<p>I'm a MN resident and I had a question about the financial aid package from the university.</p>
<p>I . . . just don't understand how it works.</p>
<p>MN Stimulus Grant 744.00
U Promise Mid INcome Scholarship 500.00
State Work-Study 2700.00
Ford Federal Sub Loan 444.00
Ford Federal Unsubsidized Loan 5056.00
Ford Federal PARENT Loan 13,566.00</p>
<p>Total Aid Offered: $23,010.00</p>
<p>Cost of attendance: $23,010.00</p>
<p>Does this mean that I have to take out a 444.00 + 5056.00 loan/year?</p>
<p>And my parents have to take out a 13566.00 loan/year?</p>
<p>Our FAFSA EFC was 18622.00.</p>
<p>All the loans totaled = 19066.00.</p>
<p>Is there something off here? </p>
<p>We also mentioned that my mother's rare chemotherapy treatments will make it impossible for us to pay that much. Did the uni just disregard that?</p>
<p>Yes and yes. Correct on your loan, correct on the assumption that your parents will pay over $13,000 per year. You could call them and discuss the issues with the medical bills. It’s difficult as an outsider to be able to tell you how much room a public school has to modify your financial aid information. My S1 is at a public and the finaid office actually called me to tell me things were very tight this year and they were uncertain how much aid they would be able to award for this, his senior year. I appreciated the heads up…it’s rough at the vast majority of colleges and unis this year. Whatever happens for you make sure you understand what the potential situation could be in year two, three and four.</p>
<p>Public schools don’t meet need. So, that’s why you’re expected to pay more than EFC. EFC is not the max you have to pay…it’s more like the minimum you’ll have to pay.</p>
<p>Publics don’t have big endowments to help out students…that’s why they can’t do much even with medical issues. </p>
<p>Aren’t any of your mom’s chemo treatments covered by insurance? I hope your mom has a full recovery.</p>
<p>On the surface the gap wasnt horrendous since your EFC was $18,000. But you could certainly call and ask for a review if you can substantiate the medical bills, etc. Did you apply for any local scholarships that could help this year until your family works out arrangements on the medical bills?</p>
<p>Somehow I missed that the EFC was $18,600, and the FA package covers all but $13,566. </p>
<p>The school may have added the $5k unsub loan because of your parents’ situation. Instead of expecting them to pay their EFC, the reduced it and added an unsub student loan to cover that. You may have expected “free money,” but publics don’t have a lot of “free money” to give to cover family emergencies. </p>
<p>How much can your parents contribute each year?</p>
<p>*or their mother may have been dropped for “pre-existing conditions” * </p>
<p>People don’t usually get “dropped” for pre-existing conditions. What can happen is that a person can’t get insurance because of a pre-existing condition.</p>
<p>re: medical conditions: people don’t always get dropped, but I can assure you, if it is an ongoing thing, most insurance companies will try to find a way to get out of paying–ie, saying the condition has become ‘chronic’ and thus, not covered under lifetime maximums, or what happened to a close friend–they said the treatments her doc wanted to do were experimental and so they had to pay out of pocket. Or she would have died. She did make it through, the ‘experimental’ treatments put her into what seems to be long-term remission— but they had to file for bankruptcy and she cannot get coverage anymore. (though hopefully that will have changed w/ new laws).</p>