I filled out my fafsa, and my EFC is 0000. I want to go to St. John’s for their PA program and they offered $19,250 in scholarships. The tuition is $38,680.
I don’t know how much financial aid would cover, can you please help?
You need to list out your whole FA package so we can see what is a loan, what types of grants you have, what is work study, etc. Remember that you probably don’t just have to pay tuition, but also room & board unless you can live at home.
I would suggest you run the St. John’s Net Price Calculator.
Was that scholarship totally merit based?
In addition to the scholarship…if your FAFSA EFC is $0, you would be entitled to a $5800 Pell Grant and a $5500 Direct Loan in addition to your scholarship. That would give you about $30,000 total in aid (I’m assuming that your financial aid award from St, John’s did not already include either of these).
Will you be commuting from home? If not, you have to add the cost of room, and board onto your costs to attend.
I have the Provost Scholarship $18,000 and Hugh Carey Award $1,250. These are all merit scholarships.
I’ll most likely be commuting from home.
Does that mean I’ll be getting the Pell Grant scholarship’s (for instance) full value or just a partial one?
If your EFC is really $0 per the FAFSA, you are entitled to the full $5800 or so Pell grant. That is for the full year for a full time student. You would also get that $5500 Direct Loan.
thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate it
Have you confirmed that commuting is allowed by the college? Just asking because some colleges require freshman to live on campus, although sometimes they make exceptions for students that live within a certain radius. And some colleges are fine with it, but you need to ask them.
Also, don’t get surprised by the health insurance cost that colleges often ask students to pay. Since you apparently live near the college now, I assume you have health insurance that will also provide coverage at the college – but your college will ask you to provide your insurance information and will have to decide whether to grant a waiver from their insurance. If your insurance isn’t strong enough coverage, then they will expect you to pay for their insurance (runs around $2,000/year at most schools). Also, often there are several hundred dollars in other fees on top of tuition, you would have to look at the St. John’s website for this information. You will have commuting costs and textbook costs on top of that.
With the info you have given above, it seems likely that your costs look something like this:
Tuition: $38,680
Less Merit Scholarships of $19,250: Total is then $19,430
As stated above, less the Pell Grant (assuming you are eligible for the full grant, $5,800) and your direct federal loan ($5,500, will eventually need to be paid back): Total is then $8,130. Plus commuting costs, book costs, and any fees not included in tuition.
Did you get any need based aid from the college (work study, for example?). Or any need based grants? Or have you not gotten your full financial aid package yet? Just because they notified you of merit scholarships with your admission does not mean that they have processed your need based aid information yet.
When you run the net price calculator on the St. John’s website (probably on the financial aid page), what cost of attendance does it show?
St. John’s is NOT a college that commits to meeting full student need, so you may have a significant gap between what you can pay and what they expect you to pay. You need to be prepared to make a different college choice if this is unaffordable.
If your parents are not divorced…don’t own a business, are not self employed, don’t own rental properties or any other real estate beyond your primary residence…and you all are U.S. citizens…the net price calculator will be pretty accurate.
Have you run the St.John’s net price calculator?
I don’t have insurance… and how much would the other fees roughly be?
I’m starting to wonder about dropping out.
You haven’t started…right? You need to contact the school before you make any further decisions. Since you live close enough…can you make an appointment with the financial aid office and see what your whole package would be?
Did you run the net price calculator…and if not…why?
Are you a NY resident? @sybbie719 would this student also be eligible for TAP? And if so…how much?
This is interesting info…but this student’s net cost is already less than what is listed on that link.
This student needs to run the net price calculator, unless there is some reason it would not be valid.
You are going to bump into that insurance issue at any college. Don’t give up yet – but it would help if you run the net price calculator on the St. John’s website as suggested.
And I would love to know about TAP and if this student would be eligible for that, plus the PELL, plus the Dorect Loan, plus the merit award.
St Johns have 3 campuses. If you attend the Staten Island campus instead of the Queens or Manhattan campus the tuition is like $10,000 cheaper.
Queens is closet to my home. My mother does own a rental property but she recently gave to my sister. Its going to change in the 2015 tax form. My family makes $14k a year, and I’m really afraid I cannot afford my dream school.
I did the net price calculator, once again its giving me 0.
I also live in NY, so would the tap make a difference?
If I do live on campus, would I get more money? Or would it be cheaper to live by myself?
She gave it to your sister? What is it worth?
Roughly $650,000. Would schools see that?
She gifted it to your older sister in 2014?
Is it all paid off?
Does St. John’s only use FAFSA and not asked for previous year data?
So your mother has an income of $14,000 and ‘gave away’ a $650,000 asset? Yes, I think schools will find that to be an issue if you are asking for another $20k in grants.