elyandeadam

Hi

I have recently received my financial aid award from Penn State University-Beaver.
I will be eligible for 5,400 Pell Grant and 5,500 Stafford Loan. which means 10,900 $ will be deducted from the 35,000 $ full cost of attendance.
My family and I can pay 14,000 $ a year for (books, accommodation, etc.) but WILL NOT be able to make it to 24,000 $ to cover the full cost of attendance.

So, do you think it would be possible to negotiate with with the financial aid office at PSU to increase the award ? or, even to get a Federal Work Study programme ?

Also, is there any governmental agency or organization I may go to in order to get help paying the tuition fees ? in case that PSU didn't accept to increase my financial aid award.

I would extremely appreciate any advise from you guys, as it only depends on $$ now.

P.S : I can not get a student private loan because my parent is deceased (no co-signer), and the other isn't citizen.

Erin's Dad

You can ASK for some additional FA but I doubt you'll get any. From the costs you are quoting it looks like you must be out of state. What schools are close to you to which you can commute?

annikasorrensen

Usually when an award is appealed and is successful, the adjustment to financial awards is very small--maybe a thousand or two if you are lucky. By all means, give it a try, but the chance that PSU (or any college) would adjust the award by an extra 10K is almost unheard of.

Federal Work Study doesn't help that much--you can earn as much if not more by looking for work this summer and of course, during school. You don't need a FWS award to work during college, so start looking for a job now.

There are no governmental agencies set up to help students pay tuition. You've already received the help via the FAFSA loans and the Pell Grant. That's it.

It may be that PSU is out of your reach. Why not go to a community college for the first two years and live at home. Save that 14k parent contribution for the final years at PSU as a transfer student.

Kdog044

I am shocked that it appears they offered you NO aid. You must have close to a $0 EFC if you are getting almost full Pell amount. The loans are federally funded so I see no aid from the school at all.

swimcatsmom

I am not surprised as it is a State U and many State Us do not offer need based aid other than federal aid. This is the case with our 2 flagship Us - they offer merit based scholarships out of their own funds, but need based grants aid is only federal and state. Also I think the OP is an OOS student making it even harder to get need based aid (other than federal) from State U. Very few State Us will give need based grants from their own fund to OOS students.

No. You already have the maximum federal Pell grant. It does not look like this school is an affordable option for you. Did you apply anywhere more affordable for you?

mom2collegekids

PSU doesn't give its own money to OOS students. It hardly gives any of its money to the instate students.


Kdog....
Why would you be shocked that a STATE school wouldn't give its own money to cover high OOS costs? These schools charge high OOS costs for a reason. Why would they then cover them with aid? That doesn't make much sense.

Low income students would then just apply to OOS publics and get a ton of aid and drain the coffers......Imagine that....the poor kids in NY going to UCs or PSU and draining the financial resources....while the poor kids in Calif and Penn went to Florida publics and drained their resources...and so forth.... .hardly financially wise for schools to do when it can't even meet the need of instate students or have budget issues for their schools.

Imagine the outrage of instate familes with LOWER COAs who were getting gapped, while the school gave a bunch of need-based aid to OOS students with HUGE COAs!


This student was poorly advised. S/he never should have applied to OOS publics where s/he wouldn't at least get large merit scholarships.

The student can ask PSU for more money, but it's doubtful s/he will get anything. This is typical of most publics...they really don't have the money to give.


Ely...are you instate for any state? or do you live abroad? What are your stats? Did you apply to ANY affordable schools?

Did you run the NPC on PSU's website? if not, do so now and tell us what it says.
http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.e...C/netpricecalc

Is your EFC about $150???

mom2collegekids

Well, it looks like PSU's NPC is exagerrating its aid now (it seemed to be more honest last fall when it was showing ONLY Pell as grants)

I put in OOS dependent student, 150 EFC, and on campus housing


Estimated Cost of Attendance for 2011-12
Tuition And Fees $28,066
Room And Meals $9,432
Books and Supplies $1,536
Transportation $828
Miscellaneous $3,222
Total Cost $43,084

Need Calculation for 2011-12
Cost of Attendance: $43,084
Expected Family Contribution (EFC) - $150
Total Need $42,934

Net Cost Summary for 2011-12
Cost of Attendance: $43,084
Total ESTIMATED Scholarship and Grant Aid - $6,600
ESTIMATED Net Cost $36,484

Other Potential Types of Aid:
Total Estimated Student Loan $5,500
*Potential Parent PLUS Loan $30,984
Total Potential Other Types of Aid $36,484

*Parents of dependent students may qualify to borrow a Federal Parent PLUS loan to cover the net cost not met by grants and scholarships. Parents are also able to borrow the parent loan to cover the cost of their expected family contribution. Visit studentaid.psu.edu for more information on the Parent PLUS Loan Program.


Listed below is the information you entered:

Residency: Non PA
Campus: * University Park
Dependency Status: Dependent
Housing: On Campus
EFC: $150


you didn't get that $6600 in grants (not that that would have made much difference), but I used their NPC this morning for a 0 EFC OOS independent student and it claimed that the student would get nearly $10k in GRANTS, which I highly doubt the student would get....especially since the students stats are very modest (the NPC doesn't ask for stats).

MD Mom

Penn State and the other state-supported universities in Pennsylvania (Pitt and Temple) have been losing state support year after year after year. The last couple of years there have been rumblings about them going private, which may just be threats.

Anyway, it makes it difficult for OOS kids looking for aid.

lerkin

Am I the only one who is shocked that a family with 150 EFC can pay 14k towards COA?

missemily516

If the family can pay $14k per year then the OP should have been looking for a full tuition scholarship. The 14k could be used for room & board, supplies, books, transportation, etc. However, this seems really late in the game to be looking for advice about this - the extra 10k "gap" that this student believes they have should have been considered by the student and family BEFORE they accepted the offer of admission.

mom2collegekids

Lerkin....you're right. But, this isn't as unusual as one might think...especially if the student lives abroad.


and, Miss Emily is right....if the family can pay $14k then the student SHOULD have been looking for full tuition scholarships from the schools that give them.

The family's $14k..plus the $5k from Pell....plus full tuition scholarship would mean all costs covered!!!



ely....you need to take a gap year, don't go to college AT ALL, and apply where you'd get HUGE merit scholarships.

What are your GPA and test scores?

mom2collegekids

As for academics; 3.83 GPA and 1520 SAT for CR and Math.

With these stats, you could have gotten free tuition or more at a number of schools.

elyandeadam

Thanks guys for your replies.
The EFC is 180 $ and I live in Palestine. So I am out of state.

I thought I can use the 10900 $ aid for tuition, and get the rest money (around 9000$) by other ways. and the family's 14000 $ contribution will be used for travelling to the US and room & board, etc.

By the way, I haven't accepted the offer yet and so I am trying to reassure whether I 'd be able to attend PSU or not.
I have offers from other universities, UBC GWU, but PSU is much cheaper than both.

SAT : 1520 for CR and Math
GPA : 3.83 / 4 ( 95.6 % )
1st out of 140 students.

Any other advises would be extremely appreciated!

mom2collegekids

Apply to some schools that will give you free tuition for your stats.


Can your parent pay $14k EVERY YEAR?

elyandeadam

Unfortunately they can't. They may be able to help me with a maximum of 8 k $ a year. But I was thinking that in my junior and senior years; I would be able to receive more financial aid since I 'd be a Pennsylvania S resident, and 'd get more money by Stafford loans.

Taking a gap year would be very difficult for me. I am thinking of studying hard in the first year and look for scholarships while in school.