” is $15K ($20K COA - $5K EFC = $15K Financial Need). This means that your college is not allowed to give you a financial aid package with an amount that exceeds $15K.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that depending on your EFC, you may not be eligible for subsidized loans. I myself wasn’t, I was only offered unsubsidized.</p>
<p>Apply for scholarships and keep your grades up in order to increase your chances of receiving a university merit scholarship. Research universities that offer them, and see what GPA and test scores they require. Try to get a job and save up all the money you earn.</p>
<p>But first, you really need to see what universities you would be interested in applying to. Do you know what you want to major in? What state are you from?</p>
<p>FAFSA is a must fill, if you had not submitted by now do so anyways; federal funding can provide you with a lot of grants and loans(dont take too many) after FAFSA, get scholarships from sites like fastweb.com or collegespirit.me you should be fine</p>
<p>Flowers…federal funding for grants is the Pell Grant…about $5600, and the Direct Loans… $5500 for freshmen. The Pell only goes to folks with a FAFSA EFC of about $5000 or so or LESS.</p>
<p>In fact, the only federally funded grant money is for low income families.</p>
<p>I would hardly call that a LOT of federal aid.</p>
<p>Having said that…yes…the student needs to complete the FAFSA.</p>
<p>It’s a little more complicated than that. One of the above posts discusses the EFC from FAFSA. This number is generally considered the least amount of money that you will pay for college. You cannot get a subsidized loan to cover this amount as it is beyond your need. Read the fin aid FAQ, but long story short, it is very likely you will be making some payments to the college you attend.</p>
<p>@tryandsucceed im from Chicago and am going to for Secondary Education. Thank you for all of the help</p>