Question about Financial Aid

<p>Hello everyone. I just got my Financial Aid Packet. All together, they gave me around $33,000 which inclued $10,000 of student loans. I'm sort of confused though. My dad didn't do his tax returns yet which means Drexel has yet to see how much my dad makes a year. My dad is a CFO of a big company and has a very big sallary. Will that make my financial aid change?</p>

<p>Thats interesting, my daughter was accepted in November and awarded the Deans Scholarship, $15.500 for all 5 yrs and then they gave her $1,000 for applying for financial aid early. Everything else was either a state grant or federal, Drexel gave us nothing. Our EFC is quite low, how is that equitable? She has 8 AP courses, all honors otherwise, top 5 %, lots of extra curriculars, ex rec’s…They gave us nothing but $1000 for financial aid which everyone got if they filed out FAFSA early. Pretty Lousy.</p>

<p>Why would Drexel not see how much your dad makes? That should have been reported on the FAFSA. If your dad didn’t know his exact salary when you filled it out, you were supposed to have estimated it and update later. Did you leave it blank/put 0 instead?</p>

<p>There’s a difference between merit aid and need based aid. The award that Drexel gives at acceptance, for instance the Deans Scholarship, is merit aid. Once you turn in the FAFSA and they give you your financial aid package, that money would generally be need-based. mylohlily, they are offering $16,500 for five years - I don’ think that’s “pretty lousy”. </p>

<p>goincraz… Your award looks like it was $22,000. If they gave you that amount when they accepted you, it’s merit aid and your Father’s salary and your family’s EFC will not change that. It sounds like your family did not apply for financial aid (filling out the FAFSA and Drexel’s paperwork) at all, so no, there will not be any change and no additional aid given. Many people just don’t fill out the FAFSA or apply for need based aid because they know they won’t get it. We did not send that info to the state schools because we knew our income was above the level for financial aid there.</p>

<p>Why would they award $15,500/yr for 5 yrs which is merit aid, not based on financial need and then not award any financial based aid at all, other than the $1000 they give to everyone who files early? To me, that doesn’t make any sense, in fact, it seems disingenuous. We could have gotten more financial aid from a state school.</p>

<p>They want good students to bring up the caliber of the school so they are trying to entice good students that otherwise might choose a more prestigious College. They do offer need based aid to students that are on the very low end of the needs spectrum and have an excellent local reputation for helping out local at-risk kids go to Drexel. [Drexel</a> U. launches scholarship program | 6abc.com | 6abc.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7245318]Drexel”>http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7245318) I think the co-op program does off set the high cost also.</p>

<p>Has Drexel posted online any info about cost break down, loans, grants, etc. yet. We have just been notified of being awarded the A.J scholarship.</p>

<p>Yes, all of that information should be available on the individual students log in page. <a href=“https://one.drexel.edu/cp/home/displaylogin[/url]”>https://one.drexel.edu/cp/home/displaylogin&lt;/a&gt; Good luck!</p>

<p>Kathiep, I understand. I expected they would actually give us financial aid based on her EFC in light of the fact they gave her a Deans scholarship. American University, on the other hand, gave her $36,000/yr for 4 yrs and that was based on her EFC as well as her stats.</p>

<p>my financial aid changed when my dad did his tax returns… now its ALLLLLL loans except for the small scholarships. just fyi!</p>

<p>my family income was just short of $70,000 and Drexel gave me no need based grants whatsoever. just loans. im completely turned off from Drexel over this :/</p>

<p>If it’s not too personal, can you please tell me your child’s GPA and SAT reading and math scores? I would like to know if my daughter may receive the same. thanks</p>

<p>Mylohlily…If it’s not too personal, can you please tell me your child’s GPA and SAT reading and math scores? I would like to know if my daughter may receive the same. thanks</p>