yikes, my EFC came out to be almost $9500! My adjusted income last year was $34,000 but my current savings are less than $800. My school choice will be heavily dependent on my financial aid awards and I am hoping I can find out more about my financial aid outlook before the letters come out towards the end of April/early May.
Should I hold out hope for any substantial ($5,000+) need-based scholarships/grants from schools themselves (not federal grants) or should I anticipate essentially loans-only financial aid packages this year? (I realize this varies by school, so I am only looking for general answers but in case it helps, I am looking at Rochester, UW, GWU, Georgetown, BU and UVM)
Next year my EFC should be 0 and my parents will be making less money than this year. If I received little or no need-based aid from schools this year could I really hold out hope that I would receive them next year from schools that do tend to offer substantial need-based grants to their students? Or do schools use grants as more of an incentive to draw students in the first year?
Would writing a letter to schools that only consider the FAFSA and not Needaccess explaining several factors that are not apparent on my FAFSA such as the fact that 15% of my income last year went to undergraduate loan payments and that my mother is retiring this year to help care for my grandmother be of any help or would it seem like I was panhandling when I am obviously not in the most needy category of applicants?
A bit more background info: Parents info = combined income of around $110,000 , Parents total savings = $4,000
Parents only assets - a Subaru that they are still paying off , Parents debts – still paying off their mortgage
ANY help is very appreciated! I know that I will not really know anything for sure until financial aid letters come out but I am just hoping to gain a more realistic idea of what I should expect these letters to contain. I tend to be overly optimistic....
Thank you!
Should I hold out hope for any substantial ($5,000+) need-based scholarships/grants from schools themselves (not federal grants) or should I anticipate essentially loans-only financial aid packages this year? (I realize this varies by school, so I am only looking for general answers but in case it helps, I am looking at Rochester, UW, GWU, Georgetown, BU and UVM)
Next year my EFC should be 0 and my parents will be making less money than this year. If I received little or no need-based aid from schools this year could I really hold out hope that I would receive them next year from schools that do tend to offer substantial need-based grants to their students? Or do schools use grants as more of an incentive to draw students in the first year?
Would writing a letter to schools that only consider the FAFSA and not Needaccess explaining several factors that are not apparent on my FAFSA such as the fact that 15% of my income last year went to undergraduate loan payments and that my mother is retiring this year to help care for my grandmother be of any help or would it seem like I was panhandling when I am obviously not in the most needy category of applicants?
A bit more background info: Parents info = combined income of around $110,000 , Parents total savings = $4,000
Parents only assets - a Subaru that they are still paying off , Parents debts – still paying off their mortgage
ANY help is very appreciated! I know that I will not really know anything for sure until financial aid letters come out but I am just hoping to gain a more realistic idea of what I should expect these letters to contain. I tend to be overly optimistic....
Thank you!
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