<p>Or any school and financial aid...If my estimated EFC is $12,000 and my state school of interest runs around $27,000 I have "need" of $15,000. </p>
<p>But the school is under no obligation to provide that $15,000 are they? It seems that most kids that get aid have great grades and the college really wants them. </p>
<p>What if you are a pretty good student, but not fabulous? It seems that someone like me will have to take out loans (or a combo of me and my parents) on top of the $12,000 we are already contributing.</p>
<p>Also, can you talk to lending institutions way in advance to see if you even qualify for private loans? </p>
<p>Would someone please clarify this for me? We're starting to get a little panicky in our house. </p>
<p>No the school is under no obligation to meet your full need. With an EFC of 12,000 you are not eligible for federal grant money. If this is a schools that has no need based institutional grant money then you will be looking at a lot of loans. Federal student loans are also limited - the Stafford loan maximum for a freshman is $5500. Then there are parent PLUS loans. </p>
<p>When you are applying to schools you need to make sure to include schools that will be more affordable for you and your family. Then if this ‘school of interest’ does not provide good financial aid you will have some other options. Try not to get your sights set on one school - if it means a lot of debt it is not worth it. Also try and find schools where you may be eligible for merit aid.</p>
<p>% of need met is the best indicator of how the school treats the EFC. Unfortunately, Collegeboard does not allow a search on that number.</p>
<p>Keep your options open. You’ll find many private colleges will ultimately have lower out of pocket costs than the state colleges at that EFC level.</p>
<p>scottaa-I have looked at private schools, and have plugged in my stats for those that looked interesting and they are still pretty much out of the question for me. Thanks for your reply. </p>
<p>coolbrezze-That’s what I thought…so aid can actually be a big, fat loan. :(</p>
<p>hmom5-Thanks for mentioning college board, I checked the stats for my school and it looks as if they do give some aid. It looks like half of the incoming class is judged to have need, 61% of the need is met, average package is almost $9000, although 2/3 of that is grants/scholarships, $3000 is loans. </p>
<p>That’s crappy aid. Your best bets are probably to see if there and any schools where you’ll qualify for merit aid or do your first 2 years at a cc.</p>
<p>For fun, I just did a financial aid calculator for a private school that has the major I want. Cost for one year is around $42,000. The calculator said I would qualify for $22,000-$25,000 worth of aid, only $5500 of which is loans. Yowsa! Plus that, I am interested in a 5-year PA program, and the state school doesn’t offer it…I would have to go to grad school. </p>
<p>Might be a good idea to explore a little more. Thanks!</p>
<p>PA as in Physician’s Assistant? If so, you might search for/send a PM to a poster named toledo, I believe her son found merit aid for PA programs in PA! Also, NY has several reasonably priced programs. SUNYs are fairly low cost, even for OOS students, and D’Youville (a private college, mainly health related, in Buffalo) is reasonably priced and offers large merit awards.</p>
<p>Excellent link, sk8rmom. Having said that though, I believe that UNC and UVA are the only 2 schools to meet 100% need for all students who apply for aid and are deemed to have need. Of course, a decent chunk of that aid is loans and work study, except for really low income students.</p>