Not sure if this has been covered in the thread so far (I just scanned it), but the financial aid at case looks something like this IF you are not getting one of those sweet merit based grants:
Regardless of financial need (meaning, even if your EFC is zero dollars), Case will require that you borrow what's called the "Unit Loan" before they will give you any free money. My year (I'm class of 2008), I think the "Unit Loan" was something like $27,500. Which, by the way, is the maximum yearly amount you can borrow from the Federal Stafford Loan program regardless of need ($8,500 in subsidized loans and $19,000 in unsubsidized loans, each year). Hence, no matter how poor you are your family are (as far as I know), you WILL have to BORROW at least $27,500 before you get a single free dollar.
After you have borrowed $27,500 from the federal government, AND you are "needy" (meaning your EFC is sufficiently low enough - though I have no idea how low or high that is), Case will begin to consider you for "institutional aid". This consists, generally, of 50% Case LOANS and 50% Case need based grants (ie., free money).
So, let's take an example:
Suppose you are POOR and have an EFC of zero dollars. The budget at Case is something like $52,000 this year, as I recall. If your EFC is zero, your "need" is $52,000. You will have to BORROW $27,500 from the federal government. That leaves you STILL needing $24,500 for the year. Case will generally give you about $12,000 in free money and make you borrow $12,500 (or so), in Case Loans. So, at the end of the day, you would have to borrow a total of $40,000 to come to case every year.
If anybody has information different from this, let me know.
judd
