Breakdown of Financial Aid Package, What Exactly Will I Have to Pay?

[CPUscientist3000]

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Your direct billable costs to your university are $54496. You got aid that will cover $52,500 minus $3000 which is your work study award. That means the amount you will pay directly to the university is $4996 per year. In addition, you will have to pay for your personal expenses, travel and any discretionary spending but some of that can come from money from your work study job.

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<p>I am not clueless about financial aid, so I did do all of those calculations before asking questions.</p>

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The point is that you can get a work study job and EARN the money for your discretionary expenses…personal expenses…actually your student contribution. That way you will have these things covered. They ARE giving you the opportunity to earn money by getting a work study job on campus. These are usually more flexible in terms of scheduling. I’m not sure why you think this is a bad idea.

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<p>I am not stating that this is a bad idea, I was referring to the impact it would have on my direct-billed expenses. I already know that I can get a campus job, but it was included in financial aid and they used that job figure in the calculations of what i would have to pay.</p>

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You will need to ask YOUR college this question. There is no way for us to know how often they send their bills. If your school bills twice annually, once for each semester, then yes…your billable costs will be half each time.

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<p>yes, my college is on a semester system so it bills by semester.</p>

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You will need to check YOUR university on the policy of how they deal with that outside scholarship.

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<p>I know my university’s policy:

Outside scholarships first reduce FWS or Term-Time job, then Student contribution. So, my Term Job will be fully “covered”, and $1,000 of my student contribution will be taken off.

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I’m confused by this. You got a fabulous financial aid award. MOST schools include a student contribution, and apparently this school felt that your family could contribute as well. Call the school and ask them about this outside scholarship. See if it can be used to offset you family contribution. Some schools will allow this, expecially for very low income students.

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<p>Student and Family contribution:</p>

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Resources Amount
Parent Contribution 3,950
Student Contribution 1,600

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<p>I am saying my outside scholarship went to “nothing” because it is covering a $3,000 expected term-time job offer, which is supposed to be used for personal expenses. ** But I will not get that $3,000 to use, so what is the point that I got the scholarship or not? ** I could have just saved up $3,000 from a summer job. </p>

<p>Outside scholarships do not reduce parent contributions, so the most it can cover of out of pocket is my $1600, which mine covers $1,000 of, but I don’t get to ** use ** $3,000 of it anyway. </p>

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I am a little confused, however. What was your FAFSA EFC? Did you qualify for any portion of the Pell Grant? Is this one of the very generous schools that meets need for folks with higher incomes?

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<p>My FAFSA EFC is a lot higher than what I have to pay out of pocket for this school, which is Harvard. But my family, like many, many other families, does not have the EFC amount readily available to pay.</p>

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Congratulations on a terrific financial aid award.

Thank you, we are truly grateful for it.</p>