When do we hear about financial aid?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>Hi all! I've been lurking these threads for a while, but no one seems to have tackled this specific subject...</p>

<p>I was accepted EA to the honors program with a 27K merit scholarship, and I submitted my CSS and FAFSA on January 15. When I tried clicking on the links under "Student Financial Aid" I get this message: "This page is not enabled for current user role(s)." Have they received the forms? Have they even begun to review financial aid applications? Will Tulane give me a need-based grant (in addition to my merit scholarship) to help cover my EFC, or will they only cover the difference after scholarship, EFC, and the Stafford loan (according to FAFSA)?</p>

<p>I really love Tulane and I just want to enroll now!!! It'll <em>probably</em> turn out to be our least expensive option, but my mom would like to wait until we see the final cost of attendance before putting down my enrollment deposit. I understand her position completely, but I just really want to know my financial aid package already!</p>

<p>Also, how do we apply for their No-Loan Assistance program? Based on my family's income alone, I don't qualify, but it said on their admitted students page that all students are encouraged to apply anyway. Is there anything that I need to do besides sending in my CSS and FAFSA?</p>

<p>Sorry for asking so many questions!!! My parents know nothing about the whole financial aid application process, and while they've kindly filled out all the forms I've asked them to fill out, they haven't done any research at all with how financial aid works! I get a little lost with all the money/tax/etc mumbo-jumbo, so if someone can kindly explain these things to me in the simplest of terms I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks so much!!!</p>

2

<p>Financial aid packages don’t usually come out until the last week of March. If I remember correctly, the FAFSA and CSS are not actually due until mid February, hence the time frame.</p>

<p>To answer your other questions, Tulane (and all schools pretty much) consider your merit scholarship an asset, so it gets added to whatever EFC you had before based on income, rather than erasing that. Put another way, if your family’s EFC was $10,000 before, it is still $10,000. It is just that your Cost of Attendance (COS) has dropped from about $54,000 to $27,000 because of your scholarship. Therefore there is now (using the hypothetical $10,000 example) “only” $17,000 to come up with rather than $44,000. The merit scholarship is not real $$ in the bank, they are Tulane $$ that represent a discount on tuition, if you will.</p>

<p>Tulane may indeed end up providing you with a FA package that makes up the $17,000 in grants, work-study, loans or most likely some combination of the three. It all depends on your individual situation. As far as applying for the No-Loan program, I get the impression from the web site ([Tulane</a> University - Tulane NOLA (No Loan Award)](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/nola.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/nola.cfm)) that no additional application is required beyond the information you have provided already. However, it never hurts to either call or write to the Financial Aid office and ask, just to be sure.</p>