An award letter contains detailed information about how much financial assistance a college is offering you. It includes all grants, scholarships, student loans, and work-study programs that you’re being offered. Along with the breakdown of the different types of financial aid, the award letter also contains the respective award amounts.
You will receive an award letter from all colleges that have accepted your application. Taking the time to review each award letter carefully is very important. This will help you determine how much it will actually cost you to attend each college. However, reviewing award letters can be tricky. These letters contain a lot of complex legal phrases and words with very specific meanings. Making a mistake could cost you dearly.
These are a few of the more common college award letter mistakes that students make.
7 Common College Award Letter Mistakes
1. Not Calculating the Cost of Attendance Correctly
When calculating the cost of attendance, most students only factor in the cost of tuition and boarding. However, there are several other expenses that you will incur in college. The total cost of attendance includes the cost of textbooks and supplies, additional school fees, housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses. This is in addition to the tuition fees.
Adding all of these costs will give you a more realistic expectation of the cost of attending any college. On the other hand, overlooking any of these costs will give you a wrong estimate. This could result in you making a wrong decision. You may end up choosing to attend a college that’s unaffordable. Or you may eliminate a college that’s a good match for you only because you thought it was too expensive.
2. Comparing Apples and Oranges
There is no standard format for writing award letters. Each college uses its own template as well as its own terminology. This can make comparisons difficult and often results in miscalculations. Using College Raptor’s online Award Letter Comparison Tool can simplify these comparisons and help you determine the accurate net price of attending each college.
3. Borrowing All the Money Offered to You
The award letter is really an offer letter. It outlines the total financial aid that the college is offering you in the form of grants, gift aid, student loans, and work-study. However, you don’t have to accept all the aid that’s being offered to you. You can choose to take on only as much as you need and decline the rest.
You will want to accept all the free aid offered in the form of grants and scholarships. This free aid can help lower the total cost of attendance considerably. Even better, you don’t have to return any free or gift aid you receive and you don’t have to pay interest on it either.
However, when it comes to student loans, it makes better financial sense to borrow only what you need and nothing more. This is because you have to return all loans that you take on with interest after you graduate. Borrowing money that you don’t need will only send you deeper into debt unnecessarily. When you consider that interest starts accruing from the date the loan is disbursed, this can be a very expensive mistake.
4. Not Asking for Help
There’s no denying that college award letters can be confusing. College financial aid offices understand this and will go out of their way to clarify anything you don’t understand. Not sure how much you would owe after adding up the grants and scholarships? Call the school’s financial aid office and ask. Confused about the scholarship requirements. Ask. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask questions. You want to make the most informed decision.
5. Overlooking Scholarship Requirements
If you’ve won any federal or institutional scholarships, those details will be included in your award letter. Every scholarship is different, not just in terms of the award money, but also in terms of its requirements. Some scholarships may offer one-time awards, others may be recurring. Some may require awardees to maintain certain academic grades to receive the award money for the following year. The requirements to maintain your scholarship status may vary among opportunities.
Overlooking these criteria is a mistake. If you meet the specified requirements, you could be disqualified from receiving any award money. For example, a scholarship may require you to maintain a 3.50 GPA. If you don’t know and your GPA slips to 3.0 the next year, you could lose that award money. Knowing the requirements is key to receiving this free financial aid every year.
6. Not Appealing Your Financial Aid
You may be eligible for more financial aid under certain circumstances. This could be if there was a major change in your family’s financial circumstances after you filed the FAFSA. To file a successful appeal, you must be able to provide documentation supporting the change in your family’s finances.
Financial aid is calculated based on the information submitted through the FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid). Your family’s finances are the major determining factor in calculating aid. However, there’s a significant gap between filing the FAFSA and receiving a college award letter. During that time, a parent may have lost their job or become chronically ill, reducing the family’s total income.
Most colleges will look into your appeal and honor it if they have the funds. However, there are very strict rules and regulations governing financial aid appeals and it’s important to be realistic.
7. Not Negotiating Your Financial Aid
If the financial aid offered by your first-choice college is not as appealing as that offered by your second or third-choice college, consider negotiating. Tell your first-choice college that they really are your first choice but their financial aid package falls short of your needs. Emphasize that, although you’d love to attend their school, you cannot afford to pay their cost of attendance. Ask them if they would consider increasing your financial aid to make it more affordable for you to attend.
College admissions are highly competitive – not just for students but also for colleges. All colleges want to admit students who are a good fit for their institution and who will contribute to their reputation. The key is to be specific with your request. Be prepared to back your appeal with a copy of the competing award letter. You have a better chance of winning an appeal if you’ve consistently earned good grades in high school and are also accomplished in some other field.
Can You Avoid College Award Letter Mistakes?
Now that you’re aware of the mistakes, you can take the steps to avoid them. It’s vital to compare offer letters and truly understand what’s offered in them. Luckily, College Raptor’s tool makes side-by-side comparisons easy.
