Cost of attendance/max loan amount

[armybound]

I'm confused right now.. which is exacerbated by my school telling me I owe them a lot of money.

Say "cost of attendance" is $15,000. You get a scholarship for $11,000. Does that mean the maximum amount you can take out in loans is $4,000, or can you take out the full cost of attendance ($15,000)?

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[Sol Rosenberg]

You can only get financial aid up to the cost of attendance. So, the maximum amount you could take out is $4000.

Are you sure that your school's COA is only $15k? Seems awful low. Does that include tuition? If not, tuition is part of your COA.

 

[armybound]

You can only get financial aid up to the cost of attendance. So, the maximum amount you could take out is $4000.

Are you sure that your school's COA is only $15k? Seems awful low. Does that include tuition? If not, tuition is part of your COA.

that was cost of attendance for 1 semester.

apparently I really screwed up. I don't quite understand what happened.

 

[Twitch]

COA's are typically stated for the academic year (or specifically for the financial aid year).

Nevertheless, 15k for one semester still seems awfully low.

 

[armybound]

http://www.baylor.edu/finaid/index.php?id=43676

so it looks like I owe them money. this really sucks.

 

[alwaysaangel]

http://www.baylor.edu/finaid/index.php?id=43676

so it looks like I owe them money. this really sucks.

What happened maybe we can help you? Most schools finaid is pretty self explanatory and pretty hard to screw up.

Did they give you the full 15k and then you spent it?

 

[armybound]

What happened maybe we can help you? Most schools finaid is pretty self explanatory and pretty hard to screw up.

Did they give you the full 15k and then you spent it?

yeah, I guess I got confused with my award offer and made a mistake.

when I got my award offer for last year, I knew I'd only be attending in the fall. they offered me full tuition (as usual) plus the grants and loans they usually offer and I turn down. the total was $10,000 tuition, ~$1400 grant, ~$19000 loans (~$30,000 total). Of course that's 2 semester's COA but only 1 semester of tuition (I didn't realize this at the time.. stupid mistake).

I decided I'd take out the full amount of loans (knowing I'd only get half of them) and put them towards some private loans I have that are drawing higher interest. I assumed that getting 1/2 of the award offer meant that I was still within my cost of attendance for each semester. So I got $10,000 in tuition, $9500 in loans, and a $1400 grant. When I didn't return for the spring they re-evaluated my COA and realized they had given me $20,000 in the fall for a $15,000 COA. I already spent that money on my other student loans, so.. I owe them $5,000.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

yeah, I guess I got confused with my award offer and made a mistake.

when I got my award offer for last year, I knew I'd only be attending in the fall. they offered me full tuition (as usual) plus the grants and loans they usually offer and I turn down. the total was $10,000 tuition, ~$1400 grant, ~$19000 loans (~$30,000 total). Of course that's 2 semester's COA but only 1 semester of tuition (I didn't realize this at the time.. stupid mistake).

I decided I'd take out the full amount of loans (knowing I'd only get half of them) and put them towards some private loans I have that are drawing higher interest. I assumed that getting 1/2 of the award offer meant that I was still within my cost of attendance for each semester. So I got $10,000 in tuition, $9500 in loans, and a $1400 grant. When I didn't return for the spring they re-evaluated my COA and realized they had given me $20,000 in the fall for a $15,000 COA. I already spent that money on my other student loans, so.. I owe them $5,000.

Have you contacted the FA office to see if they can work with you on repaying the loan? Thanks for sharing this because it's important to know you always need to look out for this stuff.

 

[armybound]

Have you contacted the FA office to see if they can work with you on repaying the loan? Thanks for sharing this because it's important to know you always need to look out for this stuff.

yeah. the school had to refund the loan to the government (it was a federal stafford) and they're apparently very accommodating when it comes to an alum needing to pay back what they owe the school. when I called she's like "how much do you want to pay per month?"

i was like uhh well, how much do you want? how soon do you want this paid off? she just told me they'd work with me and I could pay however much was good for me.

I just wasn't expecting a $5k un-loan payment on top of having to repay my other loans