So I got my financial aid package today (I’m an in-state kid). I got $24,320 in total and I have to pay $2700 with work/study. I looked up the cost of attendance for in-state and it’s about $24,120. If I have outside scholarships can this cover my work-study or no? So is it safe to say I got the Carolina Covenant? How do I know for sure? I know they mail out letters on a rolling basis but would it indicate it anywhere on my connectcarolina account? And it looks like I have a full ride right now so is it possible to not be a Carolina Covenant scholar and still get a full ride?
I can’t answer your Carolina covenant question, but regarding the outside scholarship - you will want to contact your school’s financial aid office to determine their policy. It was vary school to school. Some will reduce your work study first, some might reduce a loan offered, and others might reduce need based aid. Only your school will be able to answer that question.
Can’t tell if you are a Carolina Covenant scholar based on what you posted. Does your package include loans?
A few things to keep in mind:
The COA you quoted includes the cost of insurance which can be waived if you have medical insurance that meets UNC requirements.
The COA appears to include the cost of a full meal plan. UNC-CH has many options for meals plans which could lower your cost.
The amount of scholarships/grants that exceed tuition/fee/required supplies will be taxable on the federal and state level. You might also be subject to the “Kiddie tax” which means you might be taxed at your parents tax rate for some of it. You need to plan for that.
You might want to check if you qualify for a laptop grant.
I know that this is not what you are asking about but I am trying to give you a heads up about taxes.
Based on what you posted, you will have about 7,500 in taxable income in 2015 and 15,000 in 2016. This does not include any income you earned in those years. You most likely will owe taxes in 2016 and maybe 2015. Just something to plan for.
If you have no loans, it sounds like you are a Carolina Covenant scholar but I really have no idea.
If you qualify for Carolina Covenant, you will get an email eventually in your Heelmail account. My son, accepted EA this year, just got official notification about 2 weeks ago. If there are no loans in your package and your family’s income is less than 200% of the poverty line and no huge assets, then either be patient a bit longer or just contact the FA folks to be sure.
If you go to unc.edu and look along the very top of the page, you should see a link to ConnectCarolina. Click on that link, then look along the right-hand side of that page for the link to Heelmail. At the login page, just enter your Onyen and password, just the same as you use to access your student account. Good luck, @gummyworms57!
@gummyworms57 ; Are you a Carolina Covenant scholar? I’m in the same boat as you are, but my FA needed verification so I’m not sure if I could be a scholar as well.