<p>Financial Need (Cost Minus Family Contribution): $52,938</p>
<p>Financial Aid Award (Full Year):
College Scholarship: $ 51,238
Student Employment: $1,700</p>
<p>Total: $52,938</p>
<p>I'm completely grateful of how generous they were with my aid, but even with the large scholarship I have to come up with $3500 for my student contribution and employment. I planned on taking a part time job at Bates, but I'm worried that I may not have time due to having to take on a Varsity Sport (I was recruited) and a Pre-Med Course Track (Bio/Neuro Major, right now I'm undecided though). Summer jobs for teens are very sparse where I live but I'm still looking. My parents are very ecstatic about the need-based aid I was awarded but still together they have to raise $4,962 (but that probably won't be too taxing for them). What I'm most worried about is finding the money for my books, supplies, and travel expenses. I'd look for outside scholarships but they would only deduct from the grant I was given. Would asking for more grant money seem like too much given my already generous scholarship? I would like to stay away from taking out loans. What should I do?</p>
<p>You can write them a letter thanking them for the package and asking Financial Aid to please keep an eye out for any other scholarships for which you may be eligible. Include your plans at Bates and let them know that though you will be working, that you are also want to be an athlete there. When you get there, make it a point to personally visit and thank the counsellors and again, remind them to let you know of any opportunites that may arise for which you may be eligible. Keep in close touch with the financial aid folks.</p>
<p>You have a great package, and any emergency that arises has the extra leeway of loans. Still it is wise to always stay in touch with the aid office.</p>
<p>I agree with others – take out a small loan to cover your incidentals.
Also think outside the box for summer employment-- can you tutor? Can you offer training in your sport? etc…</p>
<p>All students would prefer to avoid loans, but sadly, many have to bite the bullet and take at least federal subsidized loans. You were given a very generous package. Taking minimal loans won’t hurt you, and you can pay them back quickly if you end up working more than you expect to right now. Just because you don’t really want to work or take loans doesn’t mean others should just give you more free money than you already got. YOU have to have some skin in the game, or go to a school you can more easily afford…</p>
<p>Even for an athlete, I don’t think that $3,500 is an unreasonable amount. Half of that will be workstudy, which is on campus and not usually too demanding. At minimum wage you’d need to work about 6 hours a week during the school year, or if work is really impossible during your sport’s season, 12 hours for the remainder. That’s totally doable.</p>
<p>The rest is for the summer, you’ll need to earn about $180 a week. Again, at minimum wage that’s way less than full time. If you can’t find anything in your hometown it may be worth looking for paid work elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you qualify to file the FAFSA, you can take out a Federal/Stafford loan if $5,500 for your freshman year. This would cover most of the family contribution.</p>
<p>If you find absolutely no work this summer, don’t be afraid to borrow that money. Provided you do not borrow more than the total permitted for the federal loans, you should be OK.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly, you have a great package and if you have to take loans it will not be overly burdensome. Can you ask for more? Sure, you can always ask for more and the worse thing they can say is NO. </p>
<p>Is it something you should ask, given the circumstances and that fact you could graduate with very little loans with the present package? If I were in your situation, I would not. Remember, a dollar more given to you means one dollar less for someone who really needs it. Again, there was no obligation for the school to give you such a generous package and there are many other students who are equally deserving but do not get this level support. </p>
<p>Yes, they could have given you a 100% free ride with no obligations of any sort, but they did not. They instead gave you something that is almost a free ride. I would, in your position, thank them for generosity and go from there rather than ask for more. Sorry if I appear harsh, but you need to look at the bigger picture.</p>
<p>This student needs to be grateful for what he’s been given. On another thread he admits that his dad has some overseas business dealings that he doesn’t declare.</p>
<p>No kidding. OP good grief. Take the federal direct loan if you are short and get a job. I couldn’t believe it when I got home today and saw this thread.</p>
<p>I apologize if my concern for my financial standing came off as unwarranted and selfish towards the needs of other students seeking aid as well, but the choices I make concerning my education not only effect myself but my family as well. In less than two years my brothers will be applying to college and I already have step siblings already in college. My family doesn’t come across money so easily and the amount of money it takes to pay off the remaining tuition isn’t as easily accessible to my own family as may be for most others. If it’s such a crime to attempt to be proactive and cognizant about the the current situation I am in then I’m sorry, but I plan on taking every opportunity I have as an undergrad to remain debt-free. This economy has already plagued my family more than enough.</p>
<p>$5000 for an education at a private college is an unbelievable deal. Congratulations of course! My kids clear $2,000 - $3000 in the summer and it ain’t glamorous work and they need to work around their varsity sport camps etc. but somehow they do it. If you weren’t awarded a direct loan that is available to you. College is not free like public education K-12…but you’ve come about as close to free as you are going to get. Go ahead and ask, that is your prerogative.</p>
<p>I would gratefully accept the offer and get to work on getting a job. As momof3boys above stated, lots of college age kids are making 2-6K per summer. You can do this, and be ever thankful. You are getting a great education for a very small sum. Many would say it’s better than winning the lottery.</p>
<p>Oh, thanks, momofthreeboys and mommamocha. I just got an interview for a local coffee shop so I hope that works well and I can pay off some of the tuition costs this summer. I’m voting against asking for more money for know. Hopefully I can work my way through the travel, books, and supplies expenses if I get the job. thanks again.</p>
<p>I agree . . . but I don’t think the OP is to blame here. He accepted the financial statements provided by his father . . . and I honestly don’t believe he had a clue that his father’s failure to declare his overseas business earnings was a problem. Really - do you think most 17 or 18 year olds are familiar with U.S. tax laws? As I understand it, the OP believed his father declared everything he was required to. So, blame the parents, not the OP.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the OP asking for more aid, as long as he doesn’t do it in a way that annoys the FA people at his school. Whether he gets it or not is a different story but he should definitely ask for it if he feels he needs it. After all, he has a EFC of zero and seven people in his family to cover but will still have to come up with about $8,500 per year between him and his parents (WS and loans aren’t real FA). Also, since he is premed is it very important that he have no loans from undergrad since he will likely have a TON from med school ($150k to $300k usually), not to mention that physician salaries are predicted to continue to decline relative to inflation. And since schools will usually allocate a bigger FA budget the the total amount of aid they give out it is not a zero-sum game where every additional dollar of aid he gets means a dollar less for someone else. His family has already taken a large financial hit from the recession so it would be stupid of the OP to take a even bigger one out of concern for someone else.</p>
<p>As for the overseas earnings if even the US government doesn’t tax or care about them, should he even bother going through the hassle of declaring them to his university just to reduce his FA? And besides a lot of people these days with international connections will take things one step further and often even have overseas accounts to lower their assets, so not declaring a bit of overseas earnings which apparently aren’t even enough to even put the OP’s family out of a bad financial situation shouldn’t be constituted as a “crime.”</p>