If you are an incoming undergraduate NEW student at Wentworth then you may have received a letter in the mail/email recently detailing your financial aid package for your first year (returning student’s receive theirs a little later). If not don’t fret I bet that letter is somewhere in the mail and should arrive shortly.
You may be asking yourself what do all of these numbers mean? What is a Perkin’s loan? How is that different from a Stafford loan? What are the different scholarships and grants listed here? Financial aid can be quite overwhelming at first but not to worry- this post will explain the various types of aid you could receive and what that all means.
Now before we get into the nitty gritty of financial awards I wanted to give a disclaimer. It’s pretty significant so bear with me. Every single student at Wentworth has a different financial aid package. Awards are generated by a number of factors and each student is different. Some of the items in this post you may not have listed in your award letter- and that’s okay. Don’t feel bad because you don’t have some grant, scholarship or loan that is featured here. This list is designed to give student’s and their families an idea of some of the more common types of aid awarded at Wentworth.
So how is financial aid need generated? Well each student that comes to Wentworth is assigned a budget group based on what year they are, whether or not they are on or off campus, what classification of student they fall under, etc. We then take that budget number and subtract the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) and that gives us a student’s need. Simple, right? Well not really since each thing is based on a number of factor’s but it’s a simple math equation so that’s nice.
Budget- EFC= Need.
Now that we got those basics down let’s review some of the commonly awarded types of aid at Wentworth.
- Each student is considered for a Merit based scholarship. This scholarship is renewable for up to five years and is awarded by the admissions department. They come up with the “merit number” based on various factors such as high school GPA, SAT/ ACT scores, extracurricular activates, AP courses taken, essay, etc. There are different tiers for these merit awards based on this number from admissions and each range has a different scholarship amount assigned to it. If you have specific questions about your amount and how that number was generated you can contact admissions!
- Wentworth also offers Federal Pell grants to student’s. Pell grants are need based grants based on a number of factors but most importantly the EFC. As these are grants they do not have to be paid off when a student graduates and are renewable for up to 6 years (12 payments). The unique aspect of Pell grants is that if you are awarded one and fall below full time status you can still receive a reduced portion of the grant.
- Stafford Loans are the most common type of loans found on a student’s award letter. They are loans from the federal government and come in two forms. The first is need based subsidized Stafford loans that DO NOT earn interest while the student is enrolled in school. The second is unsubsidized which does earn interest while the student is in school. Each student is eligible to receive a certain amount in total each year from these loans and it increases each year. The amount you get also varies on whether or not you are an independent or dependent student.
- Wentworth also offers Perkin’s Loans which are low interest loans for students with exceptional financial need. There is very limited amounts for this loan so they are not the most common form of aid.
- Student’s can also receive federal work study which allows student’s to work on campus and earn up to the amount they have been offered. This amount is not applied directly to a student’s balance but rather is available for a student to earn and assist with their charges.
- Student’s can apply for additional institutional scholarships and each of those types has their own set or parameters. For more click here! http://bit.ly/1qZgeab
- There is also the Wentworth Undergrad Fund Grant which is a need based grant. The amount varies for student’s that are Pell eligible and student’s that are not but it is designed to assist in meeting that need for students. It is a first come, first serve grant so once the funding is gone it is not possible to get it for that year.
- Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) are another need based grant that is funded by the federal government. The grants are also awarded on a first come first serve basis and if you receive SEOG one year doesn’t guarantee that you will receive it the next year.
- Gilbert Grants are need based Massachusetts state grants. To receive this grant both the student and their parent’s need to be MA residents and student’s have to be enrolled full time at Wentworth. There is a maximum amount for this award set by the state at $2,000 for the year.
- State Grants do not get awarded till later so they won’t show up on any award letters quite yet. The states that currently issue grants for student’s at Wentworth are Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
This is not an exhaustive list of awards you could see. There may be other forms of financial aid that pop up on your letter. If you do have specific questions about your financial aid package we always recommend reaching out to your financial aid counselor for more information (see our first blog post for the alpha split of your counselor) and as always submit any questions you have to us here as well!
Until next time!
-Mady
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