<p>While we'd always like better financial aid packages, the one my S received as an OOS student has left us with a few questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Part of his package was $4K in work study. Doing the math that would work out to roughly 20hrs per week. As part of the Rodman program, and he will be in marching band, I don't see how that's even a possible expectation for a first year engineering student. Is my math off (or is pay really good) or how many hours of work is realistic for someone in this scenario?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there no scholarship funds available for OOS students? We thought he may have been eligible for scholarship funds as a Rodman scholar, but the aid package is all grant and loans and work study. Is that typical?</p></li>
<li><p>How are external scholarships handled. He is still waiting to hear on a few external scholarships (not much money, but every bit helps) but we don t know what would happen if any of those came through. For example, if a $1000 scholarship came through, would his aid be reduced by that same amount? And if so, would it come out of the loan amount or the grant amount? If it comes out of the grant amount, I guess I'd be curious what the point of ever applying for an external scholarship would be. Any experiences?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>UVa does not provide direct merit aid to first year students. There are some independent merit scholarships, but their deadline has passed. There may be merit scholarships through particular academic programs in future years as a student progresses.</p>
<p>You do not have to accept an offer of work study, or you could do less than offered. Some students try to avoid work study for their first semester, while they are getting adjusted to college life.</p>
<p>You can find details on the financial aid website, but generally, outside scholarships reduce “self help” such as loans and work study first, so there is an incentive for students to chase after them. (Any funds you receive directly from your state government as annual aid does reduce UVa aid dollar for dollar.)</p>
<p>The Echols/Rodman Scholars programs are excellent opportunities but do not have any scholarship funds attached. UVa has put their push into AccessUVa and meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need. As you can see, that need is defined by the Profile, and can include grants, loans, and work study. It doesn’t always equate to what we realistically feel we can afford. </p>
<p>Here is a link to Scholarship, Fellowship, & Grant Opportunities. The vast majority of first year scholarship is need based grants that are awarded without any additional application via fin aid.
[Scholarships</a>, Fellowships, and Grant Opportunities for U.Va. Undergraduates | Office of Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.admission.virginia.edu/scholarships]Scholarships”>http://www.admission.virginia.edu/scholarships)</p>
<p>The amount is pretty standard for work-study and assumes your student will be working full time during the summer months as well. Honestly, working during the summer and over winter break at a pretty modest hourly wage your son could hit that $4k/year so depending on how your son wants to handle it he may not have to work during the school year at all. It’s completely optional to participate in ‘work study’.</p>
<p>I don’t have experience with grants, but I do know an external scholarship lowered a loan amount for our son. An absolute wash. In that case it was something we didn’t have to pay back so it was worthwhile.</p>
<p>I can tell you that after first year there are a number of various scholarships available to SEAS students that they apply to through Thornton Hall. They are sponsored through various groups and corporations, some being very specific to major, etc. As a Rodman your son should have a very good chance at some of these. The application is not difficult and usually one application and essay will serve for consideration of many. The staff at Thornton will walk your student through what they need to do.</p>
<p>My roommate did not do work study until 4th year, when she worked hours and hours since her loans were basically maxed out. She worked at the library and it was an easy job.</p>
<p>I also had fellow teaching assistants (under computer science) who were under work study. That was the best work study ever I think - office hours some nights were completely empty and they could get their homework done and such. (other nights were crazy - I always chose to do Sunday office hours and I did 5 hours my 5th year spring semester and was occupied all 5 hours every Sunday… depends on the night/time you choose basically).</p>
<p>@blue, Thanks. One thing about work-study though, the value they show you ($4k in this case) is the work study the expect you to do during the 2-semester school year, it does not include summer work. Our out of pocket EFC includes the expected income from summer work from him, so these are different things. Also, I know you can decline it, but when it’s consider part of your “aid” to meet financial need, that simply leaves you short then by that amount if you don’t do it.</p>
<p>As for SEAS scholarships, we were interested in those too, until the FA office told me yesterday that any scholarship coming directly from the University itself would simply reduce the AccessUVA grant aid by that same exact amount. So, what’s the point?</p>
<p>@grp2013 - Ahh, I see and totally appreciate what you are saying. As I said, we don’t have experience with the grant/scholarship paradox. That’s good to know, but how frustrating!! </p>
