ED Financial Aid Barnard?

calmom
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:37:24 +0000

ALL colleges have a self-help component of need-based financial aid which includes factoring in the student’s earning capacity. I feel that Barnard’s expectations for my daughter were very reasonable, and in fact my daughter was able to earn far more than the amount factored into financial aid.

I think what some students miss in evaluating a financial aid award is that the cost of attendance includes some items that are estimated incidental expenses (costs of travel, books, day-to-day living expenses) that do NOT have to be paid up front. As a parent, I simply paid the bill that came from the bursar and let my daughter take care of the rest from her own earnings, and it never was a problem. That part was a pay-as-you-go type of thing. I’d note that my d. had her own credit card, which probably helped a little in terms of the pay-as-you-go budgeting – since she could also manage her own budget somewhat based on “future” earnings. But my d. was extremely disciplined about keeping track of her card and paying off all charges right away, at least up until her study abroad year.