<p>My fin aid was awarded this week…
I am getting a combo of the pell grant and fed. direct sub and unsub loans which will cover tuition, books and almost all direct school related expenses…so yay! It falls short of the COA by about 5K though.
Here’s the problem…I will be a single mom pretty soon, work pt and was hoping to get at least the COA so I can pay rent on my own. I don’t want to take out anymore loans than I need to, with what I’m getting…it’s already a little over 10K from the gov. But I don’t think I can swing it on just this.
The fin. aid lady said I could petition whatever since neither my daughter or I have health insurance and we can get it through the school and also childcare expenses, which in reality I won’t have too much of, in order to raise the COA for me. But it seems like a moot point when it would just go up a little and what I really need is rent! </p>
<p>So where do I go from here? Is it worth it to look for other loans somewhere to bridge that gap or should I try to work more instead. I’m going to a tough school so all I see is school, study, work, play with munchkin for the next 2-3 years and nothing else. anyway…lol!
Thanks!!!</p>
<p>Can you post your current COA and FA award? It’s difficult to say whether you need to petition for a COA increase without seeing this info. Most schools would have a housing portion built into the COA. Aren’t they giving you any grants other than Pell?</p>
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<p>I would think that you should be contacting your county of residence to find out what health insurance programs are available at your level of income…college health insurance plans are not usually the best choice for families.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Right. And find out if your state offers some kind of healthcare for low income families. </p>
<p>Are you going to a state university or community college? If so, they may not have much other funding to give you other than what you can get from the fed gov’t.</p>
<p>Sure…I’ll be at Georgia Tech…public state university.
COA is about 21K
Total fin aid just over 16K.
It’s about a 5500 difference. </p>
<p>And just Pell. </p>
<p>The housing/food included in COA is about 9K. So I have tuition/books/parking, etc covered. And some leftover for housing which is my own apartment. I was hoping for something that would help pay rent so I don’t have to rely on my ex, cause that is more stress than I want to deal with!!! LOL!
My daughter will be in K this year, so the only childcare expenses I would need are when she’s sick and I have to be at school or something along those lines.</p>
<p>Yeah - I may be able to get munchkin on the state health plan, but I still wont have anything.</p>
<p>Any ideas for the fin aid stuff?</p>
<p>Will you be getting any child support for your child?</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your COA?</p>
<p>Sometimes COA’s are padded, so you can cut costs there.</p>
<p>Can you get any help from parents?</p>