J123D123 - Michigan’s “ defense” is that it is a state school, funded in part by the Michigan taxpayers and dedicated in part to educating the residents of a Michigan. It has no obligation to provide an affordable education to residents of other states, although it is trying to do that with people who demonstrate true need.
Notably, all the schools in your prior post are private institutions who in many cases have 50% of their students paying full sticker at $60,000 plus. That is one of the reasons they can give generous need-based scholarships.
UVA is the only public institution on that list but they limit the number of out of state students to 15%.
Well for all those feeling wronged by financial aid…wake up! Times have changed greatly and even students with low income are struggling to find a place to earn a degree due to cost. This is the case at most institutions! Accept it, choose what works for your family and move on.
It was stated at Campus Day today that if they are already registered for orientation, accepted Honors students will need to contact ONSP to let them know and their orientation will be changed to Honors.
They also said there are only 60 remaining Honors spots and there were over 600 applications for those spots. There will likely not be a waitlist this year for Honors.
This question has been disturbing me and found no answer so far:
qualified for Umich need-based aid(OOS), received some UM grant(no provost), been looking into applying for local scholarships, but will receiving these scholarships reduce financial aid eligibility??? since on their FA web https://finaid.umich.edu/financial-aid-eligibility/ it says “Students may seek private scholarships and get help from U-M schools and colleges to meet their college costs. They may also use other resources, such as ROTC scholarships, housing and veterans’ benefits. These are considered as financial resources when determining need-based aid eligibility.” What does it mean when it says “Outside aid will not reduce the amount a student and family are expected to pay”???
Another question is that, even if UM grant is not touched before loans and work study, if the scholarship reduces aid eligibilty, doesn’t that automatically reward less aid and how will that improve the package?
Looking for an answer from anybody who has experience in applying to outside scholarships and wondering if applying is worth it.
It’s almost always worth applying for outside scholarships to a point with most all colleges. Typically schools that are meeting EFC will allow you to apply scholarships towards any loans and work study before affecting any grant aid or scholarship aid.
If UofM hasn’t reached the EFC odds are any outside scholarship money would come right off your out of pocket costs towards tuition and wouldnt affect any aid. It’s typically when you crossover the EFC that aid starts to take a hit. I would call and they will give you specifics to your situation and you’ll know exactly the cross over point.
With D18 the Zero grant or aid so she could go to the EFC before the federal loans would take a hit. So she could get $30,000 plus in outside scholarship money before it would matter.
At other schools she is at her EFC so her outside scholarships reduce federal and institutional loans first then workstudy. It’s off future debt so it’s still good.
@J123D123 is incorrect. When the university says, “These are considered as financial resources when determining need-based aid eligibility,” that means you have less need for financial aid. If you are getting a Michigan Grant, that grant will be reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of any outside scholarship. Even a departmental scholarship within University of Michigan is considered an outside scholarship (because it is not coming from the FA office). Example: My child had a Michigan Grant from FA office. Sophomore year she was awarded a $10k departmental scholarship from her academic department. The Michigan Grant was cut by $10k. So it was a wash. The benefit of the departmental scholarship, however, is that it continues regardless of financial need.
Most colleges have the same or similar policy. Some colleges will treat your outside scholarship as a replacement for your loan and/or work-study, which of course is better than treating it as a replacement for the grant.
If you want to confirm, call the college’s FA office and ask if they “stack” aid. Stacking means that they allow you to use outside scholarships to pay your EFC. If the answer is no, ask how the FA award is affected by outside scholarships.
Well I did say to call and see how specifically it applies to the individual and know the transition point without knowing any offering specifics. Every school policy is different. I called UofM and they seemed to suggest that since we didn’t get any need based aid up through the EFC that any outside scholarships wouldn’t affect the federal loans up front. So in our instance there is not a dollar for dollar shave.
If they give grants and aid and don’t bring a student to the EFC calculation I am disappointed they deduct any outside scholarships dollar for dollar when there will still be unmet need. I’ll admit UofM is the one and only school that didn’t offer 100% need based aid or merit based aid that went beyond the EFC. So without either I didn’t take my understanding beyond a few superficial calls.
When I called I asked generally about this and I thought the representative implied that since the school wasn’t close to meeting the EFC that it wouldn’t affect things as far as any LSA grant had one been given.
Since there was zero Nerit aid or Need Based Aid I didn’t followup with more directed questions on the impact going forward with Hard Numbers.
