<p>Work Study- I am looking at average loan and work study numbers of various colleges on another website. Some of the total amounts are a bit staggering. There are schools that require the combined sum between student loans and work study to be 7,000+/year. My question is were your children given a couple of thousand+ that they could earn as work study, but were unable to get a job on campus in order to actually earn that amount, or were they successful in earning the amount of work study awarded (if you can even call it an award)?</p>
<p>I think that I already know the answer, but I will ask anyway. Is there anyway to figure out how many freshmen are awarded merit aid, but do not make "the grade" to keep the money? I find this a very important question, bc if a school with a COA of 44k gaps as little as 10%, that is another 4,400 to come up with above efc, which is large some for most families, in the event that a student did not keep an award, and the parents allowed the student to stay at that campus. Even worse than that, some schools offer 12-15,000 in merit money, but only meet a fraction (perhaps 70%) of financial need.</p>
<p>D's loan and work-study was closer to $5100. D was slow to register for a campus job and is working only 3 1/2 hrs per week; at this rate she will not be able to earn the $1600 in w/s that the finaid award anticipated. I assume she will pick up a couple more hours next sem; that will put her w/i a few hundred $ of the budgeted w/s amount.</p>
<p>When I reviewed D's finaid award letter, it looked like the w/s study was factored into the COA as an offset for personal expensed - - it was not applied to tuition/room/board.</p>
<p>nyc, 5100 looks like it is more the average range of w/s and loans from average schools that I checked out. Some only require 3,000 in loans and w/s, but others are at a staggering 7k+. I know 2 years ago my son was offered a package in stafford and perkins loans totaling 7k for a freshman. Needless to say, he did not choose that school. I hope your D can get the w/s $ that she is entitled to earn.
It seems like this is pretty typical from what I have read on cc.</p>
<p>Ds's workstudy was $1800, and loan was about $2750 - although he had outside scholarships which replaced the loan. He's working 8-10 hours a week, and should have no problem earning the full amount of his workstudy. His school meets 100% of financial need, and caps total undergraduate student loans at about $14,000, (DS will end up with less loans as he has an outside scholarship that will cover $1500 of the loans each year for the remaining three years - knock on wood and continued federal funding....)</p>
<p>Northeastmom: I actually tried really hard to figure out how many kids lost merit scholarships at the various schools son #2 applied to. Some claimed they didn't track the number, others gave me vague, unsubstantiated answers. Overall I did not find it east to get that information.</p>
<p>weenie, I tried this too with my older son. The answers that I got were also vague, and some schools told me that the vast majority keep their awards (majority, maybe not vast, could be 51%). I did not get a meaningful number by any school I posed this question to, and I think that it is a fair question to ask. It does not mean that my kid would get an award, or that he would keep it. It just gives the odds that might be gambling on (ie: 3% lose their award is a lot different than 40% lost it).
BTW, the 3 schools that were most generous with these merit awards in my son's case were schools that gap a lot, IMO, on the financial aid. Next time around, I am having my younger son apply to schools that have as little of a gap as possible. Even a school that meets 95% of financial need on average, might mean another 2k/year out of my pocket over the efc if the COA is 40k/year! I am also looking at loans and work study numbers. I don't want my kid taking on loans and w/s that are over 7k/year (yikes). Some schools award aid in that manner. Other schools expect students to take on half that amount.</p>
<p>In addition to knowing what percent of students keep the merit awards, make sure you know exactly what the requirements are. My nephew accepted an award last year that required a 3.8 gpa, according to one administrator, or 3.5 according to another. Then, it was unclear whether the minimum was calculated as the average over all semesters to date, or if the minimum had to be maintained every semester. Some majors are harder to maintain high gpa than others, and that can be a factor as well.</p>
<p>FWIW, my nephew found much to dislike at this school and decided to transfer out very shortly after arriving.</p>
<p>midmo, good point. Every school that gave merit aid to my older son disclosed the gpa to keep it. That ranged from a 2.7 to a 3.0. One school where we tried to negotiate (I know, bad word) financial aid, just changed merit aid to a higher amount (only 2500 more) and then changed gpa to keep it from 2.8 to a 3.0. Then they took away work-study, and changed the Stafford from subsidized to unsubsidized. So, in essence they gave with one hand, and took away with the other. No, my son does not go to that school. The fact that the gpa requirement changed, told me that they were banking on my son not keeping it. At least that is how I felt at that moment.</p>