Okay, I’m kind of freaking out right now…I come from a relatively low-income family, my college decision came down to two choices, one of which was about $4k/year more expensive than the other. During visits, I realized I would be very unhappy at the less expensive one, and committed to the other. However, I’m now really worried about affording college.
The “total cost” I get from using the school’s financial planner is around $10k, but our EFC was $4500, which was already unrealistically high–there’s no way we’re going to be able to manage this without taking out loans (there were none in my financial aid package). Is every freshman eligible to borrow more money in federal student loans? If I can take out $5000, combined with my work study and summer earnings, and maybe a small parent loan, we should be alright…Please help, lol.
Yes, you can borrow 5500 as a freshman. Call the FA office and ask for that. If you have a parent with poor credit, then you can borrow more.
If your parents’ credit is fine, then they can borrow as much as needed.
@mom2collegekids Yeah, my parents have pretty terrible credit…I don’t want to end up with more than around $20k in loans, but if it happens, it happens. Thank you!
You are going to Brown? Did anything change recently in your circumstances where you could contact the Brown financial aid office to ask for a few thousand more in aid?
@Madison85 Yeah, Brown. My mom (primary source of income in our house) took about a month off of work for bereavement while my grandfather was in the hospital, but there’s no space on that for the appeal form.
I am wondering how your FAFSA EFC was $4500 but your family contribution for Brown is $10,000. We’re there significant assets as well? A non-custodial parent? What?
You have committed to Brown. Give their financial aid office a call. Ask to talk to someone about this…not the person who answers the phone. Was this lost incime in 2015…or 2016?
Regardless…be prepared to show documentation for this. In other words, you will have to prove that your mom was not paid for the leave time.
Maybe they will make an adjustment. But if she is back at work now, it is very possible they won’t. But ask.
@thumper1 Our “parent contribution” for Brown is $6000, but the total cost we get on the financing planner (which says it should be close to the EFC) is $10000. I don’t know why. I appealed based on an award from another school earlier, but that didn’t help. We have literally no assets, there’s no non-custodial parent.
The lost income was last month. She’s back to work now. I don’t know if there’s any proof, but I can look.
what are the billable costs to Brown? Those would be tuition, fees, room, board, and health insurance (if you don’t have other coverage)? does your need based aid cover those costs?
And as noted, you can take a $5500 Direct Loan for your freshman year. This would leave you with $4500 left for your family or you to pay out of pocket.
I’m going to guess that some of that balance would be for personal expenses, transportation, and books.
Do you have a job? Do you plan to work during college?
@thumper1 Billable costs are $64,566. Need-based aid is $59,156 ($2850 of which is work study).
I would suggest you contact the school and ask for the $5500 Direct Loan…which will bring you close to the billable costs. You will be short a bit…but with a summer job, and work during the school year, you should be able to make up,the shortfall.
Net cost $10k - parent contribution $6k = student contribution $4k?
But why? What does Brown include in its calculation that the FAFSA does not include?
The numbers are very close. EFC of $4500, Brown expects about $10k all in, so student parent contribution of $4500, student contribution of $5500, which could be the student loan.
It’s hard to know without looking at the numbers, but Brown doesn’t use the same EFC formula that FAFSA does. OP said that “we literally have no assets,” which can’t be true, and may not be true if only FA reportable assets are considered.
OP, what’s your primary residence situation? Does your mom rent or own your home?
@BelknapPoint We rent our home. And we don’t have any assets that I know of.
And it’s a parent contribution of $6410, student contribution of $2650; something else in the financing planner brought it up to $10000.
If your federal EFC is $4500 and you have no assets (no savings, no 401k contributions) your family income must be a little higher than you think.
But does it matter? You have to deal with the package they gave you. You can borrow the Stafford loan amount. They might even have Perkins loan money available. Talk to the FA people. Make all you can this summer.
I realize that these things don’t impact financial aid, but if you own any clothes, furniture, books, pots & pans, personal property of any kind, than yes, you literally do have assets. Any money in a bank account is also an asset.
I do understand what you are saying, though, as things relate to financial aid. I’m probably just overreacting to another instance of the improper use of the word “literally.”
@BelknapPoint Yeah, I’d call that overreacting. That doesn’t really contribute anything to this discussion.
Well, maybe you now have a better appreciation for the proper use of the word “literally.” 
To stay on topic: if Brown did not include federal student loans in your FA package, you are entitled to borrow $5,500 for freshman year (assuming that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident). Borrowing the maximum amount for a dependent student for four years of undergraduate work will leave you owing approximately $27k when you finish, which is not an excessive burden, especially for a Brown graduate.