I just submitted my FAFSA and received an email that said that my EFC is 000097 and that my Pell Grant estimate was $5870. I’m applying to transfer to some really expensive schools (USC, Santa Clara University, Cornell), so I’m really hoping for some generous financial aid.
Sorry if this is a stupid question; I don’t really understand how the FAFSA works.
Thanks in advance!
The answer is…it depends. USC, Santa Clara and Cornell all use the CSS Profile as well as the fafsa. Really the Profile is what they use to determine the awarding of their institutional need based aid.
It looks like Cornell and USC meet full need for all accepted transfer students as THEY calculate that need to be based on the Profile.
Santa Clara does not meet full need.
In terms of your FAFSA…are your parents divorced?
Instead of hoping, you may want to try the colleges’ net price calculators to get estimates.
https://financialaid.usc.edu/undergraduates/prospective/net-price-calculator.html
https://www.scu.edu/financialaid/net-price-calculator/
http://finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend/financial-aid-estimator
To @BBoy99
Are your parents divorced?
Do your own your primary residence?
Are either of you parents self employed?
Thanks for the responses so far, guys. My parents are separated (not divorced), because my moms taking care of her parents in another country; she doesn’t work though. Neither of my parents are self employed; my dad works for the government of California. We’re renting our apartment (we don’t own any residences.)
I’m also going to call financial aid at all of the Universities that I’m applying to once they reopen on January 2nd.
And finally, I just used the net price calculators (thanks UCBAlumnus), and it turns out that Santa Clara would still want me to pay >$25000, which is insane. USC and Cornell will (apparently) offer me very generous financial aid, so fingers crossed that I get in.
Do you live in CA? If so…are you Calgrant eligible? Are you applying to any UC or Cal States?
When you filed the FAFSA did you indicate yoir oarent were separated…or married?
Transfer students often get less generous aid than freshman students
Yes, I live in California, and I’m Calgrant eligible. I’m applying to the UC’s, but I don’t particularly want to go to one because I don’t want to be in a particularly competitive environment (especially as a Premed.) For this reason, Cornell is one of the private schools that I would least like to attend.
I indicated that my parents were separated on my FAFSA.
Do you really think Cornell, and USC, and Santa Clara are NOT competitive environments?
If you are doing courses as a pre-med possibility, you will find top notch, and competitive students at these schools.
They are excellent…but the notion they aren’t competitive is…well…sort of funny.
Sorry, I should’ve clarified. If I were to go to a UC, I’d want to go to UCLA or UCB (although they’re all great.) I have friends at both schools, and they all tell me that it’s cutthroat competitive. I also have friends at USC/Santa Clara who tell me that, although it’s competitive, students are cooperative. I would also prefer the smaller class sizes that come with most private schools to the huge class sizes at the UC’s. I also know that it’s easier to get Internships/Research opportunities at private schools than it is at a UC, because you’re not competing with hundreds of (very talented) students.
How much does your dad earn?
~$28000
You likely will have good aid at Cornell…and USC. Just get your profile submitted ASAP.
Good luck!!
Pre-med anywhere should be expected to be cutthroat competitive, since getting into medical school is an elite-or-bust path. Many frosh pre-meds abandon the idea when they see that their GPA is not high enough; of those who apply to medical schools, half get no admissions.
Also, medical school is expensive, so saving money and avoiding debt in undergraduate can be helpful. You are probably looking at $200,000 debt for a UC medical school as a California resident, or $320,000 debt for a private medical school.
Cornell’s location may not be ideal if you want to apply to UC medical schools, because of more difficult / expensive travel logistics for short-notice medical school interviews.
re #15, former cc poster @norcalguy graduated from Cornell and attended a UC medical school.
He posted extensively about his premed experience, and about applying to medical schools.
Suggest OP do a search on his posts.
He had a good experience doing premed at Cornell.
I don’t recall him posting about any difficulty in logistics for interviews, etc.
But if he did it would be among his prior posts that you can read.
Whatever difficulty he did have, it obviously didn’t keep him from being admitted.
This student needs to minimize his undergrad debt. At this point, he will need to compare net costs for schools to which he is admitted. It’s very possible that Cornell and USC will have lower net costs than the CA public.
And Cornell has plenty of kids applying to medical school. Somehow they all make it to their interviews. I don’t think that is an issue.