Financial Aid question

Krak,

There is actually a site that contains several calculators to ESTIMATE your EFC or Expected Family Contribution:

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/
(Scroll down to Needs Analysis.)

These calculators will give you a rough estimate of your potential EFC. But it really doesn't count until it is officially calculated on your FAFSA. Later when you send the FAFSA to colleges, most of them will try to offer you a financial aid package (grants, loans, etc.) equal to the difference between the EFC (your out of pocket contribution expected) and their total cost per year. But even this will vary by school.

Here is an example:

If your EFC turns out to be $12,000 per year, and your child is accepted at a college which costs $22,000 per year, when you apply for financial aid they will probably try to offer you a total package of $10,000 ... but they may offer a little more, or a little less. (Some colleges do not follow this scenario at all, though.)

Hopefully other folks will have more info for you, but you might want to check out the calculators. The figures were "in the ballpark" for us.

Julie

Eegads, is does get complicated, and probably moreso for us being overseas.

Another question -- when determining aid, are ALL school expenses included (romm and board, fees, books, etc), or is it ONLY tuition??

Krak -
All expenses are included in a financial aid determination. They even put in a number for "personal expenses" which includes things like travel expenses.

The collegeboard.com website has financial aid calculators, as well as a wealth of other great information for families. (They're the SAT/CSS Profile people.)

But let me also add this - and this comes from the experience of currently having our fourth child in college - your financial aid package will be different at every school you apply to. You will NEVER be able to accurately predict what any college will cost your child until you apply and get a financial aid offer. Our youngest son's offers ranged from $12-15,000 at a few small private schools to a full academic scholarship at a $44,000 per year school. There are just too many variables at work - schools have all kinds of money they can come up with if THEY want YOU at their school. Having a variety of offers can also help you negotiate a better package... while some schools will not negotiate (and will tell you so right in their fin aid offer) the school our son finally chose came up with an additional $5,000 when we showed them the full ride offer he got from the "other" school.

Bottom line - apply to the schools you're interested in, make sure you choose at least one "safe school" and one "dream" school and see what the offers look like. And, by all means, REGARDLESS of your income (and that's probably more for other folks who might be reading as it sounds like you've already accepted the inevitability) FILL OUT THE FAFSA! It makes me crazy when people say "we make too much money - I'm not even going to bother filling it out". Oh, really... you make so much that you would turn down FREE MONEY? Cuz that's where the majority of grants and scholarships spring from at the school of your choice. It all starts with the FAFSA. And it's really not all that bad to fill out - no worse than a tax form really. And once you've filled it out online, the information is stored for future years... so it's only painful once!

Good luck with your son's college search - it's a life changing experience to say the least!

quote:

Originally posted by mythreesons:
FILL OUT THE FAFSA! And it's really not all that bad to fill out - no worse than a tax form really.

I thought it was actually MUCH easier than doing taxes. Additionally, they've got a customer service number so if you need help or have a question and you're freaking out in the middle of filling it in, you can call them and somebody will walk you through it (purely hypothetical situation of course!!!!)

Krak - Do the FAFSA calculator though and it will get you VERY close to your EFC.

One thing to stress that really shocked me was that a vast majority of the time, the EFC is what your contribution will be (what Acme University expects Krak to pay out of his pocket). In the example Julie gave (COA $22k, EFC $12k, FinAid $10k), the EFC amount will be your responsibility (usually) to pay via savings, loans, etc. Additionally, there will be loans as part of the $10k FA package.

Krak-
Let me know by PM if you need more info. It was my job for 10 yrs.-worked in higher ed for the last 15, education since 1981 and have boys in college myself.

Thanks everyone. I filled out three different FinAid calculators online and came up with a range of EFC that looked manageable even on the top end.....a nice relief. I know they're not as EXACT as FAFSA, but they all claim to be a very reasonable approximation....so within the range I came up with I'd assume.........

ONWARD!!!

My son applied to 12 schools. All had baseball at different levels from 2 JUCOs D1, D2 & D3. He was accepted at all 12. However, when it came down to offers the 2 JUCOs had the best financial offers. Of the 4 year schools only 1 came close to making a financial aid offer that made our amount near the EFC. Most were not even in the same range. These were total financial offers including any athletic scholarships. He is at a state school in NJ. He liked the school, liked the coaches, and they came up wit the best overall offer.

Krak, to emphasize what Beezer said - be aware that many schools will have loans and work-study programs as large parts of their aid package. How a baseball player could do a work-study program is beyond me...

quote:

How a baseball player could do a work-study program is beyond me...

Texan, My son did it this past fall. It was VERY difficult. I actually had him give it up this spring and just bit the bullet on paying the additional difference. We're still undecided about next fall, but if there's anyway I can prevent him from doing it, I will. To have to find an additional 10-12 hours for work study is, as you said, almost impossible! I don't recommend it for any player unless there's no other alternative.

Your son has my admiration, laf.

Early Decision is 'binding', right? So if it's binding, do they have to let you know what your aid package will be BEFORE applying ED? Seems like a Catch-22 to me..how does it work?

My understanding is (never having applied ED) that you will not have a financial aid decision before applying... definitely a catch-22. You have to be mighty sure that you a. want to attend said collge and b. can afford said college even if you get no financial aid at all. By applying ED you are saying that that you will apply no where else and if accepted you will matriculate.

Having said that, I asked several admissions counselors just how binding ED was... what could they possibly do to a student who chose not to follow through? First came the blank stares, then the answer that seemed to say it's really a code of honor among colleges - if you renege on an ED agreement, other schools won't accept you... although I got the feeling they were speaking specifically of other schools of the same caliber.

On the issue of work-study, be sure to ask exactly what kind of work-study opportunities are available. One of our kids worked for the athletic department, which involves things like running chains and parking cars at football games or sitting in the rec center checking IDs while doing your homework. There may be more student-athlete oriented jobs available at some schools than you might be aware of. He was also able to work all his allotted hours in the off-season as well... easier since he was in D-III programs. I'm not sure D-I's really have an off-season?

Thanks Texan! He's no different than a lot of kids though, as far as working to do their part.

Mythreesons - That's a good point about work study! My son's school's fall schedule is almost as demanding as the spring (NAIA). I just felt as though the outcome in the spring was what was more important, thus allowed him to stop in the spring. He worked as a security guard which did not allow him to study. Although, nothing "big" to follow through on as security on a small Christian campus, he would be on his feet for several hours and then go pitch... not a good combination. Plus his grades obviously suffered. A larger load in the spring without work study equalled much better grades. If one does have to do it, the choice of job is key.