Financial Aid for College, Expected Contribution, and GMS Scholarship help?

Paying for College
1

Estimated Cost of Attendance: 63,058.00

Expected Family Contribution: 10,804.00

Estimated Need: 52,254.00

Total Aid 54,254.00 (including 2 loans)

I feel like my estimated family contribution is really high and although I’d like to go to Emory, I may just go to a in-state (I live in Texas) university like UT.

I’ve also received the Gates Millenniums scholarship and it states that “GMS scholarship awards DO NOT REPLACE Estimated Family Contributions (EFC) OR institution/university loans.”

So has Emory has meet all my financial need that it has determined so the Gates scholarship will cover anything more? Are any of you financial aid advisors at a university of GMS scholars or someone with knowledge about this subject? The admission deposit is due on May 1st for Emory and University of Texas at Austin and I really need help. What will offset the 10,000 that my family and I are expected to ay at Emory because that’s too much and in-state tuition in around 5,000 per year.

Thank You

2

It looks like Emory leaves your family with about $11k to pay, which is what your EFC is.


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What will offset the 10,000 that my family and I are expected to ay at Emory because that's too much and in-state tuition in around 5,000 per year. <<<<<

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Nothing…you’re expected to pay that or go elsewhere.

Since you know that GMS won’t pay for EFC or loans, then what is your question?

UT’s tuition may be around $6k, but what about the OTHER costs to attend UT? Will you commute? If not, then there will be room and board to cover and books.

What is in your UT aid pkg?

I’m surprised that someone with an EFC of about $11k qualifies for GMS. I thought you had to be low income, but maybe not?

3

I am surprised that my that my college EFC is 10,804.00 when my FAFSA etc was 4,452. I’m going to contact Emory Financial Aid office to ask about and clear up the gap and if 10,804.00 is what I am expected to pay then I’ll have to reconsider. Flat rate tuition at UT Austin is around $25,862 – 27,254. And I don’t know how much aid I’ll receive from UT but I don’t expect it to be much.

I was wanting opinions on this because I’m trying to evaluate my college options

4

Why don’t you run the NPC on UT’s website to get an idea of what you’d get.

Are you sure that your UT aid isn’t already listed on your portal???

Your Emory “EFC” is based on your CSS Profile info. Do your parents have home equity? Do they own a business? Or do they work in an area that has “business deductions”? do you have a non custodial parent?

Are you sure that your FAFSA efc wasn’t adjusted? Can you find that out? Others here can tell you if you can find that out online or not.

5

Where else did you apply?

Would GMS pay for UT (except for loans and EFC)?

6

Read this again:

It says NOTHING about the Gates not being used to replace federal loans, which is likely what’s in your Emory FA package. You’ll have to provide us with the exact breakdown of your Emory FA award to be sure, but if it includes any loans labelled “Direct,” “Stafford,” or “Perkins,” those can be replaced with the Gates. The Gates can also be used to replace work study and your personal contribution.

So, let’s assume you have the following in your Emory award:

(1) $5,500 in subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans;
(2) $2,100 student contribution; and
(3) $1,800 work study.

You can reallocate those as follows:

(1) $5,500 in Stafford loans → take them out anyway (which you’re allowed to do) and apply them to your parent contribution.
(2) $2,100 student contribution → get that summer job anyway and apply your earnings to your parent contribution.
(3) $1,800 work study → your earnings can be applied to your parent contribution.

End result? $10,804 - $5,500 - $2,100 - $1,800 = $1,404 total remaining parent contribution.

Now can you afford Emory?

7

Just to be clear, there’s nothing anywhere that says your “parent contribution” has to be paid by your parents!

8

You say you may just go in state, but would that cost more than Emory since you may be getting less aid? Is GMS transferable to any school? Can your parents pay anything? Do you have siblings in college? Do you have a job or any savings?

9

GMS is good for any accredited school.

I think you need to find out more info from Emory, GMS, and UT

Individuals selected as Gates Scholars will receive funds in an amount to be determined by GMS based on financial need. The award will be based on the cost of tuition, fees, books and living expenses for the 2015-2016 academic year, as well as the availability of grants and other scholarships reported on the financial aid award letter.

