Who here is nervous for finalcial aid?

<p>Re: #34</p>

<p>Dan,</p>

<p>Could you please elaborate on the University Scholar(ship)? I’m not familiar with it and was operating under the impression that Tufts did not offer merit aid. </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Hello,
I’m new on CC. I have a current junior who is interested in Tufts. We visited last month and she loved the school. However she will not be able to attend without a “great” financial aid package. </p>

<p>So without sounding nosy could any of you that received good packages please give me a brief account of assets. Our income is <55,000 but our home equity is about 550,000. Fortunately (or should I say unfortunately at this point) we live in an area with inflated home prices which by the way are starting to drop. We have no money in the bank, pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, (small family business which we both work at is just hanging on by a thread). We are in our mid 50’s have IRA’s that were opened when we were much younger and were able to save for retirement. No other assests.</p>

<p>I’m hearing different scenarios here on FA, some good, some not so good. At this point I’m telling my daughter that she can only apply where the FA is going to allow her to attend. So are there any people in similar financial situation receive “affordable packages”?</p>

<p>Dan, My confusion with the tufts FA response for my son is that their calculations were completely different then the FAFSA/CSS profile. I am assuming that they recalculate? We were not expecting much, but got no offer for subsidized loans, or anything for that matter. Tufts has been my sons first choice and we had told him if he got accepted, we would make it work, and we are lucky that we can make that effort. Are we entitled to use a payment plan? where would we find out the information. I do find the financial aid information on the website to be very general.</p>

<p>jaime2008: My family (which is my mother, my younger sister, and I) lives paycheck to paycheck as well. My mother makes about 39000 a year, and she does not own a home. At the beginning of the college process (I’m a first generation college student), I didn’t think I was going to be able to attend any college because of price. But Tufts has been incredibly generous. I recieved 48,400 in grants. And I do not have to take out loans. The expected family contribution portion is about 3000 - which may not sound like a lot to most, but it is to us. However, I plan on working full time this summer…so I’ll make it happen, and hopefully my mother will not have to contribute anything. </p>

<p>I have only good things to say about my experiences with the financial aid office at Tufts. I received my financial aid package about 3 weeks ago (I applied ED) and there was originally 2,500 in loans included. I called the financial aid office because my guidance counselor told me that Tufts replaces all loans with grants for undergraduates from families with annual incomes below 40,000. I was told that child support put my mother at a little over 41,000, but I received an e-mail an hour later saying that the financial aid office had decided that since I was so close to the 40,000 mark they were going to cancel my loans anyway and replace them with grants.</p>

<p>Needless to say I am very very very thankful.</p>