Confused by financial aid... Forum

[rrigor22]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

[sunynp]

Does the honor scholarship have to be paid back? Are there stipulations on that amount?

There is almost no need based aid in law school. In New York where I live there are TAP grants, and I think still Federal Pell grants for low income students.

For law school, I wouldn't expect to see grants or amount that don't have to be repaid other than scholarships. I guess the work study you have to earn, so I'm not sure how that is paid.

You should contact your school to be sure there aren't any other programs.

[dingbat]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

FAFSA is a form, not actual aid money. What you're probably referring to is the unsubsidized loan amount. I'm surprised it isn't higher
Based on this, I assume your total COA is $33k. I presume this is state school with in-state tuition in an area with low cost of living.
If that is correct, they've determined, per the above schedule, how you will be paying for law school. You cannot take out more than the COA they determine, but you should ask how come the unsubsidized (Stafford) loan is so low and try to get it upped (your Gradplus amount will go down by the same amount - you'll get the same total cash, but a lower cost of borrowing)

[sunynp]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

FAFSA is a form, big actual aid money. What you're probably referring to is the unsubsidized loan amount. I'm surprised it isn't higher
Based on this, I assume your total COA is $33k. I presume this is state school with in-state tuition in an area with low cost of living.
If that is correct, they've determined, per the above schedule, how you will be paying for law school. You cannot take out more than the COA they determine, but you should ask how come the unsubsidized (Stafford) loan is so low and try to get it upped (your Gradplus amount will go down by the same amount - you'll get the same total cash, but a lower cost of borrowing)

Is $33,000 per semester low? Or did OP write the amount incorrectly?

[Michaela]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. You have to pay your goddamn money back.

/rant but I'm so sick of people IRL whose mommies and daddies paid for their undergrad and are now so ignorant of how financial aid works

Also- the scholarship is from the law school and the rest are gov't loans. I think the max $ you get from unsub/sub loans is $22k for the whole year so after that you have to supplement with GradPlus or (god forbid) Sallie Mae. The scholarship isn't FAFSA showing you money "owed to you." The law school just combines it all in one place for your viewing pleasure.

I think your GradPlus amount is super low though- if your tuition is something like 30k (for example), you should have 30k in loans/scholarships/work study PLUS something like 20k on top of that for COL. OP, did you "accept" all of the amount that you can have?

Reread what I wrote and I'm not mad at you (because this is the internet) but I get annoyed with 20 somethings who are so blissfully unaware of how loans/credit cards/insurance work.

[The Duck]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Your Fed Direct loans are the FAFSA aid. You aren't getting the full $20,500 though for some reason so you may want to ask them. Likely its due to you EFC and low cost of tuition. (Fed aid can't exceed the student budget.)

[Michaela]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Your Fed Direct loans are the FAFSA aid. You aren't getting the full $20,500 though for some reason so you may want to ask them. Likely its due to you EFC and low cost of tuition. (Fed aid can't exceed the student budget.)

I think actually ALL aid can't exceed the student budget. I tried to take out $3,000 in Sallie Mae to pay off my car/buy a new laptop (kind of dumb in retrospect, but I didn't want to not be able to pay rent in December!) in August and the school wouldn't do it because my fed aid was over my student budget.

[The Duck]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Your Fed Direct loans are the FAFSA aid. You aren't getting the full $20,500 though for some reason so you may want to ask them. Likely its due to you EFC and low cost of tuition. (Fed aid can't exceed the student budget.)

I think actually ALL aid can't exceed the student budget. I tried to take out $3,000 in Sallie Mae to pay off my car/buy a new laptop (kind of dumb in retrospect, but I didn't want to not be able to pay rent in December!) in August and the school wouldn't do it because my fed aid was over my student budget.

You can exceed with private loans. Just nothing federally backed...which Sallie Mae is.

[Michaela]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Your Fed Direct loans are the FAFSA aid. You aren't getting the full $20,500 though for some reason so you may want to ask them. Likely its due to you EFC and low cost of tuition. (Fed aid can't exceed the student budget.)

I think actually ALL aid can't exceed the student budget. I tried to take out $3,000 in Sallie Mae to pay off my car/buy a new laptop (kind of dumb in retrospect, but I didn't want to not be able to pay rent in December!) in August and the school wouldn't do it because my fed aid was over my student budget.

You can exceed with private loans. Just nothing federally backed...which Sallie Mae is.

Aha! I guess that's good to know but I probably won't ever utilize it.

