Lets say Student Z decided to attend community college would everything be covered by fasfa (excluding books and transportation)?
FAFSA is a form. You file it to find out if you qualify for Pell grants or subsidized loans.
Depending on what Student Z qualifies for and the cost of attendance of the community college, a smaller or larger portion of costs would be covered.
It depends on the state. In California, it does. But it may states, it doesn’t. Some community colleges have honors programs and special scholarships (including full tuition) which allows you to borrow your Stafford loans and bank them for the four year university (which is always more expensive.) If you have good or top stats, attending community college may actually cost you MORE in the long run, since freshman get the best financial aid: full tuition scholarships are basically only given to freshmen so, if you’re qualified for a 4-year full tuition scholarship at a university, you’re better off going.
It depends on your EFC. One year, I had one child at a 4 year state school and another at a local CC. I received $500 for each child as state FA. It essentially covered their books.
I’m currently attending a CC in Ohio and everything is paid for. My books, tution, ECT. I even got money sent to me. But I still apply for scholarships just incase something would happen
In my experience, yeah, FAFSA covered everything (or close to it). My cc also has a program called Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (eops) that specifically covers the cost of books, scantrons, 10 black & white prints a day, parking permit (or bus/train pass), and more. They don’t give you physical money so you can’t choose what you do with it; it has to be for the things i mentioned above.
So with FAFSA and EOPS, I find that basically everything is paid for.
Some students are very lucky. This^ applies to New York City and it’s a terrific program to encourage everyone to get a degree. There are so many other issues, even if you don’t have to worry about transportation costs… Yet many states or cities don’t offer anything like that. Try living in Philadelphia or Birmingham or Chicago or Tempe…