<p>I filed my FAFSA just last month, and recently got my Awards Letter. I noticed that I've gotten nothing but loans and I've contacted the financial aid office of the school that I'm planning to go to and was told that for the semester that I'm enrolling to, I am only eligible for loans and they couldn't give me any grants. My question is, if I apply to any other schools, would I get the same results in terms of Financial Aid? Meaning I'll only get loans from any other schools I apply to? Also, as you may have noticed, I filed my FAFSA pretty late, does t his have anything to do with this?</p>
<p>We need more info…</p>
<p>What was your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>Did you apply for Spring semester?</p>
<p>Are you an incoming frosh?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>How much does the school cost?</p>
<p>Filing late can certainly affect whether or not there is any institutional FA available. Are you enrolling for January or now?</p>
<p>I am applying for the Spring semester as an incoming freshman. I live on Hawaii and the school I am planning on attending is in California. Tuition, according to the website is 20k per year. I just found out my EFC is 08301 and that I don’t apply for pell grant which is really disappointing…</p>
<p>Your EFC is too high for federal grants. The Pell requires an EFC of 5200 is or less. The SEOG is even harder to get (many schools require a 0 EFC for SEOG and even then do not have sufficient funds for all their eligible students). Unless the school offers institutional grants (many do not), or your state offers grants to people with your income level (though that would usually require you to attend a school in your own state), you will probably have the same results at other schools, especially out of state schools.</p>
<p>What school in CA? Tuition is $20K and room and board has to be nearly another $10K. You can borrow $5.5K. Where is the rest of the money going to come from?</p>
<p>You seem to talk only filing the FAFSA and the not the CSS as well which indicates a public college -most students especially out of state students are unlikely to receive grants unless you are an extraordinary catch. If you want grant money you should pursue a rich private college with an endowment. If you are good enough for them to admit you, you can hope for financial aid in the form of grants.</p>
<p>And students applying for admission in the spring term very often get much less aid than students who were admitted for the fall term. Schools have a limited amount of grant and scholarship money and the bulk of that is used for fall admits.</p>
<p>You seem to talk only filing the FAFSA and the not the CSS as well which indicates a public college</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>There are many, many, many privates that only take FAFSA.</p>
<p>That said, this student is applying to a private that is known to give very little aid because it has very little to give. It really wouldn’t make any difference even if this was a fall admit. This is a school that expects students to pay all costs.</p>
<p>The misleading part is that since the student is a spring admit, they put full Staffords for one semester, which won’t happen next year when the student would be there for a year. The school included a Plus loan for the semester balance. And, since it’s only for one semester, the Plus loan is large, but not huge as it would be for one year.</p>
<p>Another part that has confused the student is that the tuition is $20k per semester…really $40k per year…with a COA of about $55k. So, the future aid packages will consist solely of Staffords and huge Parent Plus loans (which will more than double next year because they will be for 2 semesters and the Stafford will split amongst 2 semesters. )</p>
<p>This is an unaffordable school. Way toooo much debt.</p>
<p>Mom2CK, did you get that info in a PM? I don’t see anything posted in the OP’s history about semester costs.</p>
<p>According to past posts (elsewhere) this OP graduated from High School in June 2011…was thinking about going to a CC in their home state (did that happen?)…and then going OOS for school in January.</p>
<p>I would suggest that this poster consider applying as an incoming freshman for fall admission…or look at instate options that are perhaps more affordable. I’m not sure how the OP chose the one college to which he/she applied, but it sounds like the financial landscape needs to be considered.</p>
<p>* did you get that info in a PM?*</p>
<p>Yes…but I left out private info like school name and such. I just posted relevant, but non-private, info that lends more clarification to the situation. It is a school that doesn’t have much/any institutional aid to give. </p>
<p>this school does expect its students to pay full freight except for whatever fed aid they might qualify for. Their grants are just Pell. Their site stresses that students who want scholarships need to get them from outside sources. </p>
<p>And, since this student’s FA package only addresses one semester, it easily misleads if someone doesn’t know how these things go (like including full Stafford for one semester and a Plus loan that doesn’t represent a full year.). This is something that all spring admits should be aware of. </p>
<p>The amount of debt it would take to get thru this school is staggering…well over $100k. </p>
<p>This student would be much better off going to a local CC, doing well, and then transferring somewhere that is affordable. </p>
<p>and then going OOS for school in January</p>
<p>This student would also have considerable travel costs as well.</p>