Hi,
I just recently got accepted into Grinnell and they already sent the results and financial aid package to my address. As stated in my CSS profile, my contribution is about 27k. My financial aid package is 33k of grants and school employment and an international student loan of 3k5. I really really love Grinnell but I just did not want to have student loan, so should I make an appeal to decrease the amount of loan to about 1k or even not have student loan at all? I’m just afraid that they will even reconsider accepting me…
Don’t worry about them withdrawing your acceptance. It is not unusual for someone to appeal their financial aid package in the hope that it might be improved, especially if its the difference between being able to attend and not being able to attend. If you have received a better package from another comparable school, you can mention that and submit a copy of the other offer.
At very worst, they will tell you that this is the best they can do for you, so you will have to decide whether to accept or not.
Grinnell offers subsidized loans in the standard financial aid package. Not wanting to take out loans is not a convincing reason to appeal your financial aid package. If you don’t want to out that much in loans, it would make sense to ask for more grant money. You would need to tell Grinnell about a financial circumstance that you didn’t already disclose, like expensive medical bills. If you don’t have anything like that and you ask them for more aid, they’ll probably award you more loans.
When I enrolled, I didn’t realize that I could deny my loans. I got a bit of money from outside scholarships this year so I may cancel some of my loan if I have some money left in my account. That would be good because I don’t want to graduate with $19,000 of debt (that’s the standard amount they will award you in loans over the course of four years) . Also, you can work up to 20 hours a week on campus. The financial aid package only estimates 10 hours a week at the dining hall. It’s really easy to get a job because there is a shortage of student workers. So if you work extra or get private scholarships you can cancel some of your loans.