<p>Total Grants: 40,958
Self-Help:5,300 (Both shown from the information below)</p>
<p>College Grant: 33,675
Pell Grant: 3,500
TAP Award: 3,033
Grant:750
Work Study: 1,800
Subsidized Loan:3,500</p>
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<p>Are subsidized loans better than insubsidized loans? Can you explain to me how the self-help is related to my total resources? I'm really ignorant about the whole thing...seriously. I have an idea about what it all means but I may be wrong (I'm guessing that I'll have to pay 10,100 and of that 10,100 1,800 will come from a work study, while 3,500 will come from loans and the rest will come out of my pocket? or will I be able to take out a loan to pay the rest? I don't want my mom to pay anything...I would rather take a loan and pay it later)</p>
<p>So pleaseeee help me!! I'm so lost and need the information As soon as possible. Is this good fin. aid? Thanks</p>
<p>And subsidized loans are way better than unsubsidized, because the gov’t pays the interest until you graduate.</p>
<p>$7620 is a pretty large student contribution, do you have a lot of assets in your name? If yes, you could tap these to cover the $2480 parent contribution.</p>
<p>Summer jobs/another job in addition to work study (if you can handle the time demands) will allow you to cover the parent’s portion without extra loans. Or you can borrow another $2K in unsubsidized loans.</p>
<p>There may be ways to trim some costs, too - for example, getting a triple/quad dorm room is usually cheaper, get a smaller meal plan if possible, etc.</p>
<p>So you pay $10,100 in addition to the subsidized loan or work study. Your total contribution will be $15,400. That’s quite a bit of money for most Pell eligible families to come up with! You’re only eligible for an additional $2,000 in Stafford unsubsidized loans and, beyond that, probably can’t get loans in your name without a credit worthy cosigner. I agree that the student contribution looks very high for a freshman unless you already have savings.</p>
<p>I would call the college’s financial aid office and ask why the “Student Contribution” is so high. Maybe you made an error on your FAFSA, or the office made a mistake? If the “Student Contribution” is correct, I’d ask to speak to a financial aid officer, and ask for some help figuring out how you can make this work given your family’s income. The school pretty clearly wants you – they gave you quite a lot of institutional aid, and quite possibly they have some ideas that might help. Make sure you have a copy of your FAFSA and Profile information when you call.</p>
<p>I’d ask to get an increase in work-study money to at least $2500. You should also be eligible for the unsubsidized Stafford – but that still leaves quite a gap. Most students aren’t able to earn more than $2000 or so in the summer before freshman year. </p>
<p>You may also want to look closely at what the cost of attendance includes, and separate out the “absolutely got to be paid” expenses like tuition and fees, and then see what the budget says is the cost for the other expenses that might have some flexibility. For example, if the room and board budget is for a double room with unlimited meals, are there less expensive dorm rooms you can choose (a triple, or an older building) or a lower-cost meal plan (14 meals a week, rather than every possible meal)? That would mean doing some eating out of your dorm room (ramen, peanut butter, yogurts,…) – but many students find that they like to do that anyway, and sometimes that can save quite a bit.</p>
<p>It doesn’t appear that the $7620 student contribution includes loans or work study. The $10K parent + student contributions seem to be the calculated EFC. No idea why they didn’t include the $2K unsub loan on the package as clearly there is room to award that!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the help given so far–
I plan on calling the office on Monday. I’m not sure what I should say. I can’t afford to pay 15,400 a year. I have a little over 9,000 in my own bank account. Would living at home lower the cost? The school says that they reduce grants by 11,000 if a student decides to commute (price of living on campus is 12,950). Due to this I don’t see how living at home would reduce my cost when they also lower the grant.</p>
<p>That explains the disparity between the parent EFC and student contribution. Did you know that, unlike parents, students have NO asset protection allowance and 20% of assets in the student’s name is added to EFC every year? They may not expect you to pay $15K every year, but it would be in your best interest to reduce your assets before you file FAFSA again. Pay the tuition bill, buy books for the semester, pay off any other bills you have, etc. or consider putting your college savings in a 529 account with a very conservative or fixed investment option.</p>
<p>If you live at home, will you need to buy a car? How much would you have to budget for gas, etc.? I agree that the reduction in grant aid will make it very close to the same cost for living at home. Is there any “play” in the on campus figures, ie. tripling or choosing a smaller meal plan?</p>
<p>No, all first years must have an unlimited meal plan. I’m not sure if you can opt. to have a triple and pay less, but I believe it’s based on whatever the school decides to give you from the freshman dorm building.</p>
<p>If I commute I would use public transportation, which would be $90 per month a little over 1,000 a year. This seems to also put me back in the situation I was originally in.</p>
