Some FA questions

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have some questions regarding my financial aid package. My parent contribution is 0, but my expected student contribution is $2,832, and my self-help is $3,974.</p>

<p>My first question is, how much does one have to work during the academic school year in order to work off the $3,974 of self-help? Is this even a feasible amount to do for work study in one year?</p>

<p>Secondly, from what sources is the student contribution of $2,832 expected to be paid from? Assuming I don't get any outside scholarships, how do I pay for this amount without resorting to loans?</p>

<p>My third question is, (assuming that I have to take out loans because I cannot fit all of this under work-study, and because I have no outside scholarships) how can I expect to pay for plane tickets back home (CA)? I don't expect to have any pocket money for these plane tickets because hypothetically, all of my money will go towards paying the student contribution and self-help portion. The travel expenses will surely add up to a considerable amount over four years, even if I only go home twice a year.</p>

<p>Thanks in the advance for the help!</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
My parent contribution is 0, but my expected student contribution is $2,832, and my self-help is $3,974.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You earn the expected student contribution by getting a summer job (the school does expect you to work and contribute toward your education). You probably need to earn a little more as there are start up cost associated with going to college. You will need book money and school supplies. Your plane ticket to get to school will come out of this money.</p>

<p>The self help component is a combination of college work study (an on campus job) and possibly a student loan. How much does it take to work off depends on how much jobs on your campus pay (most students work about 10-15 hours a week). If you don't get a summer job or get an on-campus job your will be walking around peniless and you won't get to new haven.</p>

<p>I would suggest that you price out the cost of plane tickets so that you have some idea of how much you will need. If plane tickets are too much then stanford may be the better option for you (I would not count on student loans because they can take months to process and you still have to live until the $$ comes).</p>

<p>The money that you earn from your student contribution and the monies you earn from work study is what you use to pay for your tickets home and your day to day expenses.</p>

3

<p>Also figure out how many of those plane tickets you will need. DD chose to go to college on the opposite coast. She knew when she made that decision that she would be coming home ONLY at Christmas and the end of the year.</p>

4

<p>If you can go to Stanford or Yale with only summer employment, a very small loan compared to most kids (or was there a loan in addition to those 2 numbers you mentioned?) and work study, all I can say is WOW. If that is the case, I would take a small loan to cover part of expected contributions. Then you can use your summer employment earnings to pay for your plane tickets. You must be an exceptional student to get into these schools. Congrats! You might feel some relief with a small loan as it sounds very tight without one. You can re-evaluate that each year. I do think that over $3000 may be too much to earn with work study during the school year at such challenging schools. But you could discuss this with the financial aid office and see if students are able to do this while maintaining good grades. Best of luck.</p>

5

<p>congrats on such a great FA package and such good college acceptances. You are smart to be thinking ahead and trying to figure out how the finances are going to work -- it is clear it will work out, but knowing how to put it all together will really lessen the stress level.</p>

<p>First, you need to find out what the FA office at the school considers the COA (cost of attendance) to be (the dollar amount) and what it includes. each school figures this differently and it usually includes tuition, room and board, books, fees, transportation and personal expenses -- some schools also include the cost of a laptop for freshman year. </p>

<p>Once you know what the school figured out the COA as including, you many want to ask for an adjustment. some schools do not include a reasonable figure for transportation. If your school set a figure of $250 for transportation and the cost of a plane ticket is $500, then two plane tickets will be $1000 and the amount needs to be adjusted. check over the figures -- and if you need a computer for college because you do not have one, ask for that to be added to the COA. Request this in writing and make sure you substantiate your figures. The COA should be the total amount that you will need to live during your school year -- not necessarily well, but survive.</p>

<p>If you have asked for an adjustment in the COA, you then need to ask for an adjustment in the FA package. This is common and not a big deal -- they may not grant it, but it is worth asking. </p>

<p>keep in mind that just because an item is included in the COA, that does not mean that the school pays for it -- you will generally pay out of pocket for the transportation costs, books and personal expenses -- but that figure is included in the COA so that money that you pay out of pocket is your student self-help/contribution. For instance: Stanford gives you $40,000 in grants and the tuition, room and board come to $30,000 -- in this instance, you would get a check for $10,000 made out to you to pay for the books, transportation and personal expenses. sorry it sounds confusing, it is hard to explain.</p>

<p>once both of these appeals/adjustments are made, you can really sit down and figure out how it will all work out. In general, the student contribution is an amount you are expected to earn over the summer. If the COA is computed correctly and includes the accurate transportation costs, then the summer earnings can be used to pay for transportation costs. work study money can be used for books and personal expenses -- that is usually how it works. Some of the summer money/work-study may have to be paid to the school for tuition/R&B/Fees, but ususually it is just a little.</p>

<p>for work-study -- it has been shown that students with a work-study job get better grades than those without, so it isn't a bad thing. studies have also shown that students should work no more than 12 hours a week (after that, the grades go down) so that is a good place to start. look for a work study job that is either convenient or in your area of interest (work at the dorm is usually easy and convenient, work in the department you are thinking of majoring in will help with connections and be more interesting).</p>

<p>If the work-study job pays $10 an hour (pay may be higher -- $10 and up is pretty standard) then 12 hours a week for 16 weeks will get you $1920 a semester and $3840 a year. If you watch your personal expenses, you should be set.</p>

