"percent of need met", financial aid packages, and avoiding debt

[ThelmaLou]

If I understand correctly, a college's "percentage of need met" average includes not only grants and scholarships, but also loans. Forgive me, but I don't really consider that a need met, because we've encouraged my kids to avoid college loans altogether. So for those of you with college kids, how much of their financial aid package consisted of grants/scholarship, and how much consisted of loans? The cost of the college my son wants to attend is around 21,000. Our projected EFC is about 6,000. This college's percent of need met is 77. So, our need would be 15,000, right? And 77% of that need met would be $11,550, leaving the unmet need at around $3,450. So I'm just wondering how much of that $11,550 I should expect to be made up of loans? I know none of the numbers are guarantees...just trying to wrap my brain around what it all means. Thanks!

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Have you looked at the net price calculator for the school? The schools I have checked for DS have indicated how much will be loans.  It's disheartening.

[Daria]

Unless it's a full need school, every net price calculator I've run has given us the maximum Federal Student Loan.  

[Teachin'Mine]

Run the NPCs.  They may "meet need" with federal loans, Parent Plus loans, work study, student summer work, etc..  If you subtract the actual grants and scholarships from the COA (cost of attendance), then you will have the amount you'll need to pay whether it's through loans or income.  The COA will include not just tuition, but mandatory fees, room, board, estimated book costs, estimated personal expenses, and maybe estimated travel expenses.  To get a better idea for your student, increase the book allowance if a STEM, studio arts, etc. major, itemize what personal expenses might include, and then add in more for the unknown and then add in what the travel expenses should be.

 

I agree with you that loans do not meet need, especially those above and beyond the federal subsidized loans.

[katilac]

Unless it's a full need school, every net price calculator I've run has given us the maximum Federal Student Loan.  

 

Same for us. It will usually also include work study. 

[katilac]

If I understand correctly, a college's "percentage of need met" average includes not only grants and scholarships, but also loans. Forgive me, but I don't really consider that a need met, because we've encouraged my kids to avoid college loans altogether. So for those of you with college kids, how much of their financial aid package consisted of grants/scholarship, and how much consisted of loans? The cost of the college my son wants to attend is around 21,000. Our projected EFC is about 6,000. This college's percent of need met is 77. So, our need would be 15,000, right? And 77% of that need met would be $11,550, leaving the unmet need at around $3,450. So I'm just wondering how much of that $11,550 I should expect to be made up of loans? I know none of the numbers are guarantees...just trying to wrap my brain around what it all means. Thanks!

 

 

As noted in my previous post, maximum Stafford loans have been included in every calculator we have run so far, and that's $5,500. 

 

Work study has also been included, usually at about $1,500. That varies a bit, and there is no guarantee of getting a campus job. 

 

iirc, these items are all going to come into play before the college meets any need. EFC + Stafford loan + work study. And the average of need met is exactly that, an average, so it could be a lot less for an individual student. 

 

Have you run the FASFA calculator to see if you are eligible for a Pell grant? 

[Brenda in MA]

Here's how I've seen it play out, using your numbers:  cost = 21,000 - EFC 6,000 = 15,000 of "need".  Now, subtract $5500 (max fed. loan), subtract say $1500 (work study), and that leaves you with a "need" of 8,000.  If the college meets 77% of need, then your child might qualify for a scholarship of around $6160 based on need.

 

So in the end, the student gets perhaps $6160 of "free" aid, and you/he/she would still pay $14840 that year (including your contribution, the work study, and the loans).

 

I say "might" because the average need met is just that, an average.  Some colleges will give better aid to those with higher grades/desirable extracurriculars/etc. and less aid to those that have stats on the low end. 

 

If this prospective college is a larger/more popular one, you might look on college confidential to see what other folks' experience has been with financial aid at the school.

 

When mine were looking for colleges, I spent a considerable amount of time investigating merit scholarship opportunities at various schools.  It really was a bit of work to come up with schools where I thought they had a decent chance at scholarships and that we could afford in the end.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

 

[Teachin'Mine]

Here's how I've seen it play out, using your numbers:  cost = 21,000 - EFC 6,000 = 15,000 of "need".  Now, subtract $5500 (max fed. loan), subtract say $1500 (work study), and that leaves you with a "need" of 8,000.  If the college meets 77% of need, then your child might qualify for a scholarship of around $6160 based on need.

 

So in the end, the student gets perhaps $6160 of "free" aid, and you/he/she would still pay $14840 that year (including your contribution, the work study, and the loans).