[dingbat]

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. You have to pay your goddamn money back.

I'm so sick of people IRL whose mommies and daddies paid for their undergrad and are now so ignorant of how financial aid works

Reread what I wrote and I'm not mad at you (because this is the internet) but I get annoyed with 20 somethings who are so blissfully unaware of how loans/credit cards/insurance work.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Law school assignment #1: LSAT and application
Law school assignment #2: figure out financial aid and other requirements/deadlines.

It annoys the crud out of me when people ask questions like what the first day of class is, or what the deposit deadlines are. If you can't read the information sent to you, do a little research in the net, or ask the school a few simple questions, you're not gonna succeed in law school (actually, please continue as such, it'll help the curve...)

[Michaela]

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. You have to pay your goddamn money back.

I'm so sick of people IRL whose mommies and daddies paid for their undergrad and are now so ignorant of how financial aid works

Reread what I wrote and I'm not mad at you (because this is the internet) but I get annoyed with 20 somethings who are so blissfully unaware of how loans/credit cards/insurance work.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Law school assignment #1: LSAT and application
Law school assignment #2: figure out financial aid and other requirements/deadlines.

It annoys the crud out of me when people ask questions like what the first day of class is, or what the deposit deadlines are. If you can't read the information sent to you, do a little research in the net, or ask the school a few simple questions, you're not gonna succeed in law school (actually, please continue as such, it'll help the curve...)

At the risk of sounding like a TLS snob, I was blown away when people at orientation thought we would be registering for classes. I don't get how people spending $$$$$$ don't even take an HOUR to do a little bit of research about the next three years of their lives.

[echooo23]

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. You have to pay your goddamn money back.

/rant but I'm so sick of people IRL whose mommies and daddies paid for their undergrad and are now so ignorant of how financial aid works

Also- the scholarship is from the law school and the rest are gov't loans. I think the max $ you get from unsub/sub loans is $22k for the whole year so after that you have to supplement with GradPlus or (god forbid) Sallie Mae. The scholarship isn't FAFSA showing you money "owed to you." The law school just combines it all in one place for your viewing pleasure.

I think your GradPlus amount is super low though- if your tuition is something like 30k (for example), you should have 30k in loans/scholarships/work study PLUS something like 20k on top of that for COL. OP, did you "accept" all of the amount that you can have?

Reread what I wrote and I'm not mad at you (because this is the internet) but I get annoyed with 20 somethings who are so blissfully unaware of how loans/credit cards/insurance work.

Actually I was awarded a need-based grant (no scholarship) that does not require repayment so it does happen. And for the record, some of us don't understand financial aid because we worked full time during undergrad and paid for school without aid - not because our mommies and daddies paid our way.

[rrigor22]

I was unaware of how the loan system for law school worked because I went to a cheap undergrad and paid for it myself without loans -- not because I'm a 20 something leaching off mommy and daddy. Just stumbled upon this a year later as I was looking through old posts. Hopefully your attitude has changed since then.

I was awarded this package per semester...

Law School Honor Scholarship 9k
Federal Work Study 2k
Fed Direct Unsubsidized Loan 10k
Fed Direct Grad PLUS Loan 12k

I am confused as to whether the scholarship is just a fancy way of describing the FAFSA funds owed to me? or will I receive FAFSA aid on top of this offer? This was sent to me in an email from the school that accepted me.

I filed as an independent with a very low income so I'm a bit confused as to why I don't see any grants (or money that doesn't need to be paid back.)

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. You have to pay your goddamn money back.

/rant but I'm so sick of people IRL whose mommies and daddies paid for their undergrad and are now so ignorant of how financial aid works

Also- the scholarship is from the law school and the rest are gov't loans. I think the max $ you get from unsub/sub loans is $22k for the whole year so after that you have to supplement with GradPlus or (god forbid) Sallie Mae. The scholarship isn't FAFSA showing you money "owed to you." The law school just combines it all in one place for your viewing pleasure.

I think your GradPlus amount is super low though- if your tuition is something like 30k (for example), you should have 30k in loans/scholarships/work study PLUS something like 20k on top of that for COL. OP, did you "accept" all of the amount that you can have?

Reread what I wrote and I'm not mad at you (because this is the internet) but I get annoyed with 20 somethings who are so blissfully unaware of how loans/credit cards/insurance work.

[KittyLaredo]

Are you fucking kidding me? Almost all law students file as independents and fucking nobody gets fucking grants. .

Umm, this is not always true.....I got a substantial grant.