How to explain that my living costs are diff. from estimate Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi All,

Here's my situation: I received 14.5k need based aid, plus 5k scholly from a local T1. I will be living at home during law school, so living expenses will be minimal. However, since I declined the (atrocious) GRAD Plus loans I was offered, my school has put a hold on my need-based aid. I'm wondering how I explain my situation to the school?

To be clear, I will be paying (minimal) rent to live in my parents house, so I am not receiving housing assistance. However, as my parents and I have discussed, rent will be forgiven if I cook dinner one night a week, and spend a couple hours per week taking care of my mildly disabled brother. I will also have minimal food expenses, and no utilities (the food expenses will also be forgiven). How do I explain to my school that my actual living expenses for the year will be roughly 7k (which I can cover), not 27k?

Edit- Before anyone mentions it, I realize this is posted in the incorrect forum. However, I'm not sure how to move posts between forums

[rinkrat19]

Call or email the financial aid office. And explain it better than you did here, because I'm still not sure if you're asking for money or turning it down.

[09042014]

Hi All,

Here's my situation: I received 14.5k need based aid, plus 5k scholly from a local T1. I will be living at home during law school, so living expenses will be minimal. However, since I declined the (atrocious) GRAD Plus loans I was offered, my school has put a hold on my need-based aid. I'm wondering how I explain my situation to the school?

To be clear, I will be paying (minimal) rent to live in my parents house, so I am not receiving housing assistance. However, as my parents and I have discussed, rent will be forgiven if I cook dinner one night a week, and spend a couple hours per week taking care of my mildly disabled brother. I will also have minimal food expenses, and no utilities (the food expenses will also be forgiven). How do I explain to my school that my actual living expenses for the year will be roughly 7k (which I can cover), not 27k?

Edit- Before anyone mentions it, I realize this is posted in the incorrect forum. However, I'm not sure how to move posts between forums

I assume their possession is that if you are getting 20k of free living, you don't need need-based aid.

[Anonymous User]

Will do. To be clear, I accepted enough aid to pay my tuition. However, I did not accept enough aid to cover the living expenses the school estimates I should have, because their estimates don't apply to my particular situation. Appreciate the advice.

[sap]

Did you check "living with parents" on your FAFSA? At least when I checked that, my school didn't include room and board when it estimated my CoA. I'd go back to your FAFSA, make sure that's checked, THEN call.

[Anonymous User]

Did you check "living with parents" on your FAFSA? At least when I checked that, my school didn't include room and board when it estimated my CoA. I'd go back to your FAFSA, make sure that's checked, THEN call.

I checked that. The emails I received let me know a hold was being placed on my aid, and that the financial aid office would like a budget detailing how I planned on paying my living expenses for the year. Because the school referenced a financial aid calculator (which includes estimates for living expenses) I'm presuming they are using the estimates posted publicly on their website.

[laxbrah420]

Here's my story:
They forgot to subtract my scholarship from my COA so I was originally awarded a lot more than I needed to live on. So, I emailed, "Yo, could just drop it by like 10k i don't need that much" --then they dropped it by the full scholarship, to the actual cost of attendance (more than the 10k drop that I asked for), which blew, because I wanted more money, even if it has a high interest rate, because I can just pay it off in the future when I don't feel like drinking as much.

Needless to say, they do have the power to change your shit. Just talk to them.