<p>I see OPs disappointment. Probably wishing the school in addition to basically full ride with no loans (they provide summer program which pays money). the school should have also provided another 10K in spending money each year.</p>
<p>Sorry but full financial aid with no loans is extreme to the other end. No reason you couldn’t handle 5K in loans each year. You come out with the same degree as that sap paying nearly $60K a year. So paying back $20K in loans at that point shouldn’t be a great hardship.</p>
<p>*the school should have also provided another 10K in spending money each year.
*</p>
<p>lol…right</p>
<p>Yes, the school should provide a $1000 a month ($250 per week!) so the student has plenty of money to go bar-hopping, dating, and eating pizza with pals on weekends. </p>
<p>Since you don’t have loans in the FA pkg, and you do have this summer opportunity, try to save as much of that $2k to put towards EFC.</p>
<p>I know that there will be times in the summer that you and others will go into town and spend money. That’s a given. Just try to be reasonable so that you have some money to put towards EFC or early college costs.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you’ll be buying books BEFORE you get your aid, so again, save some of that $2k for books.</p>
<p>That said…it will likely be VERY hard for your folks to cover that EFC, so do ask G’town for a stafford loan to cover that. Your parents can either help you pay for that, or it will be your responsibility. You absolutely can get a loan for that EFC.</p>
<p>In looking through your past posts, it seems that you don’t have much to complain about.</p>
<p>Your parents’ combined income is around $60,000. Am I correct in that you applied for a Gates Milennium Scholarship? Students must be Pell Grant eligible, and it seems as if your parents make too much $ for that. (Isn’t the income limit $50,000?) </p>
<p>Your sister was a Gates Milennium Scholar (was your parents’ income less then?), and your brother got a full-ride to American University. Your sister is now in dental school. Is the Gates Foundation funding that, also? </p>
<p>With a $60,000 income, your family has been very lucky indeed in the college affordability arena. Why are you posting that it “sucks to be poor”?</p>
Pell eligibility is based on EFC, not income. It is definitely possible to be Pell eligible with a $60K AGI. Our income is around that and I have two in college and our EFC is around $4K ($4,995 is the cut-off).</p>
<p>Lake needs to remember, there but for the grace of God go I. And from the looks of how things shook out with his 2 older siblings s/he is very blessed.</p>
<p>In reality lake is similar to Blanche Dubois in that s/he is dependent on the kindness of strangers; whose tax dollars provide Pell and FWS along with the generosity of other people’s parents who contribute so graciously to Georgetown, so that s/he could have this potentially life changing experience.</p>
<p>No one owes him/her a college education, especially one that comes with a $200K price tag attached to it. In the big scheme of things, even what he got from JHU was not “owed” to him/her.</p>
<p>It is my hope that when given the opportunity that Lake could pay it forward.</p>
<p>I still don’t understand why some of these kids who are “poor” aren’t busting their butts working from the time they are old enough to get a job at McD’s? Working at minimum wage for only 10 hours a week from age 14-18 ( 4yrs) could let them save around $15k. Many of them seem pretty smart so they should know that college costs $ and should start saving. Seems like the $2k contribution shouldn’t be that hard to cover. Nothing wrong with loans either.</p>
<p>No advice for the OP. Take the great deal you got and run with it. Please do good things with your education to show your thanks to those who provided it.</p>
<p>Many kids don’t have rides to go to work. Or a car once we do turn 16. Many of us live in places without public transportation, too. Therefore, no work. </p>
<p>Also, many of us/them can’t get jobs because they’re the de facto babysitters (without pay) for their younger siblings.</p>
<p>Also, MANY places won’t hire under 16 because that’s a lot of paperwork and restrictions.</p>
<p>Or they could live in area with high unemployment like we do. My son applied to about 15 places last summer and could only get a seasonal job (Christmas time). It’s not like it was when I was growing up and jobs were plentiful for HS age kids. Many of the available jobs are taken by college kids attending CC and the adults laid off or out of work.</p>
<p>I think most of you guys (if not all) have taken my “plea” out of context. The financial aid package in question is not the one given by Georgetown (very generous), its by Hopkins; no qualms about Georgetown’s offer.
Hopkins wants me to take out 3.5k in subsidized loans and 2.5k work study, and on top of that, figure out a way to come up with another 8.5k. This is much different from only 5k per year.
And why ask if I am pell eligible if I explicitly stated a few posts back that I was given 3.1k in pell grants?
The title reflects my feeling towards Hopkins modest financial aid package (which met need in their opinion) but my inability to come up with their calculated EFC. Hopkins was never an option for me.
