Financial Aid Wizard

How do I interpret my award letter?

Interpreting a financial aid award letter fully takes some time. While most colleges try to make their awards as clear as possible, you may still have questions. You will want to get them answered before the deadline to accept the financial aid award.

The following sample award may help you interpret you own aid awards.

In this award, the college is covering more than half of the demonstrated financial need with a grant. That certainly helps! But it would be important to check with the financial aid staff to see whether this level of grant can be expected in future years. (Unfortunately, some colleges do make large initial grants to encourage students to enroll and may reduce or remove grants after the first year.)
Sample Financial Aid Award Package
Total Cost of Attendance$20,000
Expected Family Contribution$5,000
Outside Scholarship$1,000
Financial Need$14,000
Financial Aid Package
Federal Pell Grant$0
State Scholarship Grant$1,500
Institutional Grant$7,500
Federal Perkins Loan$1,500
Federal Direct Loan$1,500
Federal Work Study$2,000
Total Award$14,000

  • You'll also want to look into the continued availability of the state grant.

  • If the grants look to be stable over the time you'd be enrolled, you can estimate the total student loan indebtedness you would have after four years--in this case, around $12,000 if college costs remain the same. That's about the average level of indebtedness for students graduating nationwide.

  • You'll also want to look at the work-study figure. Are you willing to work on campus to earn these funds? If not, you will be expected to come up with the $2,000 in some other way (either extra work beyond the summer earnings expectation, a gift from a relative, a loan, etc.).

  • Of course, if you have received more than one financial aid award, you will want to compare them. Enter your award letter amounts on the worksheets below and go to the next step of the Financial Aid Wizard to compare your award packages.

Close Window