Question about Bard

I recently was accepted into Bard. I am excited to attend if I can, it is my first choice, but I am sorta in a bog about it. I have an EFC of zero from FAFSA. I am aware that that doesn’t matter. It will cost 80k to go to Bard, and I have been offered about 65k. They included 6k in loans on my receipts. That’s 9k that isn’t on the table that they are expecting me to pay. How will I be able to afford this at Bard? Could I add it this my loans or is that too bad of an idea?

I’m not sure where you get $80,000 as your cost. Was that the figure in your offer?

Here are this current year’s fees. http://www.bard.edu/studentaccounts/fees/

Note that you can switch to a cheaper meal plan after freshman year, and you can choose to live off campus which is also cheaper. This year, including all the freshman only programs, and all the fees including health coverage it came to $69,787. Has the price gone up another $10,000 for next year? Is there work study included in your package - or would that be additional income for you?

Also, I’m confused - did they offer you 65K including the federal loan of 6k? Or 65K plus the 6K loan? If so, that should be close to covering your costs - especially if you add a work study job during the year, and contribute from summer savings.

Congratulations on your acceptance. I hope you can make this work!

It is 78,000 dollars total in fees. That’s what it says for me in my financial aid information.

Have you spoken with the Financial Aid department? Perhaps appealed? Maybe there was something not quite clear in your application? If you really want to go there, it’s worth contacting them.