My D is waiting on Elon EA too. Good Luck!
@VikkiG5 Good luck this week!
Congratulations on the acceptances thus far and fingers crossed for those hearing this week! Good luck everyone!
Anyone know if all students are eligible for $5500 Stafford loans regardless of income? D’s Financial Aid award says $3500 unsubsidized and I was really hoping for $5500 subsidized.
@Kayak24, yes, all freshman are eligible for that amount of loan, but not subsidized. They are all eligible for that amount unsubsidized.
@suzy100 , is this done through the school or do we file separately?
My DD applied to UVA, EA (non binding). We are OOS.
It’s her reach school. Do I have to do the CSS Profile form by Jan 1? Before she finds out if she got in?
It’s her only Profile school and I don’t want to do it unless I have to 
@astro77 - I would check the financial aid page for the school. It should have the deadlines on it. If not, the safest bet is to call the financial aid office at the school to get a definitive answer.
@Astro77 if the deadline is 1/1 you have to do it by then. A real pain for one school but a great exercise in looking at your financial picture at the start of a New Year.
I did mine in October when I did the FAFSA as one of my D’s EA schools had an October deadline for CSS even though EA deadline was in November. Still waiting on decision from that school, should be in next day or so. But it was ok because about half of her schools needed it so. Real pain to do for one!
If you think you will hear before 1/1 you can wait it out…but I wouldn’t go past 12/29…lots of info to gather.
@Astro77 Do you know if the school mails out the scholarship information with acceptances? If they do, I would def do it earlier than later. When is decision date for them?
@Kayak24, it is done through the school - at least, they facilitate it. That is how it has worked for my older D. Your D will need to contact the school’s Financial Aid office and let them know that she plans to take the full $5500 loan out.
Q: what are unsubsidized loans and do we have to take them?
@Kayak24 only up to $3,500 can be subsidized. It depends on need. But even if there is no need every student can take up to $5,500 unsubsidized if they file FAFSA.
Is your D looking at a major that requires grad school?
@kayak24 I read a student can take up to 5500 worth of loans for Freshman year. However, only 3500 can be subsidized.
Oh and the school where the student ultimately attends will probably have a process where the student can accept and deny aid. Loans should be part of it.
My D had to go to a website online that the school told her to go to, do loan entrance counseling and Master Promissory Note signing with her FSA ID.
Also if a FA award includes federal work study, that amount is not guaranteed and student has to find a work study job and the money has to be earned as a paycheck during the semester, so it is not available up front (to pay the bill).
Ok, so once D makes decision, she can then decide on accepting FA as well and keep from taking loan? And yes, grad schools of some sort. Thank you all and sorry for ignorance @mommdc and @birdie3!
Thanks for all of the info. I wonder if I can send my letter of special circumstances to FAFSA to increase chance of subsidized. I doubt they will care but D’s college dropped our EFC about $13,000 from the “early read” to the actual award after I sent my documentation.
@ppst Your FA package will probably list a loan of some type. But, you don’t have to accept it. A school can not force you to take a loan. However, you will have to come up with the difference in some other manor.
FA packages supposedly went out from Ithaca Friday. S should know his options in a couple of days.
S18 got EA acceptance to Drexel 27K scholarships 18 K grant Recording Arts and Music Production
Still, at 70K per year its not exactly cheap. But, nobody promised college was going to be cheap
Can I get an AMEN?
Amen and congrats @JerseyParents ! <:-P It is somewhat deflating to get what looks like a big merit award and then look at what it actually takes off the bottom line… but in the end it’s about setting the budget, and if that bottom line comes in under budget it stays on the consideration list, even if we would prefer it were a bit cheaper…
Fingers crossed for @mstomper 's Ithaca FA package, and for EVERYBODY waiting impatiently for news this week!, Seems like we’ve got another nail biter week ahead of us! :-SS