Student Financial Aid FAQs

What kinds of financial aid are available?

-          need based aid

-          federal work study

-          grants

-          scholarships

-          paid internships/co-ops (many times your earnings can even be tax-free)

Can international students get financial aid?

Unfortunately, financial aid and university scholarships through Case are restricted to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. However, financial aid at the post-baccalaureate level in the form of grants, tuition assistantships, and fellowships is awarded by the individual professional school or graduate department, so check with your prospective school or department.

How do I apply for financial aid?

-  fill out the free FAFSA [http://www.fafsa.com] online

-  submit Case’s online financial aid form [http://finaid.case.edu/Finaid.aspx?Application_Process&Level=002]. This step requires you to mail other financial documents to Case’s financial aid office, like you and your parents’ IRS forms, etc.

-  accept or decline your financial aid package at briefCase

How much financial aid will I get?

Financial aid is based on the cost to attend Case (tuition, housing, fees, etc.) and the estimated amount of money that you and your parents can contribute. This contribution amount, a.k.a your estimated family contribution (EFC), is calculated by the government when you fill out the FAFSA. Your financial need is the cost of attendance minus your EFC. For example, if you fill out the FAFSA and the government determines your parents can contribute $25,000 for that school year, and your tuition bill is 46,000 (that’s tuition, room and board, activity fee, technology fee, etc), then Case will try to provide you with $21,000 ($46,000 –$30,000) in need based financial aid.

But let’s pretend you got the Provost scholarship as a freshman that is worth $15,000/yr. Now the actual cost of your attendance is only $31,000 ($46,000 – $15,000). Your EFC is still $25,000, so Case will try to provide you with $6,000 in financial aid to make up the difference ($31,000 – $25,000).

Now let’s say you have a younger brother who enters college the following year. When you fill out the FAFSA for this year, it is likely that your EFC will decrease (maybe to $12,000 from $25,000), because your family is now supporting two college students, so you will probably be awarded more need based financial aid this year.

This is a very simplified model to estimate how much financial aid you could receive. There are many more factors in determining aid, but this example is useful to understand generally how financial aid is calculated.

Why did my financial aid go down this year?

The financial aid office has a set budget to divide up among students for financial aid. If there is a larger freshman class, or a smaller graduating class the previous year, your aid may have gone down slightly since more students are receiving aid. Another possibility is that your family’s financial status has changed, that caused your EFC to increase for this year. For example, if your parents recently got a pay raise, one of your siblings is no longer in college, or your parents just sold a house and have extra money in the bank, the FAFSA probably readjusted your need based on these circumstances.

If you are worried that you will not be able to pay for your education due to a decrease in your aid, please talk to someone in the financial aid office. They are always more than willing to look over your finances, and many times there are additional options available to help you.

Will I lose financial aid if I move off campus?

Yes. As a general rule, if you choose to move off campus you will lose the amount of money that you would have paid to live in Case housing. On paper, off campus students are treated as commuter students living at home, i.e. it’s like you aren’t paying for housing, even though you may be paying rent. This is justified by the fact that off campus students choose to live off campus versus living in Case housing. The financial aid office has a set budget for financial aid that they divide up among students who apply for it. It is only fair that they give this money to the students that are living on campus at Case, rather than students who choose to live off campus and pay their own living expenses.

What scholarships are available?

Find scholarships here:

-  Case and Ohio Scholarships [http://www.case.edu/provost/ugstudies/scholarships/S-caselist.htm]

-  National Scholarships [http://www.case.edu/provost/ugstudies/scholarships/S-national.htm]

-  FastWeb Scholarship Search [http://www.fastweb.com/]

Why didn’t my merit-based scholarship from Case increase with tuition?

Just like financial aid, Case has a set budget for merit-based scholarships. About half the students at Case get a merit-based scholarship. Therefore, when you enter as a freshman with a merit scholarship, it is already predetermined how much money you will get over your 4 years at Case. If scholarships were to increase (like tuition), then the initial amount of the scholarship would be less so that there was room for increase while still maintaining the budget. You would still be receiving the same total amount of money over the 4 years. You might then ask why incoming freshmen get higher merit based-scholarships than you did when you entered (i.e. your Provost scholarship was worth $15,700/yr, but incoming freshman are now getting 16,800/yr). This is because by the time those incoming freshman are seniors, they would have paid more in tuition overall than you (because tuition increases every year).

How can I get more information about financial aid?

For answers to more questions, you can check out more frequently asked questions on the financial aid [http://finaid.case.edu/Finaid.aspx?Questions&Option=FAQ&Level=007-001] site. You can also always stop by Yost 417A to have any of your questions answered.