<p>I'm confused, how exactly does paying for college work when one is receiving financial aid? For example, there is the "aid" portion of the package and the "family contribution" portion. How fixed is each portion? For instance, the total cost includes costs like "books," "miscellaneous," and "transportation." Say that my family has to contribute X amount per year. If I decide to spend less than the estimated value on those things, will I be able to pay less than X? Or is the amount we have to pay fixed and the grant portion will just decrease accordingly? </p>
<p>If my aid award exceeds the cost of tuition, then it will bleed into other costs. How will I go about receiving the aid? Does it cut out of housing payments, etc? Or will I get a refund check in the mail?</p>
<p>Also, I know that work-study doesn't guarantee me a job on campus. How likely am I to find one? Should I actually be including that part of the award in the "contribution" portion instead? </p>
<p>My family and I are novices to this whole process. I'd appreciate any insight!</p>
<p>Fees, tuition, room and board (if you do on-campus or university housing) are “billable” costs. They are costs directly billed to you/your family. Some campuses have set tuition for those taking x credits or more (generally full time or 12 on a semester system), others have you pay by the credit. Then the tuition will be variable based on how many credits you take. </p>
<p>The books, etc are all estimates and you can spend more or less than that. </p>
<p>The refunds vary by school. Most, but not all, will now do direct deposit rather than mailing a check. Some disperse funds 10 days before, others not until weeks after the first day of class. </p>
<p>The work study again varies by campus. At both of my state schools, WS positions were extremely easy to find. Others have said that it’s difficult at their campuses. In general, WS funds will pay for your miscellaneous day-to-day costs as you’ll generally be earning less than $100 per week. </p>
<p>There are costs that colleges bill for, tuition, fees, room and board if you live in a dorm. Grants, scholarships, loans will be applied to your bill for those items. If there are still billable costs to be paid, you have to pay the remainder before each semester or shortly after the semester starts depending on the school. If billable costs are covered by the aid, you will get a refund of any excess aid that you can use for other purposes. Often the refunds aren’t issued until a few weeks into the semester or sometimes not until the drop period has passed. </p>