UVA is also dollar for dollar and they take off from loans before workstudy then UVA Scholarship money. That’s our current situation there. They don’t flex. Boston College does meet 100% need based aid to ones EFC and like zero merit. They flex allowing one to decide where the scholarship money is applied allowing first loans or work study before grant monies are impinged.
So again I would specifically call UofM and ask how things apply to your scenario as things are even more complicated to every scenario and are individual specific.
For instance scholarships at times legally guide where the money is applied to and overrides the schools policies at times. So this is important to consider as well.
Not looking to be right or wrong just offering individual experience and perspective and as always don’t listen to any one opinion but use them all to guide your investigation as it applies to you individually.
To add some perspective. Only if you are comfortable sharing the information only because there are gaps in understanding your specific experience here to actually compare notes.
In State or OOS? < = or > $90,000
The Michigan Aid Grant… does it meet full need based aid… is there other aid as part of the total aid package which does? Does the Aid Package meet ones Full Need Based Aid up to ones EFC?
IMO there are far too many variables to apply any one experience to assume and have great expectations but it does help to know the outline from which one describes their individual experience.
That’s because you did not get any aid from the University of Michigan. You are welcome not to take the loans and use your outside scholarship in lieu of the loans. The school does not have to give you permission to do that because you are not getting any money from the school.
For OOS families, Michigan meets FULL DEMONSTRATED NEED for families with income less than about $90k and assets less than $50k. That doesn’t mean these families get a full ride. It means they get enough FA to meet the need demonstrated according to the university’s formula. The FA package may consist of any or all of these 4 components:
Stafford loan ($5,500 freshman year, $6,600 sophomore year, $7,500 each of jr and sr years), University of Michigan grant, Provost Award, and federal work-study.
From the U-M website:
Now, this is not to say that OOS families with income and assets more than this will get NO aid. It just means that they will not be given aid that meets full demonstrated need.
I’m sorry I was asking you for your specific experience with respect to the Grant reduction… of course only if you are comfortable in talking about personal specifics. If not I fully understand. Just don’t have a sense of why they cut your Grant with the Scholarship unless given a perspective on your scenario relative to Need Based Aid and EFC. Impossible to draw any conclusion without that info.
Are you…
In State or OOS? < = or > $90,000
The Aid Reduction of $10,000
You mentioned the one Scholarship supplanted the other Grant by $10,000
In your situation…
The Michigan Aid Grant… does it meet your full need based aid… according to UofM, is there other Aid { work study and federal and institutional loans } as part of the total aid package which does? Does your UofM Aid Package meet your Full Need Based Aid up to ones EFC?
The general information is a known…
Trying to better understand your specific story as it helps define the UofM Policy in Action
My family’s details are irrelevant to the discussion. It’s not a unique situation. It’s an example of how it works for everybody. Michigan has a formula. Your numbers get plugged into that formula. If you feel you have special circumstances that the formula does not address, you should ask for a special circumstances appeal.
The reason you got better aid at other schools is because those other schools have different policies. Maybe they commit to meeting 100% of financial need. Michigan makes that commitment ONLY for in-state students and for OOS students who meet the criteria mentioned above. It’s very clear on the website.
“Example: My child had a Michigan Grant from FA office. Sophomore year she was awarded a $10k departmental scholarship from her academic department. The Michigan Grant was cut by $10k. So it was a wash”
That said I was just trying to better understand if/how/why they shaved $10,000 off your package and if the Grant and total Aid Package was already meeting 100% of your demonstrated need. I do respect your sense of Privacy here so no need to discuss further.
That would make sense and would be consistent with what I have been saying all along. If they took off a package that was well under meeting 100% of your need that would be a much different scenario that would also add invaluable insight to the process of reducing any aid by “outside” scholarships.
This would surprise me and no not all colleges do this.
Since you cannot confirm or deny I would suggest there is no right or wrong way to interpret what you say and anyone looking for a true read on this would be much better off as always in calling the school and asking specifically how any outside scholarship impacts any UofM aid and relates to their exact circumstances.
Again no need to further discuss as there are gaps in understanding your scenario and I fully respect your decision not to go there.
Exploring repayment options for fed subsidized loans: have not accepted loans yet so do not know who server will be, just asking this general question here for some insight.
(If possible) Is there an option to repay all loans before graduation/repayment starts? Since the gov pays for the interest during full enrollment, the only money needed to be paid back will then be principle amount and loan fee, right? Do any loan servers support this?
If your asking if you can pay back your loans early without penalty. Then yes. Call financial aid office and disccus to make sure your questions are answered correctly.