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A Financial aid package represents the best efforts of the
college or university financial aid office to meet a student's
demonstrated need or to offer other suggestions for available aid.
Some colleges are able to meet full demonstrated need, but some
cannot.
Below are two sample college budgets and the financial aid
packages that colleges might offer to the same freshman student. Usually
colleges will try to combine grants and loans and work to meet the
student's financial need. College A costs less than College B, so
less financial aid is offered. The estimated family contribution is
determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid,
therefore it stays the same for both colleges.
While colleges usually attempt to meet your full financial
need, sometimes they do not have enough money to do so and a "gap"
occurs between the amount the student is eligible for and the amount
of money offered by the school. College B was unable to offer Jane
Doe the full amount that she was eligible. Jane's parents could borrow funds through the PLUS loan
program for the remainder, or Jane could work and save more money
during the summer prior to her enrollment, or Jane could borrow an
unsubsidized federal loan.
When you look at your financial aid offers from colleges,
look to see how much loan and work was offered in comparison to
grants and scholarships. As you can see below, College A offered a
greater proportion of loan and work compared to loan than did
College B. However, in actual dollars, Jane will have to borrow and
work more to attend College B.
As you decide which college to attend, your financial aid
award should be considered along with the most important factor of
all - at which institution would you be more successful? Choose a
college that fits with your overall goals and interests, not just
based on which college offers the most financial aid or least loans,
etc.
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