I don’t understand my financial aid package
I applied for FAFSA and cal grant.
my FAFSA EFC WAS $8090
my cal grant status shows awarded calgrant A awarded $8056
we received our financial aid package and it shows the following
our annual cost of attendance is $61,000
grant 10,500
grant $15,900
federal subsidized Stanford loan $3,500
federal direct unsub loan $2000
work study offered $1,500
can anyone help me decipher ?? the more I read online the more I am confused !!!
It just says ‘grant’, not the source of the grant like Cal Grant or Mills College grant?
The package as shown gives you 26,400 in gift aid. 5,500 in student loan, 1,500 in self help = 33,400
So it looks like you have a Gap of 27,600.
It is not clear if your Cal Grant is included or not (they may not have notification of it?). If so then add that to gift aid, making the Gap 19.544. Mills does not meet full need so your family is expected to come up with the rest of the COA after the awards listed. Savings, outside scholarships, parent plus loan etc.
If your parents did not save the money for this college then it seems unaffordable by quite a bit.
Another way to look
61,000 - cost of attendance
34,600 - total cost of attending for your family
5,500 - loan
27,600 - remaining amount needed to attend
Did you apply to a financial safety?
the grants both specifically read mill grants
they did not say cal grant. where does FAFSA fit in??
yes we also applied to a fs school but have not received package yet
A FAFSA EFC of $8,090 is too high to receive a Pell Grant.
FAFSA fits in with the loan and work study at your EFC.
FAFSA, in this case, was used to calculate your Cal Grant, work study, and subsidized loan eligibility. (It’s Stafford, by the way, not Stanford. 
)
But even when you add in the Cal Grant, you’re still going to have to come up with almost $20k/year - and that’s money your parents are going to have to borrow, or you’re going to have to borrow with them cosigning. So your total debt to attend Mills would be over $105,000 - and that’s too much!!! Mills is a great college, but it’s not worth spending the rest of your life paying for it. That amount of debt is simply unaffordable.
FAFSA gives you access to govt grant, loan and work/study. It doesn’t give you anything else. Your FAFSA efc is what the govt suggests you can afford. Not what money you get from any specific colleges. So with your EFC, you don’t qualify for any govt grant, you have to have a 5k or less EFC to qualify. You do qualify for the CA state grant.
so,
61,000 - cost of attendance
26,400 - gift aid
26,544 - total cost of attending for your family
5,500 - loan
19,544 - remaining amount needed to attend
11,454 - Gap between financial need and cost of attendance.
Mills College gapped you, something they frequently do as most colleges do. No college guarantees to meet full need as defined by FAFSA.