Will there be any aid left for me?

Paying for College
1

<p>So I just recently acquired my residency, but will be receiving my SS# sometime around mid May, which is when I'll finally be able to fill out a FAFSA.
My EFC is surely $0 since only my dad is employed and he makes $13,000 a year, with no additional assets.
I plan on attending the University of Miami and have received the University Scholarship(24,000) from them, the thing is, will they have enough funds left so that I won't have to take out thousands in student loans or even worse, have to pay for it myself?</p>

<p>I live in Florida if that's of any relevance too.</p>

2

<p>You’ll need to contact the school and ask.</p>

3

<p>I did, they don’t want to give me any clear answers until I submit the FAFSA, althoguh they did mention that its on a first come,first serve basis, which I already knew.</p>

4

<p>Certain things are allocated to earlier filers, but the Pell Grant, for example, will be available to you regardless of when you get your FAFSA filed. The unsubsidized Stafford loan (on which interest accumulates while you’re in school) will also be available. The subsidized Stafford and Perkins loans (where interest does not accumulate until you leave school) may well be gone by the time you file, as well as work-study.</p>

5

<p>In the end though, will my family have to directly pay most if any of the cost or will this all be appropriated to loans?
I’m not saying I don’t care about getting loans, but if a heavy amount is directly put on my family then I definitely will not be able to attend.</p>

6

<p>If the college gave you a scholarship of $24000, and you can get the maximum Pell grant (once the federal budget is finalized this could be somewhere around $5500-5700 for the lowest income students) then you have close to $30,000 available in grant aid and scholarship.</p>

<p>Univ. of Miami’s website says its basic cost of attendance for a student living in college housing is $52,222 per year. (This is just tuition, fees, housing, books - but not any personal expenses or travel or the cost of a computer). </p>

<p>For students who can live at home with their parents the basic cost is $46844 (there is $6150 included in that listed as “housing and meals” but if a student could live with parents or relatives, you may want to think of subtracting that for a better sense of what you’d really need to pay – so minus that it would come to $40694.)</p>

<p>You don’t say if living at home is an option for you.</p>

<p>In any case, you’re looking at something in the range of $52,222 - $40,694 in basic costs.</p>

<p>You can subtract the amount you’ll get in scholarships and grants (assuming you get the maximum Pell grant) and you end up still needing somewhere between $22,000 and $10,694 each year, depending on your living options.</p>

<p>That’s a chunk to come up with. You can borrow about $5000 in a Stafford loan, but that still leaves a gap. At your parents’ income level it’s doubtful they could borrow much… and they certainly shouldn’t take on any debt at that income level.</p>

<p>Whether Univ. of Miami would be willing to give you more grant aid once they see your FAFSA, of course I can’t say, but even if they do sometimes do that, the fact that you’re filing late may make it even less likely.</p>

<p>Do you have any less expensive options? Florida has some good state universities. You may be better off at one of them, especially if there is one you can commute to from home. You’d need to run the numbers on that and see if it would be a better option.</p>

7

<p>What about all the Florida Grant programs and Bright Future’s, can’t I compute that into reducing the cost?
Also, I live in Broward County, and checking the website it says the requirement to live on campus for the first year does not apply to students living with their parents at Miami-Dade/Broward counties. So that seems like an option, but I don’t know if that means that being a local, I could rent an apartment even closer.
[Freshmen</a> Requirements | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,42701-1;42712-3;43009-3;44686-3,00.html]Freshmen”>http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,42701-1;42712-3;43009-3;44686-3,00.html)</p>

<p>Also, all these extra costs would only really apply for the first year, since because of my circumstances, my aid package was substantially less, so wouldn’t I get a much more generous aid package for the rest of the 3 years?</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t believe this is true. The Perkins loan money might be all allocated. HOWEVER the Stafford loan would still be available regardless of when the student files the FAFSA. Whether it is subsidized…or not depends on NEED, not the date of filing.</p>

<p>It’s MAY !..don’t you need to make a matriculation decision TODAY?</p>

9

<p>You need to look into those state programs. You may be too late for those. I have no idea how BF works but for some programs all of the paperwork needed to be in a long time ago. What exceptions are there, you have to ask. You may have had to have been an eligible citizen or have the green card on the application deadlines, not afterwards. But again, you have to go directly to the source and work proacatively.</p>

<p>Thumper is right about PELL and Stafford monies. You’ll get them when your paperwork is complete.</p>

10

<p>Thanks, Thumper, that’s good to know about the sub Stafford. Still, it won’t raise the student’s total Stafford borrowing limit, right?</p>

11

<p>You need to apply for Bright Futures before your high school graduation. </p>

<p>As for the Florida Resident Access Grant, you will receive that as long as you are attending a private Florida university. The award for the 2010-11 school year was $2425. The award amount for the 2011-12 school year won’t be announced until June. It is expected to decrease for next year.</p>

12

<p>I think what you have received is only merit-based scholarships and UMiami still haven’t decided yet to give you their institutional grants (UMiami grants and Coral grants) Once they get your FAFSA they might be offering you Federal Grant AND Institutional Grant. UMiami is famous for generousity. I am not an expert but I was accepted to UMiami as well and my fin aid package had Federal Grant + Coral Grant + Scholarship. Since UMiami uses only FAFSA to compute EFC, they can’t offer you any need-based help till you submit that.</p>

<p>So, just to let you know, you are not only waiting for Federal Grant but also institutional grant. My institutional grant was $16,000. I hope you will get a good chunk of institutional grant from UMiami and make your education possible!</p>

13

<p>Here dude, check this link and you will see that you are not only waiting for Federal Pell Grant but also Univ of Miami Grant & Coral Grant which both require FAFSA.</p>

<p>[Grants</a> | Enrollment Management | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.miami.edu/index.php/office_of_financial_assistance/ug/ug_aid/ug_grants/]Grants”>http://www.miami.edu/index.php/office_of_financial_assistance/ug/ug_aid/ug_grants/)</p>

<p>My guess is that you will get another $16,000 of grants on top to make it $40,000 in grants & scholarships and that will give you a full-ride on tuition. Federal Pell Grant will come to serve your living expenses. You will financially be able to go to UMiami.</p>

14

<p>Folks…it’s MAY 1…doesn’t this applicant have to make a matriculation decision TODAY?</p>

<p>There are a number of students who are posting about their incomplete financial aid awards or incomplete financial aid applications. At this late date, it seems to me these students would have needed to request an extension for their matriculation decision until they got the financial aid straightened out. Surely they were aware that these were not settled before this weekend.</p>

<p>I would suggest they call the colleges FIRST THING Monday morning to clarify what to do.</p>

15

<p>txboy13, do you know where can check if such grants are still available given such late filing?</p>

16

<p>The only one who can give you this info is the financial aid director at UM. As Thumper says, you had better call Monday morning. In most schools, that money is long gone. The federal funds are a different story, and you can file for those later, but schools tend to be first come first served with their own money, and they tend to use every bit of it.</p>

<p>If you can’t work it out this year, take a gap year, and get your ducks in a row for next year.</p>

17

<p>The decision really comes down between UM and UF for me, and considering UF will cost me little to nothing(in-state ftw), I think I’m going to have to go with them since I’m so unsure as to whether I’ll be able to even afford to go to UM. I just don’t want to accept UM and then see they’re making me pay thousands in loans and that the grant money could be basically gone.
Although it greatly ****es me off I can’t make a neutral decision between them since idk If I can afford the first year at UM</p>