<p>*Thoughts on California girl, NHS, 3.85 but lower sat/act scores - lilke 1700/25. gonna need aid cause my parents have been paying tuition since i was 4 *</p>
<p>Aid isnt’ determined by that. They won’t care that your family has been paying tuition for years. Many, many students at Catholic universities are kids who’ve gone K-12 of Catholic education and have been paying tuition.</p>
<p>FAFSA will determine what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is going to be. (It’s typically about 1/4 - 1/3 of family income - unless income is low). </p>
<p>So, let’s say your family earns around $100k per year and your EFC is $25k.</p>
<p>Villanova costs about $50k per year (tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc). So, you’d have a “need” of about $25k.</p>
<p>If they meet about 75% of need (as said above), then they would give you an aid package of about $18,750…leaving a “need gap” of about $6k plus your $25k per year EFC. However, that $18,750 FA package won’t be “free money”. Very likely that will include about $5500 in student loans, $2500 in work study and a $10k grant.</p>
<p>So, in the above scenario, the school wouldn’t be giving you much for free, your parents would still be expected to pay their full EFC plus the gap (about $31k per year)…and you’d be expected to cover the loans and work-study.</p>
<p>You need to find out now how much your parents will pay. That will likely determine where you can go to school. If you don’t know how much your parents will pay each year, ask.</p>