After running the NPC on a full needs met college site, I realized I didn’t really understand how this works. I understand the EFC but how is the aid paid out?
For instance, if they give you aid for personal expenses or travel expenses, how is that handled? Do they send you a check or deduct it off your EFC? What if you use less than that for those expenses, do they ask for an accounting?
I will explain how my daughter’s aid is working at a school that meets full need: we filled out the CSS Profile and the FAFSA. This school uses the EFC that is obtained from the FAFSA, despite being a Profile school. They subtract the EFC ( let’s use $30,000 as an example) from the total cost of attendance ( we will use $50,000) and come up with a need of $20,000. That $20,000 need is broken down into subsidized loans ( for us), grants, and work study. You can choose whether to take the loans or not. If you take them, you will need to do the counseling and MPN. The school told me that when we get the bill, everything will have been deducted except for the work study. If for some reason something is not deducted, I was given permission to take it off myself and pay what remains. An email about work study will come in August. My daughter will have to set up interviews. Once she starts working, the money she earns will be deposited directly into her bank account. It can be used towards daily expenses, or not- there is no rule ( to the best of my knowledge). Work study does not get counted as student income on the FAFSA ( again- to the best of my knowledge). Nobody will ask for a report of how you spend the money- work study is usually used for daily spending money. A school that meets full need will use a formula- Total cost of attendance ( this includes books, travel, spending money) - EFC = need. They will essentially give you that " need" in the form of grants, loans, and work study. Some schools meet full need without loans. The aid that you receive is not broken down into categories stating what it can be used for. I hope this helps a little. Like I said, this is how my daughter’s school works. The NPC was very accurate for us- within $50.
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For instance, if they give you aid for personal expenses or travel expenses, how is that handled?
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Typically, schools don’t…not even full need schools.
If you have an EFC, then likely you’ll be using that to pay for books, travel and (maybe) personal expenses.
If your child has work study, that will likely go towards personal expenses.
Even if you have an EFC of 0, then schools typically expect a “summer student contribution” and that typically covers books and transportation.
Schools really don’t want to pay for travel, toothpaste or shampoo.
NO, you don’t give an acctg of what you spent.
Thank you both!
You will have an account/bill with the school listing your Direct charges due (tuition, fees, room, board). Usually you can see it online and it will list what your owe. Then if you have aid, the aid, grants and loans are credited to your account and is first applied to those direct expenses. If you are still short then the money is owed to the school. If there are excess aid funds, those are meant to go to you for your Indirect expenses (travel, books, personal). After school starts you can usually get the excess as a direct deposit to your bank account (set it up with the Bursar’s office) or a check issued that you can put in your bank account.
As you see, you will have to pay for your initial travel to the school. Save up any money you get the first semester to pay for travel home and back again.
And if you have work/study, you look for a job in the listings at school and they give you a paycheck for your hours every week or two weeks. You use that for expenses. You get to keep the aid you get for estimated expenses even if you spend less. No one asks for it back or for you to account for it.
BrownParent- Great detailed description! Thanks.