Acquiring enough funds to cover College has been a challenge. Does anyone have any suggestions on a timeline for securing funding so that it doesn’t all seem last minute? My daughter applied for private scholarships, senior year. Awards were decided in May and June. We spent this summer waiting to see if we were going to cover classes and housing. It didn’t look like we had enough so we made arrangements for commuting. Then financial aid decreased her aid because she was no longer on campus (3 weeks before school starts). Then Higher education grant was awarded (2 weeks before school starts). There are still 2 private scholarship awards that do not even show up on the financial aid package. It a week before school and I’m still trying to track down the funds. Is this normal? How are you supposed to budget for school before classes start?
Sadly, I think it is normal. I didn’t even know the final cost of attendance my daughter’s first year until the end of July (I was trying to get a copy of the bill to send to an outside scholarship and it was almost impossible) and the bill was due on Aug 11 with school starting Aug 16. I had to call another outside scholarship 3 times in July to make sure she got it and make sure the school applied it.
Bright Futures wasn’t applied until after the drop/add date so there was always a balance due (with a credit as a footnote) on her bill.
I would totally expect the university to decrease an award because the student is living off campus. That’s pretty typical.
Keep calling about the private scholarships. One son’s school had a scholarship coordinator that was extremely helpful. That particular school still inputs it’s university-awarded scholarship winners in by hand. Each term. This term they missed entering my son’s name. His bill showed a small cash scholarship but not the tuition/fee waiver. Oops. Took 3 phone calls to fix it. And it didn’t show for a week, because they don’t push updates for a week. Bills only get updated once a month. Meh. It’ll work out.
You need to find out if the private scholarships will mean that her need-based aid is further decreased by her college. Often that is what happens.
If the money won’t add up in time to start classes, she should defer enrollment for a semester or a year so she has time to come up with an affordable option for her education.
While I think this happens to students…it should not be the norm.
Really, your funding plan should,have been in place before your student accepted her offer of admission…in my opinion.
When your student got accepted, there was a cost to attend that you knew. It’s wise to use that worst case scenario when planning how to pay the bills. It sounds like you really had no formal plan for how this college was going to be funded…and are now scrambling to find enough money to pay the bills.
Keep in mind…this is a multi year project…and in some cases, there are more outside scholarships for incoming freshmen that are not renewable for continuing students. In other words…you will be scrambling to pay for spring semester this year, fall semester next year…repeat repeat repeat.
Is this college really an affordable option? Do you really have enough money to cover the bills all year long? For four years?
Please…answer these questions for yourself before your kiddo enrolls…because you don’t want to have to tell her she can’t continue after a semester or year, or two years…because you can’t any longer afford to pay the costs.
does she have fed loans in her FA pkg?
if you’re still a little short while waiting for the dust to settle with these other scholarships, can you apply for a Parent Plus loan for that small amount? and if you’re denied, then your DD’s loans will increase by $2k per semester.
Is any of this balance is actually your EFC?
There are very few of any s holarsjops that will cover your EFC.
Most outside scholarships will fill the gap if the school does not meet 100% demonstrated need. Then they will reduce self help aid- work study and loans, finally reducing their own institutional aid.