What's the best package?

Paying for College
1

<p>Ok, finally got some finaid pkgs...and I am wondering how to compare them.</p>

<p>College A - COA (Tuition, Room/Board, Student fee, orientation fee) = $35,760</p>

<p>Scholarship & grant from school = $12,300
Fed & State Need-based aid/grants = $5,800
Subsidized Stafford = $2,625
Fed Work/Study = $1,400 (although they implied that this is really his spending $)</p>

<p>Unmet Need = $13,235 (+ books)</p>

<p>Any outside scholarship $ can be applied to unmet need.</p>

<p>College B - COA = $37,775 (TUITION GUARANTEED FOR 4 YEARS)</p>

<p>Scholarship & Grant from school = $14,500
Fed & State Need-based aid/grants = $5,800
Subsidized Stafford = $26,25
State No Interest Loan = $2,000</p>

<p>Unmet Need = $12,850 (+ books)</p>

<p>workstudy available, but cannot be applied to tuition, </p>

<p>Any outside scholarship under $5,000 can be applied to unmet need, over $5,000 reduces school grant</p>

<p>College C - COA = $14,964 (State school)</p>

<p>Fed & State Need-based aid/grants = $9,800
Subsidized Stafford = $2,625
Campus Work Program = $4,100</p>

<p>Unmet Need = ($1,561.00) obviously S would either not take as much Loan or keep the work/study $ for himself.</p>

<p>While this may look like a no-brainer, I'm concerned because College C is ALL need-based aid. I expect our income will go up some over the next few years, but I have no idea by how much. </p>

<p>There are, however, scholarships available for future years once my S decides on a major, as well as based on gpa. But, they may also be based on financial need.</p>

<p>School A says that tuition will increase, but of course they have no idea by how much.</p>

<p>School B has the 4-yr tuition guarantee, but limits how much scholarship $ can be used towards unmet need, therefore forcing more loans.</p>

<p>There is still possibility of athletic $ at all schools, but I don't think it will be that much (maybe a couple thousand at most).</p>

<p>By the way, our efc was only $210!</p>

<p>Can anyone offer any suggestions? I'm sorry this is so long, but wanted to give as much info as possible.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Hi
What I've been doing (to compare packages) is to subtract the grants/scholarships from the COA to give me an "out of pocket amount." This method does not take into account loans and work study.</p>

<p>So for your three packages, your out of pocket expenses would be:
College A $17,660, College B $17,475 and College C $5,164</p>

<p>If you use the collegeboard.com EFC estimator, you can somewhat predict how an income increase may affect your EFC. With a very low EFC like yours, it might take a big jump in income to substantially raise your EFC.</p>

<p>Unless you have substantial savings, College A and B will saddle you and your son with a lot of loans. I, personally, would go with College C if my EFC was $210.</p>

<p>Anyway, hope others will give you better insight/advice.</p>

<p>Good luck in your decision!</p>

3

<p>A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Go with the state-school. It truly is a no-brainer.</p>

4

<p>hi Doc,</p>

<p>For the amount of money 2 schools where they have gapped you, $13,235 and $12,85 respectively can almost cover the full freight cost of the state school where your son has been accepted. </p>

<p>Remember that gap is out of pocket money that you will still have to come up with (it you don't have it, you will most likely have to borrow it). at this rate at the end of 4 years you will have $52,940 in loan payments from one school and $51,400 in loan payments from the other (not counting the student loans that your son will have).</p>

<p>Over the next 4 years, your son will have stafford student loan debt of ;
2625 first year
4,500 their sophomore year (up from $3,500)
and $5,500 for each remaining year </p>

<p>Taking the minimum stafford loan is going to place him $18,125 in debt at the end of 4 years or ($23,625 if he needs an extra year). This compounded with the loans you are going to have to take to fill the unmet need is IMHO just way too much debt.</p>

<p>I would definitely eliminate school B because your son is starting off with 4625 in debt which is only going to increase over time. Tack on $8000 if the state loan stays the same to the stafford and we are talking $26,125 of debt at the end of 4 years not counting the un met need. He would still need work study for his day to day expenses at school.</p>

<p>Also ask your self what are the terms of the scholarships .</p>

<p>are the scholarships at both schools automatically renewable or must he reapply each year?</p>