Title is also a variation of another lengthy thread.</p>
<p>Lakeawead, I understand that you are responding to Hopkins’ offer. What I am saying is that Hopkins’ offer really wasn’t “modest.” It doesn’t meet your need-- I understand that. It is inferior to Georgetown’s offer-- I get that too. However, Hopkins really isn’t a meet full-needs school and most kids out there in your situation are faced with having to gap similar need at far less desirable schools. They either take out huge loans, have parents over-extend themselves, work or go to other schools. Being able to attend a top college without many loans is a huge blessing and I’m glad you have that opportunity. I believe parents are basically telling you to appreciate that gift instead of spending one moment thinking about what another school didn’t give you.</p>
<p>Quote: Hopkins really isn’t a meet full-needs school</p>
<p>Well in this case, they say they met need. They can gloat all they want about meeting 99.8% of need, they did not meet my need.</p>
<p>I think the term need-met schools is a bit misleading, each school is entitled to determine what they see as “need” and then release reports stating that they met this arbitrary differing number admitted students. Perhaps there needs to be a baseline of what “need” is in order for an institution to claim that they have met it.</p>
<p>This goes for all top-tiered schools, not only Hopkins. I understand each school has different guidelines and calculators to determine need, but a $9k difference in EFC with little to no assets that may affect it is huge for a family with a FAFSA EFC of $2.5k.</p>
<p>I am absolutely grateful for the offer that Georgetown has given me, but I was expecting Hopkins package to be somewhat competitive. Even though my decision is much simpler, this is worse than a rejection from them.</p>
<p>Hopkins explicitly told me they met need in my case, so they did not gap me, this was the max they were ever going to give me.</p>
<p>You are just demonstrating how some one can be book smart and life stupid. Maybe it is me but your response still reeks of entitlement. It seems like you still don’t get it; no one owes you a 200k education. At the end of the day, you still have a very generous offer from Hopkins, even if “you expected” their package to be somewhat competitive.</p>
<p>I do not understand why you would find it so egregious take out a loan and to do work study in order to pay for your own education.</p>
<p>If you should find attending Georgetown a fate worse than death and if attending Hopkins means that much to you take out the other 2K in an unsub loan. If your parents are not eligible for a PLUS loan, you can borrow another 4k unsub leaving you with a 2k gap. Get a job. Work 2 jobs, collect cans, baby sit, tutor, wash disher wait tables. But you should not be beyond putting some skin in the game for an education that you feel you want so badly.</p>
<p>I havent read the whole thread so forgive me if this has been answered. What exactly IS the problem here? The OP got a fabulous acceptance AND the aid to attend Georgetown without loans or self help aid. Is there some reason why this student doesn’t WANT to take this acceptance and financial aid offer?</p>
<p>If two schools say they met need, and there’s a difference of $9,000 in the calculated EFC, one school is not completely truthful. We speak so highly of “meets-need” schools on CC, we forget that these schools are not equal.</p>
<p>To sybbie, I only said the part you quoted me on in response to a previous poster who took this entire thread out of context. If it was either Hopkins or a CC, I would work my ass off to make up the difference to attend Hopkins. Their offer is great but like I said, still modest in comparison to two need-met schools. I am not taking anything for granted.</p>
<p>Update for thumper: I had my JHU aid package reviewed and they DECREASED my aid; I’ll gladly take Georgetown’s offer and run with it, but I’d have to look back upon why Hopkins offer was not nearly the same (I did not apply to any other meets-need school so I cannot judge which school would have given the fairest assessment of my need). Which school assessed my need more accurately?</p>
<p>while I agree that kids who don’t have access to cars or public trans have a harder time finding jobs, sometimes you have to create your jobs and offer a service. I began babysitting long before age 16, my brothers cut other people’s lawns, you can be pet sitter/dog walker, etc.</p>
<p>If you’re smart, you can offer tutoring services, if you have a musical talent, you can give lessons, etc.</p>
<p>There are some students who don’t seem willing to put any skin in the game (I’m not saying the OP is one). </p>
<p>For some reason, the OP got an extra generous offer from G’town. The problem may not be that JHU was “cheap”…it may be that G’town was especially generous. I thought g’town usually puts loans in pkgs, but in this case it didn’t. </p>
<p>Maybe the OP has a hook that G’town desires? </p>
<p>That’s not going to net you nearly $4k/year like nj wants kids to get. Fwiw- I tried the babysitting thing for a while. Many parents wanted you to have a car. They felt much safer that way.</p>