<p>I'm going to an in state U. I've been told that aid packages, while not identical in makeup, will remain at approximately the same funding level from year to year if your financial situation remains the same. How accurate is this?</p>
<p>Any stories of someone ending up in a University and then having their aid dropped in future years and not being able to pay? I seem to see comments about this sort of thing on these boards and am wondering just how prevalent it is.</p>
<p>It is accurate in my experience. Also logical, because how bad would it be for an institution to get a reputation for unjustified financial aid reductions for returning students?</p>
<p>You total aid package may stay the same, but the composition is likely to change. At most schools student loans increase in subsequent years and grants and gift aid decreases.</p>
<p>The proportion of your aid that's loans and self help will probably go up each year since you could be expected to earn more each summer and during the school year because of your experience and age.</p>
<p>It really matters what type of aid you are talking about. I've known students that have lost scholarships because they dropped below the GPA needed (although they usually give you a semester to catch up) I've known 2 students that played basketball and track and lost their scholarships when they couldn't play or their grades dropped below a certain number.
My son had an award that would stay with him but also a need-based grant. That could fluctuate by your income, whether it's an increase in salary or some other type of income, gift, scholarship, inheritance or even taking money out of an IRA. How the college figures that is somewhat up to them, but it pays to ask if you can ahead of time.
I found state schools to be more straight-forward in aid although "most" aid, doesn't increase and tuition does. I have heard on this board some students that got that clause put in, that their aid would rise with the tuition, but I would suspect that isn't the norm.</p>
<p>Well I think almost all of my aid is considered need based ($0 EFC). I've got almost all gift aid (grants and one scholarship for community college students who had 4.0), with only a 2500 work study and no loans (except for the 2400 one they're adding to help me pay for a computer, but it wasn't part of my "aid package" as such). I don't anticipate problems with GPA. I'm currently an independent Junior and they still didn't make me take out any of the nearly $10,000 in Stafford loans that I qualified for this year. I'm hoping it will remain like this, but I'm just concerned that I'll end up with some huge gap that I can't afford.</p>
<p>My son goes to a state school. His FA package was almost identical last year and this year. He did call the FA office and asked for the maximum amount of work study allowed ($4K).</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>At the public school where I used to teach, the amount of loans went up greatly when students were rising juniors. The college knew that by then, the students were committed to the school and were unlikely to transfer out. As is the case with most public universities, the school had only a limited amount of aid available -- not enough to meet all students' full need-- so they made meeting the need of freshmen and sophomores a priority.</p>
<p>The federal loan limits go up, like from $2200 to $5500, from freshman to junior. Is that what you are talking about?</p>
<p>No, I'm not just talking about federal loans. I'm talking about the public college either gapping aid more for juniors and seniors or providing more -- sometimes much more --f their aid package in loans. That's what the public college where I taught had to do in order to stretch its limited need-based scholarship funds. I don't think that's unusual because many if not most public universities don't have the $ to meet 100% of the financial need of all of the students who need aid, even when part of that aid is met via loans.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I'm not too concerned about getting loans, rather concerned about gaps. I think that U of M is worth having some loans when I consider the reputation of the program and what that will do when it's time to apply to grad school (which will hopefully be free). Also, I know that they have special grant programs for attempting to reduce undergraduate loans for those with the lowest EFC's. But it sounds like in general I don't have anything to worry about.</p>
<p>Well, there you go. Two different sets of experiences. Mine has been with well-endowed, expensive private universities that could ill afford a reputation for jerking upperclassmen financial aid. Nor could the students dependent on it afford to finish. Aid has been generous and consistent from year to year. The federal loans have increased per the schedule, but otherwise the aid has been the same every year, as has been our family finances. We always sweat bullets as the renewal aid notifications come so late every year, but never with reason other than uncertainty.</p>
<p>I go to a third or fourth tier public university with minimal endowment. I have an EFC of almost "0" and am married with two kids. The amount of grants in my package has increased every year -- and this year (my senior year) my grants cover the entire cost of tuition, books and fees for two semesters plus I get a little left over. The school, however, isn't very expensive to begin with -- so I am not talking a flagship public or private. I think my total costs for tuition, fees and books for two semesters is around $7000.</p>