Admitted Georgia Tech student here. I’m having trouble understanding the financial aid award letter that was just sent out. is the number next to “Expected Family Contribution” the ammount that I would be required to pay for the 2018-2019 school year? I’m confused because the page they have that explains each number seems to imply that the number next to the “Need” line is need based aid that they haven given to me, but then my “EFC” plus student loans is more than the cost of attendance. maybe I’m just reading it wrong though. Any help is appreciated!
The expected family contribution is just a calculation based on your FAFSA of how much a family is expected to contribute towards college. “Need” is calculated by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance. It does not actually mean you have been awarded that need, it is simply a baseline calculation. The only awarded aid is in the fields below that.
On a side note, I’m really disappointed with my FA offer. We have an EFC of 10k but this school only gave me aid so that we would have to pay 35k to go which is completely unrealistic…
It looks like there is a formatting error with the financial aid letters. I suggest you contact the financial aid office to get the correct answers. Others are reporting the same questions and errors.
My daughter received her FA yesterday and she received what was expected. In-State COA was 28.6 K and GT showed the projected Zell Miller Scholarship being applied along with an internship award. Our out of pocket costs come out to about 16K per year which is lower than our EFC. The actual out of pocket costs to GT will come in under 13K. I am not seeing anything really off with the award letter but I could be wrong. @itsv is right in suggesting you contact the financial aid office with any questions you may have.
@ChangeTheGame What is an “internship award”? Is that only for Georgia Students? What sort of jobs is that work /study for financial need, so hourly work in a library or it is research work? Thanks.
@Coloradomama I will paste the comments of the actual email received on 2/26/18. The letter mentioned a $1500 award, but my daughter’s actual financial aid package showed showed $1250 for both 1st and 2nd semester for a $2500 award. We are visiting Georgia Tech this weekend (we live only 30 miles from the campus) and were going to get more information. I will ask your question about if it is only for Georgia students, but my guess is that it is not just for GA students.
Congratulations, you have been selected to receive a College of Sciences Early Research Award (CoS-ERA)! This award is based upon your excellent academic credentials and interest in science, and is provided to encourage your early involvement in undergraduate research.
The award is an assistantship in the amount of $1,500, which may be used in one of your first four semesters of enrollment at Georgia Tech. While it is your responsibility to identify and obtain a position in a suitable laboratory to expend the award, the College of Sciences Living Learning Communities (below) will help you in this regard.
Again, congratulations on this award! We are excited about having you as a part of the Georgia Tech College of Sciences this upcoming year!
I’ve provided what I assume is the link for this award. Seems to be for freshman only and does not include College of Engineering. It isn’t clear whether this is an assistantship or an award though.
Thank you @CU1986 for the link. It definitely looks like a match for what my child received. She is a incoming freshman majoring in Chemistry which is on the list of majors listed.
Thank you @ChangetheGame and @CU1986. I think College of Computing does not offer that but I will ask to be sure. It looks like a small but helpful cash award and linked to a research project. Thats a very good program to get into in freshman year. It can be hard to afford GaTech from out of state, but every little bit helps. The school is big and complicated as far as scholarship options. The College of Engineering options do not translate into options for College of Computing, is what I have learned. This looks like the College of Science type of award. But the Liberal arts college is mentioned as well in the link.