<p>These are all things we have to take into consideration as families on a personal level and they are often very difficult decisions. We had to take some OOS schools off the table for S2 due to finances. I just had to tell S3, a hs Jr who is looking at schools, that a program at a school we said was okay is not because of a $20k additional tuition premium/year. I was so sad but I know right now it’s not going to be doable. Sometimes, like you, you have to wait for the dust to settle on all of the offers in March/April to really suss out what is doable. Best of luck in making this decision. Your son sounds like an amazing young man who will be a great asset to the university he selects. I’m biased of course, so I hope UVa works out and he chooses to be a Wahoo! :)</p>
<p>Thanks, we like him And from everything we’ve seen, UVa is a great fit - but it will obviously come down to being his choice. He’s definitely leaning that way currently. He does still have 2 waitlists out there, but what’s not to like about UVa? We had to cut CMU loose, they wanted way too much $$. The “funny” one (not really) was, he’s been admitted to the honors programs at all his schools, including our local state University where all of his family went to school and his grandparents were professors, and their “aid” package was a $3K merit scholarship and $27K in unsubsidized “parent” loans… Funny that the local state safety school gets cut because of cost… didn’t see that one coming.</p>
<p>I understand some of those upper level engineering scholarships happen automatically - you will just see “DuPont Scholarship” or something like that on your bill instead of AccessUVa.</p>
<p>I know that $4000 is just the most he could earn, not necessarily that he WILL earn that much. He only gets paid as much as he works (obviously) so it may not even out to 20 hours per week.</p>
<p>I was also offered 4k in work study and I was told that you have to apply for the jobs and be hired to do them. Doing them isn’t an issue of course but what happens if you are unable to get hired? Like maybe thr jobs finish up or something. What do you do in that case? Does applying early give an advantage, if so, when should you?</p>
<p>The jobs don’t “finish up.” They last all semester/year. I’m sure there is an equal number of jobs compared to work study recipients. I’ve never heard of anyone not getting hired.</p>
<p>It sounds like UVa offers decent financial aid packages to OOS students. I know it depends on EFC but I think I’m hearing that UVA offers at least some grants and not all parent loans. Is that right? What is AccessUVa?</p>
<p>AccessUVa is the universities financial aid program. UVa offers very little in the way of merit aid, preferring to put it’s financial efforts into making it as affordable as possible for students who earn acceptance. </p>
<p>Everyone is different, but depending on the FAFSA and Profile the university meets 100% of demonstrated need through grants, loans, and work-study. Some will have a combination of these, others only one type of aid. Each university calculates need differently so you may get different offers even from schools that meet 100% need. </p>
<p>Another thing to note is UVa does cap need-based loans for students. In the link you’ll see this explained under ‘How AccessUVa Works’ #3. The amount is approx 25% of total COA for instate students over four years. This applies to OOS students as well. So a student who starts out receiving only loans and WS may hit the cap and transition over to grants depending on the amount of the loan per year.</p>
<p>I don’t think UVa expects people to use ParentPLUS loans. People may choose to use them (particularly if their housing costs or standard of living are unusually high compared to their income), but most families shouldn’t have to.</p>
<p>FWIW, I did work-study every semester of my four years at UVA. I generally worked 10-15 hours per week. It didn’t affect my studies or extra-curricular activities at all – it just meant I had a little less time for socializing. For three years I worked up at the JAG school on North Grounds, which was a nice job, but a PITA to get to. My last year I asked for a different placement and ended up at the Fine Arts Library. I worked the early shift on the weekends, which left lots of nice time for quiet study as I was usually alone except for a few other employees.</p>
<p>Perfect work study job is a circulation desk at a branch library that is not busy. That is much more study than work, and if it gets too noisy for you to study, you get to order them to be quiet.</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t know where to ask this but here it is- how contingent are ones final year grades on your admission? I know they say that it matters but how much does it? How often has it happened that they rescinded peoples admissions because they got less in 12th grade?</p>
<p>About me, I know I won’t get D’s or anything but what if I get a mixture of As and Bs?</p>
And from everything we’ve seen, UVa is a great fit - but it will obviously come down to being his choice. He’s definitely leaning that way currently. He does still have 2 waitlists out there, but what’s not to like about UVa? We had to cut CMU loose, they wanted way too much $$. The “funny” one (not really) was, he’s been admitted to the honors programs at all his schools, including our local state University where all of his family went to school and his grandparents were professors, and their “aid” package was a $3K merit scholarship and $27K in unsubsidized “parent” loans… Funny that the local state safety school gets cut because of cost… didn’t see that one coming.</p>