how do adjustments on COA work??

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>hey, im currently tweeking with my financial package and was wondering about the adjustments that you can make to the various categories of expenses, ie cost of books, travel, and personal expenses.</p>

<p>so my question is this: if i were to change my, say, personal expenses from $2000 to $1000, will that knock off $1000 from my tuition? and will doing so decrease the amount of aid they are giving me?</p>

<p>also, for example, for what reason do colleges in general include travel expenses, books and personal expenses in their cost of attendance? if i allocate $500 for travel, do I ask the school for those $500 when i’m buying my airfare? is there like a bank account in my name, where they store my allocated amounts? </p>

<p>it just seems weird that one’s tuition is directly influences the amount you allocate. shouldn’t you be the one determining how much you want for personal expenses? </p>

<p>do you guys get what im saying?</p>

2

<p>bump I was wondering too. Like when they say books are included in my financial aid, do I just go to the book store and pick up the book without paying ?</p>

3

<p>those are expected expenses. You still have to pay at the bookstore, it’s just that the school accounts for the expense in their calculations of your ability to pay. Also, if you can spend less than the estimate, you save money because your aid is “too large” for your expenses.</p>

4

<p>bumpbumpppp</p>