 

I say "might" because the average need met is just that, an average.  Some colleges will give better aid to those with higher grades/desirable extracurriculars/etc. and less aid to those that have stats on the low end. 

 

If this prospective college is a larger/more popular one, you might look on college confidential to see what other folks' experience has been with financial aid at the school.

 

When mine were looking for colleges, I spent a considerable amount of time investigating merit scholarship opportunities at various schools.  It really was a bit of work to come up with schools where I thought they had a decent chance at scholarships and that we could afford in the end.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

 

The one thing I would add to what they include in meeting need is summer work $$.  With $2500 to $3000 for that, if they include it, the grant from the college could be less than $4K.  When a college says that they meet an average of 77% of need, don't assume that your child will be the exception.  Run the NPCs!

 

[BlsdMama]

Ana had a choice - commute to the state university or student loans. In state tuition is about $8k. The school offered her almost $10k in scholarships including almost $2know in grants. She took it. Our only out of pocket was $450 for her parking pass and food.

 

We had intended she would go to a small, private, conservative, Christian school. But it would have meant loans.

 

She has applied to College of the Ozarks as a transfer student. We'll see. No student loans was a biggie for her, but she remembers Daddy joining the Army to pay off some killer student loans and we've ranted against them since she was little, it was probably persuasive.

 

So all that to say - are you absolutely set on that school?

[Joanne]

My dd's choice will be loans if she wants the 4 year, on campus, away from home college experience. She's 18; she can decide. She will be the one to pay those loans, as I am trying to salvage some kind of retirement.

 

But I am not against some debt, such as student loans for a practical degree (she's thinking nursing with teaching as second choice.)

[Hoggirl]

My dd's choice will be loans if she wants the 4 year, on campus, away from home college experience. She's 18; she can decide. She will be the one to pay those loans, as I am trying to salvage some kind of retirement.

 

But I am not against some debt, such as student loans for a practical degree (she's thinking nursing with teaching as second choice.)

But you will have to cosign anything above Stafford loans, correct? I'm just putting this out there for future readers who may not know that the child can only borrow in his/her name only the Stafford amounts - to point out that any loans above that amount belong to both child AND parent.

 

Y'all correct me if I am wrong.

[Nan in Mass]

I know the whole expected-family-contribution-needs-met thing is extremely upsetting, but I think colleges look at it like buying a car.  If you go into a car dealer and look at an expensive car, the car dealership assumes that you WANT the expensive car and that if you don't have the cash to pay for it right away, you WANT them to help you set up enough loans to enable you to buy the car anyway.  The looking expresses interest.  You didn't have to look.  You could have bought the car your neighbor's kid was selling.  In the case of colleges, "looking at a car" corresponds to applying to the college.  Colleges, like car dealers, don't necessarily think you can afford the car/college you are looking at.  They are providing you with a way to buy the car/college ANYWAY.  They might not think it is a good way, but they are trying to make possible what you have said you want to happen.  So they offer the loans.  It isn't their business to make the wise/unwise judgement.  You wouldn't want them to.  You want them to treat you as an adult and leave you the decision of whether this is a wise thing to do or an unwise thing to do.  Colleges, like car dealers, just try to find a way to make possible what you said you wanted when you appied.  They are under no obligation to decide for you what you can afford or not afford.  The government tries to help people to afford college by offering some loans.

 

If colleges have enough money left over after their running expenses, they offer scholarships and loans to help.  Those are just meant to HELP.  This country doesn't spend enough money on education for students to be entitled to a college education, the way they are entitled to a high school education.  The FAFSA and other calculators are ways for colleges and the government to try to split up fairly the SMALL amount money they have available for helping.  Sometimes, private colleges have more money to spend helping students than public colleges.  Their alumni donate money each year and they have investments.  Just before the recent financial crash, some of the big ivies were talking about making their schools tuition-free because their investments were doing so well.  The crash put a temporary stop to that idea, but I expect it will be back.  When the government decides to put lots more money into education, the public colleges will be able to do something similar.  But we-the-government prefer to put our money elsewhere, so if we want a college education, just like if we want a car, we have to pay for it.

 

Nan

 

ETA - Sorry for the rabbit trail, ThelmaLou.  It is really confusing, all the different sorts of aid, what qualifies you for the different types, which colleges offer which sorts, what forms are needed for which types, etc.  By the time we are done with the process, we should all be able to get jobs as guidance councelors.  If we want them.  Ug.  And hugs and sympathy to all who are trying to figure out how to pay for college.  It is really difficult.  This is a major life purchase.  Figuring out the wisest thing to do is hard.  If only we all had crystal balls.  - Nan