<p>Are they based on maintaining a certain gpa?</p>

<p>Does the gpa, start out a little lower and then eventually increase or can the gpa be considered heavy ex: must have a 3.8 gpa by the end of the first year ?</p>

<p>what happens if son has a problem and does not maintain the gpa, does he lose the scholarship immediately or is there a grace period/ if something should happen and he loses the scholarship can he get it back?</p>

<p>Your best bet would be to take the state U offer. The great thing about need based aid is as long as you have a NEED, you will get the $ (you will not have to worry about grades unless he really messes up).</p>

<p>He can work over the summer (or start working now if he already does not have a job) and knock out the $1551 gap. In addition, if he earns more money, you are right he will have to take on less work study at the school.</p>

<p>Even if your income goes up to the point where you have a $15,000 efc, the worse case scenario is that you would pay full freight at State U, which is still going to be a few $$ more /comprable in price than the other 2 schools. </p>

<p>Remember that your aid package will change there also when your income goes up.</p>

5

<p>Thanks everyone. This is what I figured. I was just concerned about the State U being ALL need based aid. I do expect our EFC to increase by the time he's a jr as our income should go up by $10,000+ by then. But, you're right, it's so low now, that we can probably handle a higher EFC by then. And by the time he's a senior, my daughter will be starting college. By the way, the scholarships at A & B were based on 2.7 and 2.8 gpa, so no problem there. But the debt really is out of sight. </p>

<p>Of course I have to keep telling myself it will be all right. The State U is about 4x the enrollment of the other two schools (10,000+/-), and I didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling talking to the finaid department, but S seems happy to go wherever it will cost (him) the least, so I guess we're lucky.</p>

<p>He's really all about the track program anyway and the State U has a good one.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

6

<p>Yes, they gapped you too much to be considered a viable options. You are lucky to have son who is not stuck on one particular school no matter what cost is.
I would recommend to keep all work study hours given to your son since those earnings won't be added to next year income for EFC calcuations. All summer earnings will be added so earning more that appr. $2,600 is not healthy for your EFC.</p>

7

<p>When I spoke with finaid at state U, I believe she said the work study $ is applied to tuition bill.</p>

<p>What about $ earned during this school year (Jan-June) as well as summer earnings...are you saying $2,600 for that total period? or just the summer?</p>

8

<p>what linda means if your son makes over $2600, it will affect his EFC during the next school year.</p>

<p>Does your son have a student contribution that he is expected to pay to the school?</p>

<p>If yes, then his summer earnings would be used toward him fulfilling his student contribution requirement.</p>

<p>Even if he does make $2600 between now and the time he goes to school:</p>

<p>Since there is a 1500 gap at state U, I think your son should work over the summer, to pay it (as I also think tht students need to be stakeholders and active participants in the financing of their education). </p>

<p>The balance he will need for start up costs when he gets to school, books, other miscellaneous items and just some pocket money especially since his work study money is being applied to his tuition.</p>

9

<p>He's already working now, and expects to continue over the summer. But...there isn't a $1500 gap...they're giving him $1500 more than what he needs. When I asked about that, finaid said then he can keep whatever is over the amt needed to go towards tuition for spending $. I'm just not sure when that $ is available. We're going to the Open House for accepted students on the 9th, so I'll get those ques answered then.</p>

<p>By the way, out of the three schools I called, the state U was the only one that didn't even ask who my S was so she could look up his specific info. Like I said...no warm, fuzzy feeling there.</p>

10

<p>You want your EFC stay about similar if your package is need dependant. Problem is your son's income and assets will be counted at much higher rate than yours so at some point it is almost counterproductive for your child to earn money- from each dollar earned he might loose up to 80 cents. That is where number $2,600 comes in. You might want to run EFC calculator with different figures and see how your possible increase in income and your child's earnings might affect your future EFC.
I know what you mean about those warm fuzzy feelings... it is soo much nicer when they there...</p>

11

<p>I think they raised the income allowance for working students to $3100.00 for 2006 - 2007 .</p>

12

<p>I'm sorry, I'm still confused. So if he earns $3,500+, and uses the extra $ over $3100 towards school expenses (lowering his loan amt, or campus work $), does it still affect his EFC? Is it just whatever is NOT used towards school that counts?</p>

13

<p>You can experiment by how much it would change his EFC by going to the EFC calculator on <a href="http://www.finaid.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.finaid.com&lt;/a> . Put in the amount you think he will earn in the student's wages.</p>