I highly doubt they did because, on my aid package, it said federal loans and work-study.
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Yes - oh so 13.5K - so youāre in the 3.5 to 3.74 range.
So - time to pivot.
What is your budget?
WIth your GPA and test score - here are three - and again, when youāre budget constrained, sometimes you donāt get to choose - unless you want to go a community college route - and keeping you financially solvent is most important.
You can still apply to and get into 3 very good schols>
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Alabama - is $48,040 and you auto merit $30,500 off. About $17.5K
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UAH - smaller - about 10K kids - $37K and you auto merit - if your SAT was 1450 and I think it was, $20,500 off - so about $17K.
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Mississippi State is $39K and youād get $20 or $21K off so also high teens per year.
This is just tuition, room and board.
You are luck there are schools out there that buy kids in. But now the question is - can you afford $20K-ish a year (with books, etc. and travel). For under $100K, including travel, you can get a great ChemE degree and likely the same job as UMN, Delaware, Arizona, etc.
And are you open - to which you should be - love the one that loves you back and these schools love smart and accomplished kids - which is why they bring in lots of OOS.
There may be others out west- but youād have to dig far to find. I donāt know those that are that cheap off the top of my head (and ABET accredited).
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Well, it might be worth it if I pursue chem eng. UMN is one of the top schools in the country for it, and they have accessible pathways to internships at huge Fortune 500 chem/materials companies.
You can always call and ask for an aid counselor - who could then look up his specific profile. So I would call - thatās me.
Often times things get lost in email or written messaging.
Yes, my GPA for U of A got calculated much lower than what it is for other schools. It brought my aid down a lot.
Ok, excellent if you emailed your specific rep.
Actually, there is.
A college cannot ānot awardā Pell to a Pell eligible student. (* )
A meet-need college is free to define āneedā as they wish but theyāre not free to offer zero need based help to a need-eligible student.
Like Thumper, Iām wondering (especially with FAFSA not returning info on time) they processed you as an international.
Although youāre right, if they included federal loans, they must know youāre a domestic applicant.
They wouldnāt have included Pell because they wouldnāt have known the amount at the time of the decision (thereās usually 2 or even 3 days between the time you get the news and the decision itself.)
Have you checked your portal at both HC and Oberlin?
(* strictly speaking some colleges advertise that they refuse all federal funds. Generally thatās due to refusing Title IX and other 1970s male/female and race-related obligations. It means their students cannot use Pell nor receive federal loans. No college on your list falls under this category.)
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You can email or call U of A and ask about it, too.
So from an earlier note - your parents are giving you $7K? And thatās what you have to work with?
You mentioned UMN being $42K after merit and having a $35K delta.
So you need to look at the schools I mentioned and ask the grandparents for help.
Are Canadian schools affordable? I donāt know.
Or you go to a community college.
This is why budgeting up front is so critical.
At this point, as we stand here, you have no workable options.
But you still have time to create them - hence my suggestion of three (and thereās likely more) above.
I still wonder though if HC and Oberlin are all inā¦or if more is coming. And you need to ātalk to themā and ask - not that they lead you to engineering (they donāt).
Yes from what Iāve seen my parents would give 7-8k a year. If itās distributed evenly over 4 years. If I get into UBC then that would be affordable, but I really really donāt want to stay in Canada.
OP qualifies for full Pell so at the VERY minimum $7,395 are coming. The fact @ravk06 has not received a financial package with Pell is a big tell something is either amiss or not complete yet.
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Iām skeptical Iām even going to get it. The Pell is billed through the institution, and thereās been no indication. I mean, I donāt think the DOE will go out of their way with all the other stuff going on to make sure one student gets a 7000 grant.
Itās not competitive. All students whose family income qualifies get it.
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Iām just confused. Why doesnāt HC care what a studentās SAI is. If itās 0 and they say they meet all demonstrated financial aid, doesnāt a 0 inherently mean you need a lot of financial aid.
HC uses the data on the CSS Profile to determine awarding of their need based aid. NOT the FAFSA.
Soā¦eitherā¦
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Something on that Profile has you not needing need based aidā¦needs to be checked very carefully.
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Or they havenāt completed the need based aid awarding process.
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Or there is an error someplace.
Itās fine to call the financial aid office and ask why there is such a huge difference between that $0 SAI and your need based aid award. IOWā¦what is on your Profile that indicates you donāt have more significant need.
Ask to speak to a financial aid advisorā¦the person answering the phone probably isnāt one.
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Is there any possibility itās the 0 dollars in federal taxes paid?
No one can know why your aid is what it is (and it might not be yet - thatās what weāre asking you to find out) - it might not be complete.
It could be assets, it could be something elseā¦or hopefully itās simply not processed. This is what you need to find out.
No one can guess on US vs. Canadian vs. other taxes.
It canāt be assets, though. I read through the FAFSA and CSS, and for all real estate and business categories, it was 0. We donāt have significant investments either. My parents have government pensions they contribute to, thatās all.
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@ravk06 This is a lot for you to deal with, and I can only imagine the stress and worry you are currently feeling. Hugs to you.
It seems you have some misconceptions about how need-aid works (which is entirely understandable!). You and your parents will need to be proactive about this. Email and ask to schedule a meeting with a financial aid officer to review your aid documents. Be very direct in your email and tell them that you believe there is an error in your CSS Profile information because the cost of attendance is more than your parents earn in a year. Additionally, while you understand they base need-aid on the Profile, your FAFSA SAI is -0- which further supports your confusion about the cost.
I hope you can get some straight answers after a meeting. You do not need to worry that you are overstepping by asking for this review. Many families have to do this and by working with the financial aid officer they find the discrepancy.
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Thank you, but an additional layer of pressure is that my parents want me to basically āfigure this outā myself. They arenāt super helpful when it comes to communicating with universities. For the most part Iāve had to do this whole financial aid process without them.
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O$ in taxes would indicate very low income and is consistent with a 26kAGI. Also, they can see you live in Canada.
Thatās key.
Caseloads are assigned alphabetically. Find your FA adviser and reach out.
Key elements:
- US citizen (living in Canada)
- lower income (AGI: 26,000)
- Pell eligible
(- āfirst genā? Thatās if neither parent graduated from a 4 year college. Siblings or other relatives donāt count.)
^ those are essential elements (HC is part of ATI, an initiative to serve these groups of students as well as BIPOC students - this may or may not apply to you) - interested in jesuit education and HC but distressed bc acceptance letter is confusing to you
- have not received a financial aid award, not even HC acknowledgement of your Pell grant
- did receive a merit award
- you understand HC uses CSS and not FAFSA but donāt understand why youāre not seeing your Pell grant
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HC is actually very thorough and welcoming for all Pell eligible students : youāll have a virtual āmeet mentors and friendsā session in June, a special orientation (they assume your family didnāt have the money to take you on campus tours so they catch you up along with peers and make it fun) and mentors throughout the year; their director of enrollment is very focused on that and got a 20 million grant for FGLI student scholarshipsā¦
Odds are overwhelming that you just havenāt received that part of the package. I mean Iām willing to bet on it.
Did you check your portal today?
(If they processed it, you should see Pell and an invitation to Odyssey.)
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