<p>Things seem to be steadiily going down hill. It turns out I actually have about 22,000 in the account. All of this time I thought having an account would be smart. Gosh my dream school is slowly getting out of reach. I just want to cry.</p>
<p>There may be a generous estimate for books, personal expenses, transportation.</p>
<p>What is the $22K there for and why can’t you use it to help fund your own education? I’m not sure what the dilemma is exactly…they are expecting you to use $7600 of your own money (either savings or summer job), $2K from your parents, and then you can choose to take the subs loan and/or work study or you can fund the balance from your savings. It really does sound like a pretty good package if you have assets and I’m not sure the “I can’t afford $7K” is going to play well with the FA folks when they look at your FAFSA and see $22K in savings!</p>
<p>If keeping these savings are important to you, I recommend considering a private loan. If you take out a private loan, you will have to pay minimal interest but you won’t have to touch your savings (I assume that you are planning to use them for either grad school or as a seed of your downpayment for a new car, right? If so, I commend you for your responsibility and foresight! Many kids don’t think about that stuff and end up spending all of their money unnecesarily on school expenses that can be funded through loans or through current income if not eliminated completely)</p>
<p>I believe this student will need a cosigner for a private loan even WITH $22K in the bank. Most private loans are given based on not only liquid assets such as savings, but also on income. The reality is those liquid assets could go away…poof. Certainly a job can go away also, but verification of employment is a condition of many private loans. SO either the student needs a well paying job OR his parents will need to cosign the loan.</p>
<p>I think it’s commendable that this student has $22K in the bank and agree with another poster who wonders why using 20% of that for college is a problem. That private loan will also have an interest liability…using the savings will not. I vote for using part of the savings!</p>
<p>Bedouin’s suggestion of keeping the savings and taking extra loans doesn’t make sense to me…this will only ensure a continued high expectation of student contributions for the remaining three years and will cost the OP unnecessary interest and fees. It will also tie up the credit of a cosigner, if required. This school met the student’s full calculated need, and it would seem likely that they will do so again. Unless there is another reason for those savings to remain untouched, it would make more sense to reduce the savings in the student’s name now and maximize the potential for gift aid, there is clearly room for Pell and TAP awards to increase. Car loans and grad school financing are readily available when the time comes.</p>
<p>I can understand the student wanting to keep a certain amount of liquid assets as an emergency fund, particularly if his family doesn’t have tremendous financial stability. Still, $22K seems high. I think using part of it can make sense; certainly a quarter of it this year. </p>
<p>The basic package offered is really quite good.</p>
<p>Thanks for you everyone for your help…
Last question –</p>
<p>The total EFC (10,100)+loans=work study would stay the same even if I decide to live at home because of the total grant reduction of 11,000 (school reduces grants by 11,000 if a student decides to commute; the price for room & board is 12,950)? Correct? I won’t benefit financially by living at home,right?</p>
<p>Just need to confirm this before May1st to send in the confirmation.</p>
<p>I’m not following the math – but that is probably me. EFC has NOTHING to do with whether you live at home or on campus. It is the federal government’s estimate of the total contribution you and your family could make towards your college costs. </p>
<p>The Cost of Attendance (COA) for the school probably DOES vary based on whether you live at school, off-campus but not with your family, or at home. Schools usually publish the COA numbers, but the financial aid office should be perfectly happy to tell you what those specific numbers are for your school. They may change the financial aid package if you choose to live at home (decreasing it) – ask.</p>
<p>I’m a pretty big fan of first year students living on campus – it is a lot easier to get integrated into the campus community and avail yourself of the many resources. It isn’t always financially possible, but it is one area where I’d probably stretch, at least for that first year.</p>
<p>I really would like a concrete confirmation based on the figures. Logically, I think your right about the EFC. But would I have to take out a smaller loan.</p>
<p>It’s seriously like someone hit me on the head with a rock, but I really would like a solid confirmation that I wouldn’t benefit financially (have to pay less), because the school decreases the grant by 11,000 (room+board =12,000), even if I decide to live at home.<br>
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I don’t trust my math and would really appreciate it if someone would help w/ the numbers. I know no one else who would know.</p>
<p>Determined - I can’t tell from the information you posted how your financial aid package changes if you live at home rather than at school. If the school in fact decreases the grant by $11000 a year, then it would probably be cheaper for you to live at school since commuting and lunch costs would probably run more than $1000.</p>