Ohio State University

April Financial Aid Checklist for Seniors

Posted on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 08:18

It's decision time! Your financial aid award letters will usually arrive with your letters of acceptance, or soon thereafter. Even though you will be celebrating and contemplating your choices, you will also need to be focused and diligent about evaluating your financial aid offers. College advisor Alice Kleeman is back with advice for students and families  and answers for your questions during this important time.

 

  • You will often receive financial aid offers (also called "financial aid packages" or "financial aid award letters") with your admit letter or shortly thereafter.  Review these offers carefully. Ask questions at your College and Career Center or Guidance Office if you don't understand your letters.
  • Different colleges cost different amounts, present their costs in different ways, and offer different amounts of financial aid in different combinations. This can make it difficult to understand which combination of price and student aid award is best. Here are some tools for comparing financial aid awards:  

                        US Department of Education College Affordability and Transparency Center

                        College Board Big Future

Ohio State's Executive Director of Financial Aid on Financial Aid Awards: Part One

Posted on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 11:32

Different colleges cost different amounts, present their costs in different ways, and offer different amounts of fiancial aid in different combinations. This can make it difficult to understand which combination of price and student aid award is best.Diane Stemper, Executive Director of Financial Aid at The Ohio State University, joins us today for the first of a two-part post on comparing financial aid awards so that students and their families can be wise consumers and better understand what they are being offered and signing on for.

During 30 years as a financial aid director, I have worked at several different colleges and universities, creating and revising award letters at each and every school.  Financial aid offices across the country engage in the same activity, striving to provide a clear message in the financial aid award letter and often approaching it in a slightly different manner.  The result is that letters from different institutions often do not look the same.  How do you understand this land of acronyms and abbreviations?  And more importantly, how do you understand what the cost will be to you and how do you compare this for various institutions as you make your very important college choice decision? 

Basic Definitions:

There are a few basic definitions that will assist you in sorting out the information: