Ya Ya

iheart94

Why don't you tell us
1. what exactly is included in your financial aid?
2. what universities you have been accepted to?
3. what is your class rank?

here is the link to different kinds of financial aid available in Texas
College For All Texans: Types of Financial Aid


Have you found summer job already? You will need those movie tickets, right?

Ya Ya

And here is net price calculator for different Texas colleges. You can compare finaid estimates of 3 colleges, if you need more than 3 run calculator again. Merit aid is not included.
AID for COLLEGE in TEXAS

UNT is not the best college financially, but as I already said in Texas it is just impossible not to get an affordable option, for a student with EFC 0 not to cover COA.

Erin's Dad

OP, UNT requires all freshmen either live on campus OR commute from home. UNT :: Housing It IS an option.

Ya Ya

And there are always apartments around colleges that are 1/2 price of dorms, sometimes 1/3 price. They don't look like hotel, of course. And nobody cleans your bathroom.

I sent OP pm with a link to "extra money" sources.

polarscribe

The gasoline cost of driving two hours a day is much, much less than the cost of a dorm and meal plan.

iheart94

My financial aid package includes the pell grant, the supplemental grant, a unt tuition grant and Texas Ed grant. I have been accepted to Unt, Stephen f Austin, Sam Houston and the university of Texas at Arlington. My rank is 114/473 so I'm in the top 25%. My act was 21

Ya Ya

iheart94

Texas Grant or Texas Public Educational Grant? They are different.

Is Stephen f Austin, Sam Houston and the university of Texas at Arlington finaid better?

The Emerald Eagle Scholar program looks like a dream option but even without it you still did not exceed all the possible aid.

Did you apply for work study? (you have to check something in FAFSA)

There are no loans in your packet. There are different types of loans: Stafford, Perkins (available at some universities, not everywhere) and B-On-Time (the best one, will be forgiven/turned into grant if you graduate on time)

You don't qualify for Top 10% scholarship (it is 2,000 a year with a pretty high GPA requirement, so many students cannot keep it all 4 years)

Plus there is always an easy way to reduce actual COA from the estimated one by buying used books on amazon and finding cheaper housing not on campus, by $2,000-3,000 easily, more than $3,000, well, depends... I have never been in Denton to say anything for sure.

Plus there is always way to make money over summer. If you are already 18 try to find a work as a waiter, the more upscale restaurant the better. If you work really hard you can earn enough money to cover the difference (depends how upscale the restaurant is).
If you are still a minor, restaurants will have issues with alcohol serving and will not hire you. Other jobs... well even with minimum wage 3,000-4,000

I really don't see any problem with this situation at all.
Start with summer job. Whatever you make will be your own money, and you need your own money.

Debbie7452

Not to get off topic but thank you YaYa...My D got the Top 10% scholarship for next Fall and I mistakenly thought it was a one time award! I had no idea it was renewable. Her other scholarships require a 3.5 so she is already required to keep up her grades. So, good news for me.

Since you sound like an expert on Texas financial aid, here's another question for you. I have an older D who also graduated Top 10% but did not get the award because our EFC was greater than COA (not a problem any more with 2 going to be in college). Can first D get the Top 10% award for 2012? Current GPA is over 3.25. Financial aid doesn't come out for continuing students until the end of May.

Ya Ya

Debbie7452

I am "expert" because I was working with low performing inner-city schools some time ago and saw a lot of kids with EFC 0.

I believe you have to have some need at least $1 to get top 10% scholarship (it is both merit and need), and all $2,000 is awarded first semester only, 2nd semester colleges give students some other aid to cover the gap, tuition grant or something like this.

All these grants and scholarships are subject of availability, of course.
Last year the state budget was not approved til July, I believe, and most of kids did not receive their final financial awards til August. It was a lot of tension and fear among the parents in our school, nobody knew what to expect. A&M even sent official letters telling accepted students that they could not award any state money because they didn't know how much money they had. Other colleges just kept silence.

This year I read a lot of complaints of Texas residents on this forum about absence of merit scholarships in engineering etc. I was awarded only this and that and I was working that hard... blah,blah,blah... Well, many merit scholarships were funded by federals and the state, they were all "discontinued" last year.

So no grants are for sure, and no state scholarships are for sure. Right now we are still lucky to have what we have. What will happen when Texas has to approve its next budget I don't know.

We have some kind of law that prevents Texas to have budget deficit which means that the state will cut a lot of programs but will not be indebted (this is how I understand the law, but I am not a lawyer), and it helps to keep budget healthy.

When are we going to have a new budget? In 2013? We'll see what will still be available.

Debbie7452

Thank you, I won't count on the money, but it would be nice.

Sent from my Eris using CC

iheart94

Well good news I won a $1,000 scholarship, I graduated being 100/473, I had a job but unfortunately the place ended up closing down, and I have found a way to cut costs while still living on campus. With my financial aid I will only have to pay for half of the dorm and personal expenses. I did not get the emerald eagle scholar thing but I am waiting to hear back on a grant that claimed I would be notified my amount by the end of this month.

Ya Ya

Congrats!
PM me later when you have all the information if you still need extra money next year and I'll send you links to other scholarships you can apply, with earlier deadlines.

iheart94

Yeah I still need a bit of help. Ill need about 16,700 and I only got 12,050 covered. The grant I wont know about til next month and it ranges from 1,000-4,000