<p>I just received my first financial aid statement from Penn State University. Here's what it says:</p>
<p>Aid Source:
Bunton Waller Scholarship: $3,000
Federal Work-Study: $2,600
Federal Pell Grant: $700
Federal Sub Stafford Loan: $2,625
Total Aid: $8,925</p>
<p>University Charges: $22,720 (estimated tuition and fees)
Other Expenses: $7,434 (anticipated living allowance) + $1,088 (anticipated book costs)
Estimated Costs (total): $31,242 per year</p>
<p>Now I don't know what to make of this. When I filled out my FAFSA I got an EFC of 3302. What does this all mean? A breakdown of this would help, especially as I get the other financial aid packages.</p>
<p>It looks like PSU did not meet your full need . I don't think it's a 100 percent need school so that looks like it for you --unless there are some Merits coming along .</p>
<p>Yep. Unless there is something I'm missing, I guess they decided or couldn't meet your need. Still surprised they didn't give something else as that's 28k difference from the EFC and Actual</p>
<p>FWIW, for my first statement from a very small, private college, it had (for example)</p>
<p>Scholarship A - 10k
School Grant - 13k
Federal Stafford - 2k
Work-Study - 2k</p>
<p>Actual Costs - 37k, Total Award - 27k.</p>
<p>Something like that. It seems like they just didn't even come close to the need.</p>
<pre><code>* Full-time freshman enrollment: 5,900
* Number who applied for need-based aid: 4,424
* Number who were judged to have need: 2,909
* Number who were offered aid: 2,808
* Number who had full need met: 304
Average percent of need met: 68%
Average financial aid package: $13,937
Average need-based loan: $2,756
Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $5,033
Average non-need based aid: $3,880
Average indebtedness at graduation: $22,400
</code></pre>
<p>Looks like they just don't offer as much aid as most schools.</p>
<p>Well I was thinking maybe something was wrong but I guess not then. It's definitely going to affect my decision now because it was one of the better schools on my list.</p>
<p>keep in mind that schools meet your demonstrated need.</p>
<p>this means Cost of attendance - EFC = demonstrated need.</p>
<p>not all schools meet 100% of demonstrated need.</p>
<p>based on the information you provided:</p>
<p>COA =37,000</p>
<p>Need met 27K</p>
<p>If your EFC was $10,000 , then the school met 100% of your demonstrated need.</p>
<p>If your EFC was less than $10,000 then there was a gap (unmet need). If it was the school that you listed in your past posting as your first choice, the school meets 82% of your demonstrated need.
Working the numbers backwards, it looks as they left you with about a $6000 gap (give or take). It looks as if the school only gives a small number of students (14.5%) full need based aid.</p>
<p>However, it does look like you were on the high end regarding the merit money that the school gives, congrats on achieving that. It also looks like your aid package is considerably higher than the average package given at the school. You have definitely gotten an above average need based grant/scholarship and right now your loans are not pretty onerous. So over all, look at the glass as half full because when you look at what your school gives on average (do a search for it on the college board website) you really got a pretty decent package.</p>
<p>Working over the summer (actually now, if you don't have a job) reducing expenses, saving any gift money that comes your way and applying for a few outside scholarships, should help you in filling the gap.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if UPitts does better on Merit than PSU , in general ??? Esp. if the student has an IB diploma , a lot of APs and 4.0 average ( don't know the SATs yet ) ?</p>