<p>for the summer earnings, if you work 40 hours a week for $8 an hour for 10 weeks, you will earn $3200 -- after tax, probably about $2800.</p>

<p>Ask your parents if they could help with the difference between what you make in the summer and what Stanford wants -- with some advance notice, they may be able to come up with $500 or so. Also ask parents and relatives to help with start-up costs: stuff for the dorm, sheets, pillows, clothes, etc. It doesn't have to be new and if you start early on the list, you can be set by the start of school.</p>

<p>I think you are going to find it all works out very well -- just get some clarification on the COA so that you understand it all. I would avoid loans if at all possible, but if you need to, taking out a loan isn't the end of the world. You may decide that taking a work-study job first semester isn't a good idea -- you may want to take a small loan or see if mom and dad can send a few dollars each month. There may also be semesters where you can't do a work-study job because of the course load or you may want to study abroad -- small loans can be used then.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for all the helpful advice!</p>

<p>This is my fin-aid letter that I received from Yale:</p>

<p>ESTIMATED EXPENSES FAMILY CONTRIBUTION
Tuition $34,530 Parent Contribution $0
Room and Board $10,470 Student Income $2,476
Books/Personal Expenses $2,950 Student Assets $356
Travel Expenses $1,000
Total Estimated Expenses $48,950 Total Family Contribution $2,832</p>

<p>FINANCIAL NEED for 2007-2008 aid year $46,118</p>

<pre><code> FINANCIAL AID AWARD
Yale Scholarship $33,834
Federal Pell Grant $4,310
Federal S.E.O.G. $4,000
Self-Help $3,974
Total Financial Aid Award $46,118
</code></pre>

<p>TOTAL AVAILABLE TO MEET NEED $46,118 </p>

<p>I believe that the transportation, personal expenses, books, etc. are included in the COA. The COA in this case is 48,950, with all the factors included. </p>

<p>The tuition and housing will add up to $45,000. All the grants, minus the self-help, only adds up to $42,144. So doesn't this mean that whatever money I earn will have to go towards the tuition and housing? This means I won't have any money left over from my earnings, since it is going to pay for my tuition and housing, in order to pay for the personal expenses, books, and travel expenses during the school year.</p>

<p>I'm assuming that the student contribution part will be used to pay for the books, personal expenses, and travel expenses. If I cannot earn that much the first year, then I will have to take out loans in order to pay my own personal expenses.</p>

7

<p>ok -- let me take a good look at this package.</p>

<p>First, the money you are going to have to pay Yale (you or the grants) is the tuition, fees and room & board. That total is $45,000.</p>

<p>The amount you will pay for out of hand (whether from work-study, parents help, loans or elsewhere) is the transportation, books, personal expenses. This total (according to the COA) is $3950.</p>

<p>you have grants from Yale totalling $42,144, so you are going to need to come up with $2856 to pay Yale for R & B and tuition. From the letter, it looks like you have a little savings and you can get a summer job. You will also want to earn enough (or get parents to help a little) so that you have money for the plane ticket there, books for classes for first semester and some spending money to get set up. with a decent summer job (or two) you can easily do this and avoid any loans.</p>

<p>Then -- the work-study job will pay for transportation and personal expenses and books for second semester.</p>

<p>It looks like it will work out well -- you will need to work hard this summer, but for the opportunity to attend an excellent school, I think it will be worth it.</p>

<p>you can keep the loans as a back-up (you may want to borrow a small amount the first semester to get started, get books, get the plane ticket there and get a laptop --you don't want to be stressed or not prepared for classes).</p>

8

<p>Also, you probably don't have to pay the Yale bill all at once. Usually you pay twice a year. So you can divide the $2856 you'll owe Yale for the year in half, and you can earn money first semester to pay the second-semester bill. I'd find out when that first bill is due and make sure you have the savings/earnings around to pay that.</p>

<p>You could also ask for an unsubsidized Stafford Loan to help pay your part of the Yale bill.</p>

9

<p>Ok, thanks again for all the help.</p>

<p>I have a $2,000 scholarship that I won. The scholarship foundation is sending this directly to the school though. Yale website says that the first thing that will be deducted is from the student contribution or work study. So where will this money go if they send it directly to Yale?</p>

<p>HSmomstef, I am still slightly confused about the first semester. You said that the student contribution will pay for the start-up cost (such as plane ticket there, books, etc. which may total to a considerable amount), but won't it go towards the tuition and board, since the grants still leave a difference of $2,000?</p>

10

<p>here is a link that will help you understand how the tuition and R & B is billed.</p>

<p>Your summer earnings (around $3,000) plus money you have in savings (Yale shows about $350) plus any money your parents can help out with will need to be used to pay for transportation there, a small amount of tuition (probably 50% of what you will need to kick in, about $1500) books for 1st semester and start-up costs.</p>

<p>It looks like Yale bills once each semester for tuition (and maybe room and board, it wasn't clear) so you will need to pay your portion at the designated times (check the link).</p>

<p>your scholarship will go to Yale. Ask them to allow you to use it to reduce the student contribution -- that would mean that you only owe Yale a total of $856 towards tuition and room and board. That would really help you out -- you can use your summer earnings towards the start-up costs and transportation.</p>