Individuals selected as Gates Scholars will receive funds in an amount to be determined by GMS based on financial need. The award will be based on the cost of tuition, fees, books, and living expenses for the academic year as well as the availability of grants and other scholarships reported on the submitted financial aid award letter. The scholarship, for the undergraduate award, may be renewed annually based on satisfactory academic progress, full-time status, and the timely submission of required documents. Support for graduate degrees may be pursued for the following fields: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.

Fill out this form for GMS and provide details so that they can answer your Q’s.
http://gmsp.org/publicweb/contactus.aspx

You do need clarification regarding the loans. the wording is ambiguous. Maybe GMS considers Fed loans pkg’d by the school to be “university loans” even tho they technically are not.

Also, you need to find out if GMS uses FAFSA EFC to determine “family contribution” or it uses what an institution has determined after using CSS Profile.

Ask those questions on that form as well.

10

Contribution from Parents: 8,304.00

Contribution from Student: 2,500.00

Total Expected Contribution 10,804.00

I am going to contact the Financial Aid Office and ask them to re-asses my award or lower my EFC so that there is unmet need for GMS.

11

Also I do not have have a job so I don’t know why there is a “Contribution from Student” or that I’m probably going to have a campus job

12

Because you’re expected to get a job! All colleges expect a student receiving financial aid to earn money during the summers to contribute towards the cost of their education.

But some clarification is needed. The grant you’ll receive from Gates is likely even more generous than I anticipated.

First, and most importantly, the EFC that Gates refuses to cover is your FAFSA EFC - not your Emory EFC! So what’s your FAFSA EFC? It’s at the bottom of the "confirmation page” you received when you submitted your FAFSA.

Second, Gates does indeed know the difference between “institutional/university loans” and federal loans, and it may absolutely be used to replace the latter. The purpose of the Gates is to cover a student’s “unmet need and self-help” - that includes federal loans, work study, and the student contribution. So, as I said earlier, the only reason for you to get a job is to help your parents cover their portion of the expense, which you should certainly try to do, if you can.

So, in your case, you add up all the grants you received (including both institutional and Pell grants) and your FAFSA EFC. (You don’t need to worry about “institutional/university loans” because Emory doesn’t have any.) The Gates should cover the entire remaining balance.

You don’t need to do this. Everything in excess of your grants and FAFSA EFC is “unmet need” for purposes of the Gates, and it will be covered.

You can try to get the “family contribution” portion of your package reduced . . . but it’s not really necessary, because the Gates will cover it either way. The only portion the Gates will not cover is your FAFSA EFC. So, if your FAFSA EFC is $3k, and your Emory family contribution is $8k, the Gates would cover the difference of $5k.

Please provide us the details of your Emory award, including all grants, loans, etc. And also tell us your FAFSA EFC.

13

Award

[Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Total]

Federal Work-Study - Emory

$1,250.00 $1,250.00 $2,500.00

Federal Pell Grant

963.00 962.00 1,925.00

Emory College Grant

22,165.00 22,164.00 44,329.00

Federal Direct Sub Loan 1

1,750.00 1,750.00 3,500.00

Federal Direct Unsub Ln 1

1,000.00 1,000.00 2,000.00

Total Amount: $ 54,254.00

FAFSA EFC
4452

14

Okay, so you add up the grants: $1,925 + 44,329 = $46,254

Then you take total grants plus FAFSA EFC: $46,254 + $4,452 = $50,706

$63.058 (COA) - $50,706 (grants + EFC) = $12,352 (unmet need)

If I’ve figured this out correctly, that’s the amount you should be eligible for from Gates.

Then you’d still need to come up with the $4,452 EFC. Options would be:

(1) $2,500 work study + $2,000 subsidized loan
(2) $2,500 work study + $2,000 summer earnings
(3) $3,500 subsidized loan + $1,000 unsubsidized loan

The more you can earn yourself, instead of borrowing, the better. But no matter how you do it, your parents’ actual contribution ends up being zero, because you’re covering it for them. :slight_smile:

Or you can contribute $2,500 in work study earnings, and your parents can pay the $2,000 balance. That’s still a much more manageable figure than the $10,804 you started with!

Please confirm this with Gates on Monday, to see if I’ve figured this out correctly. And if I haven’t, please come back and let me know!