<p>Did you get anything not school related with your financial aid? Like a car, clothes, etc.... Is this normal?</p>
<p>You are joking, aren’t you? First, in our cases (for both kids) aid was dispersed to the bursurs office directly to pay the college bills. It was not given to the students. In addition, the aid did not exceed (and in fact was not allowed to exceed) the cost of attendance which included tuition, room, board, and personal expenses (at our kids’ schools that was about $1800 a year…not enough to buy a car…and barely enough to cover books, travel back and forth to home).</p>
<p>So…normal? I would say that folks using financial aid to fund things other than college costs is not the norm. I’m sure there are situations where this happens, but my guess (no research here) is that this is NOT the norm.</p>
<p>I did.
Cheap rent in some stranger’s basement to avoid traveling 90 minutes to school everyday.
Oh, wait, no, that was covered by the Stafford loans.</p>
<p>Seriously? Unless you’re at a top private with incredible endowment, good luck getting adequate financial aid to cover tuition, room AND board.
With rising tuitions and inadequate answers to need-based aid, students should start picking up applications at local restaurants when they visit colleges.</p>
<p>:::staring into the air and whistling:::: you mean it isn’t normal for college students to get excess funds in pocket for expenses other than school expenses?</p>
<p>Is there some way I can convince my students of this? Many are fortunate (or unfortunate) to receive a couple grand a year in excess funds…and I am quite sure they are paying down credit down bills, taking vacations, paying off home mortgages and cars…one even bought a brand new car with his excess funds. ::::scratching head::::</p>