<p>I've received two "awards" already and both consist of loans- ONLY. :( No grants or anything. I thought it was pretty weird because my EFC is less than 10,000.... Anyways, I was really hoping for a work study position. How does one become eligible for this? Special circumstances?</p>
<p>If you are applying at a college where the incomes of families is way above yours then you would be more eligible to get a work study because the other students wouldn't need it. For example, the school my son will be attending is $40,000 and the average income is $100,000. He qualifies for a $2,500 work study because our income is less than the average. Now if he went to a state school at the cost of $16,000 per year he would never qualify. It is possible that other students need the work study or they wouldn't be able to attend the college. Remember these students probably have the same amount or more in loans than you do too. I don't think it would hurt to call the fin aid office and inquire if you could be considered for one though. Good luck & let us know if you do call & what they tell you.</p>
<p>What are a realistic # of hours
a student @ a high academic
profile school can expect to
work per month?</p>
<p>proud2bherdad - I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. A school determines how much the student is eligible for. In our case, my son was offered a $2500 work study. The least you can make is $8.35/hr (I think it's about that) so if you figure it out I guess he will be able to work about 8-9 hours per week. I don't think that is too bad. I know that I really don't want him working more than that as a freshman anyway.</p>
<p>mominsearch,
Good explanation for why a student might receive work study at one school but not another. I hadn't considered this. I thought it was a federal pgm and if you qualified, you got it (once again I made assumptions). We haven't received the fin aid package from JMU yet but now realize she may not get work study from them (was told no grants to out of state kids). Funny that RIT (and maybe Syracuse) will wind up costing us less than the state schools.</p>
<p>mominsearch- Thanks for your response.
My D received a fin. package where
the work study was $2K and the loans
$4K. and I was wondering how she
might be able to reduce her loans via
work study.</p>
<p>Yet in a second fin. package from a
different school she received $2600
in loans and $900 in work study.</p>
<p>Mominsearch- Thanks for your response.</p>
<p>My D received a fin. package where
the work study was $2K and the loans
$4K. and I was wondering how she
might be able to reduce her loans via
work study.</p>
<p>Yet in a second fin. package from a
different school she received $2600
in loans and $900 in work study.</p>
<p>BTW, both schools are in
the $41K/yr range.</p>
<p>proud2bherdad - All the fin aid packages my son received where slightly different. It could be again the average income level of the parents that would determine each package. As to the loans from what I understand a freshman is eligible for a subsidized Stafford loan up to a max of $2,625 (if the loan is subsidized then that means the government pays the interest while you are in school and unsubsidized Stafford loan means that the student (or parent) pays the interest each and every month). As a sophmore the subsidized loan increases to a max of $3,500 (according to our fin officer that it will probably go up to $4,500 next year). Their junior & senior year it goes up to $5,500 per year (although I imagine it will be increased if it will be for their sophmore year - I forgot to ask by how much).</p>
<p>Something to think about: We really didn't want to take the $2,625 subsidized Stafford loan this year or the $3,500 next year. We figured that when my second son starts college (when my other one is a junior) that we would start accepting the loans if we needed them then. He said that we should definately take the loans because they are subsidized and he has seen so many families who didn't want loans need them when their son/daughter got to their junior/senior year (i.e. cost of college increasing significantly or another child is starting college also). You can't get these loans back (in fact if you turn them down and decide that you need them during his freshman year you can't get them) & he told me to put them in a savings account in case we would need them later. If we don't use the money we can then pay the loan off after he leaves college. It does make sense because the interest rate is capped & is pretty low. However, you do have to remember to put them into an account in the parents name because any assets in your childs name for FAFSA purposes is assessed @ 35% meaning if your child has $10,000 the school expects that child to pay his share as $3,500. In a parents name it is something like 6/7%. The loan is in the student's name (I asked).</p>
<p>I think that at many schools you can get jobs on campus so even w/o the work study it can be possible to raise funds. They may not pay as much but the convenience of not worrying about transportation and such is good.</p>
<p>A WORD OF WARNING: I have heard that just because your student receives a work study program it does not gaurantee that they will get a job. In fact, one school said not to include the work study in what we would need to pay. In other words, we still pay what he/she could receive in the work study. I guess that meant that my son would have to sign his checks over to us for reimbursement. On the other hand we were also told that students could deposit their checks (after filling out forms) directly into the school or just cash as you would a normal check. So I guess it depends upon the school. That is one thing I forgot to check into with my son's fin aid counselor. I guess we just came to the conclusion that it would be better for him to work in the summer to pay off the work study portion and any money he makes off the work study program he could use as spending money.</p>