Questions about financial aid

<p>Are plane tickets from California to home during holiday breaks included in financial aid? Do any colleges provide that?</p>

<p>yes I think they do. i'm pretty sure that depending on your home state the aid office will determine a transportation allowance in the cost of attendance calculation</p>

<p>Yes, that's usual, I believe. Not that plane tickets are directly provided by the college, but that an estimation (they make it, not the family) of two round trips home per year is included in the cost of attendance, along with tuition and fees, books, room & board, and personal expenses.</p>

<p>In our case, the college (in this case, it's not Occidental, but I assume practices are similar) assumes parents/students will pay the travel costs, as well as buy the books, themselves. The college's estimate of those costs will be counted as part of the family contribution.</p>

<p>My sense is that the travel costs they budgeted are a bit low in terms of what it will really cost us, but with the books I think we might be able to keep it just a little bit under their estimate if we have sufficient advance notice of required texts and ISBNs to buy used online. (I don't think it's likely to work out that way all the time, though.)</p>

<p>The personal expenses budget they reckoned is exactly what they expect my son to earn with a work study job. So that part is his business... he'll work for his personal expenses money, and it'll be his job to budget it, because we won't be able to send him anything extra. We may also need to have him set aside some of his summer earnings (what's left after he pays the college the amount they expect from summer earnings) to help with his books or travel costs. This will be our first year with a kid in college, so we'll have to see how it all falls out.</p>

<p>hey guys</p>

<p>i am an international applicant so will my need of a lot of financial aid hamper my chances of getting in in oxy. am gettin very concerned as i am very eager in attending oxy. do tell me guys</p>

<p>^ Ofcourse its going to have an impact on your decisions. BUt if they want you, I don't see that coming in between.G'Luck!</p>

<p>ajayc
thnx mate gluck to u too</p>