<p>Ok, the more I read, the more confused I get. My daughter is going to college locally and didn't get a very favorable finanical aid package. She has now received several scholaships though which in realty will pay for almost all of her true expenses since she will be living at home. This is a general breakdown of her most recent package from the college. Our EFC was like $8300</p>
<p>Originally there was a $3000 parent loan in there which we turned down-with 4 kids 5 years apart in age there is no way we can start taking out loans for all of them.</p>
<p>The estimated cost of attendance is $11,100, but really tuition, fees, and books will be about $7400. She has received $6000 in scholarships for her first year which we are very grateful for, and still shocked by. </p>
<p>So my question is how are all these scholarships going to affect what the college initially said she could have? My guess is the work study will be gone, right? We were really thankful for that because it wouldn't count for next years fafsa, and it would put some money in her pocket, and maybe she could quit her job. Are we going to now be responsible for the remaining estimated balance of $1400, without the benifit of her being able to take out even a small loan? Just trying to figure this all out, so she can make the best decision.</p>
<p>you have to contact the school. They do not all handle outside scholarships the same way. There might be info on their website or contact the FA office.</p>
<p>Schools are all over the map as to how they treat outside scholarships. Some do “stack”; i.e., allow you to apply them to your EFC. But most of the schools we checked just use them to reduce financial aid – big benefit huh? Schools also vary as to how they apply the scholarship; some will use it to reduce loans and work/study (good), others use it to reduce their grants (bad). Sue is correct, you really need to contact the school to find out exactly what their policy is.</p>
<p>And yes, just like everything else about the college application process, it’s highly confusing.</p>
<p>Our son’s school first applies outside scholarships by reducing the ‘self help’ component (student loans or work study) of the package. That seems to be common. Our daughter’s school first applies outside scholarships by reducing unmet need.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I did tell the school this week about the $2000 one she got, but then she got more (the walmart one, and another local one, amounting to $4000 total. I tried to go online and add them but it won’t let me so I guess I will wait for a revised award letter to get emailed to me. Calling this school to ask anything is a very frustrating experience. I called a couple weeks ago and asked what I thought was a very simple question-how much is the average basic tuition and fees for 12 credit hours, knowing anything over that stayed pretty much the same. Can you believe they couldn’t answer my question??? She refered me to the website, which I told her did not have fall 2009 costs, and she was stumped-simply couldn’t answer my question, and didn’t really know who to transfer me to. I ended up asking a kid I knew who is attending the school-of course he knew exactly what he was paying, and how much of an increase there was going to be next year.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure she’d still be eligible for Staffords as long as the COA - grants - scholarships - work study is above 0, regardless of what your EFC is. Is the $11K COA figure for a student living at home/with relatives? If so, that’s what they’ll use and that would leave her with $5100 eligibilty if they take away her work study or she declines it. She can certainly take less loans than offered!</p>
<p>Yes, the 11,100 is COA living at home, but of course that figure includes what they call 'resonable expenses", such as clothing, transportation, food etc. I figure I pay all that now and I don’t really need that figure for my own personal use. I think my figure I am using of $7400 is more realistic, which means the gap between scholarships and actual costs is pretty affordable no matter what they do to our award package. She was just really excited about the work study option because she hates her job and was hoping to quit, but knows she needs a job. Work study would have given her a little money for her everyday expenses, and the schedule would have worked out better than what she has at her current job (safeway deli)she has been working 24 hours a week and she just knows she can’t swing that and go to this college, but her employer is saying they can’t cut her back to 10-15 a week.</p>