<p>This is the info I was given in an email from a lady in the Fin Aid department after we were given an Administrative Review to back out my unemployment income from last year (still not working and it is now finished- so none this year).</p>
<p>Pell 1800
MAP (est) 4720
Athletic 2400
Presidential 4100
Opportunity 1100</p>
<p>Sub. Loan 2977 (Gross)
Un Sub Loan 2523 (Gross)</p>
<p>The COA last year with housing was about $16400 - and they have not announced the 2011/2012 yet but have told us that if there is an increase it should be small and that the Athletics will cover the difference. But this school has a weird little policy that they(school) can only scholarship up to 50% of the COA - academics kicked in first and then the Athletics covered what was left up to the 50%- there was more $ offered to her on the athletic side (whole 50%) but they let the academic $ come in first.</p>
<p>Also, we have paid a $300 deposit which they saw will come off her tuition bill, and she has just learned she was chosen for a $300 scholarship she applied for thru her HS.</p>
<p>I would like to hear anyone's thoughts....I am thinking she will be in good shape for this year and with even $17,000 COA will just need the Sub. loan. Does that look right? Also, how much will a loan net after fees? And what are your experiences with private scholarships....will they apply that to her tuition cost...or do you think reduce her other scholarships? We didn't realize sometimes they do that and my daughter worked soooo hard on some scholarships. We are hoping she can get alot covered this year- as by next FAFSA I hope to be done with school myself and working (!) so we know she wont qualify for probably anything other than the 50% her school does.</p>
<p>Also, its a private school if that matters.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input!</p>
<p>It depends on the school’s policies as to what they do with outside scholarships. Often they reduce the unsub loans first. You have to talk to the school about what they will do as the answers can be just about anything.</p>
<p>Basically, the way I look at these things is what the bottom line cost is going to be and I do not take loan amounts off of the costs as they are just future payments, not cost discounts. The question is then whether you can afford this, spreading the amount between yourself and the student, past (savings), current (earnings) and future (loans) income. Personally, if we were unemployed for this period of time, my kid would be commuting and going to the lowest cost option, but that is entirely a personal take. I believe that sleep away college is truly a luxury, not a necessity. My son had several local schools as financial safeties on his list, and could go for nearly for free had he taken that option which we would have pushed if we had no jobs, income, etc. That he had a choice at all was because we are able to pay a certain amount, and he chose within those parameters. But this is a personal thing, and you have to look at it in light of your particular circumstances.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. I guess I should have said… she is going there for sure. She had a number of offers at different schools for athletics and we encouraged her to choose wisely - which I think she did. In our opinion it is not the best school she could have chosen…others were more impressive…but it is the closest and she did feel the most at home there and liked that they offered a Masters program in her chosen field and liked the Coach too. Luckily it just so happened that it was the best financial package also, which I am not surprised she would take into account because she has been raised to be extremely responsible with her money (bought her own car, etc.) and has always known that we would not be helping with the cost of college (our own personal choice based on other things years ago…and not the right choice for everyone we understand!) and she would be paying for it herself. Because she is an athlete, and we expect that her schedule will not allow for her to work and do school and her sport, we will be setting her up on a weekly allowance that we will send to her to cover her gas and incidentals. Our personal choice is that we encourage her to play college athletics because that is very important to her and we want her to have those 4 years to do that more than we wanted to push her into taking a live at home option. We have a CC nearby, but she felt very strongly about wanting to take advantage of a 4 year option if at all possible.</p>
<p>I guess what my main thing I wondered about was the Pell/MAP numbers they gave. I had know idea that MAP could go up that high. </p>
<p>Concerning me being unemployed…I have been and been in school for about 2 years. So we knew she would be going off to school with us being a 1 income family (with 2 other kids at home!) and we are prepared for that. I am just trying to see if anyone else sees anything that I am not looking at or should be asking about in her package this year. Next year I expect her to have no Pell/MAP elgibility…but I also expect that I will have an income so that will make up any difference. Our understanding is that she would be elgible for $5500 in student loans ea year without getting into any private loans, etc. and in talking with her she feels like having $22,000 in loans when she graduates is acceptable. None of us feel that having more than that would be wise. But from what I am seeing- if she continues even without the Pell/MAP she is going to be in that range at the end of four years. I have looked it over a number of times and just thought I would see if anyone thinks I am making some fatal mis-calculations!</p>
<p>The school’s policies will take precedent as to how they apply any monies. If the decision has been made, then there really isn’t much to do. She will have to take the loans. In my opinion (and I’m just a parent, no special insights here) the federal maximums are as much as what kids should borrow except for under special circumstances. It’s really all they can borrow in their own name without a co-signer. The Stafford maximums do go up as she gets further along in college; currently up to $7500. </p>
<p>Also she might have some nice work study or other job opportunities at the gym as an athlete that will have good study opportunities too like checking gym IDs. My son was a D-3 athlete with no financial aid or scholarship and he found a lot of perks being in that situation, from free food opportunities, tofirst shot at jobs in the gym. He also got a $100 school spirit award one term and some other outside award for a small amount, so there are some hidden opportunities out there for kids to seek. Good luck to her and to you.</p>