The answer to the question “how much does financial aid cover” will vary on the amount that you received from the financial institution you accepted, where you are going to college, if you have any scholarships, how many hours you are taking, if you are attending an instate or out-of-state college, and the cost of classed per credit hour. If you are a first year applier for financial aid for college, the amount you will receive will be approximately enough to cover 15 to 18 credit hours. In layman terms, about $2000 for both semesters.
The college you have chosen to attend will split the financial aid in half to cover both semester. The reason this happens is because when you filled out the forms for the financial aid, you are doing it for a spring or fall term. The semesters are broken down into a school year like when you attended public schools.
You will then need to look at whether you are attending a community college, a public style four year college or a private college. Community colleges will have lower tuition fees per credit hour than the other two styles of colleges. The midlevel state colleges will have higher tuition fees than a community college. State colleges, such as Kansas State University, will have higher tuition fees than the other two styles of colleges. The accreditations for each of the colleges will vary slightly with each other due to the curriculum and actual setup of the colleges.
If you are attending an instate college, it doesn’t matter which of the three types of colleges you are attending, the tuition and fees will be cheaper than an out-of-state college. This is another factor you need to consider when applying for financial aid for college. Also, the amount of financial aid will also depend on which of the aforementioned types of colleges you will be attending.
You will need to take the amount of credit hours you are taking times the amount of tuition fees to get the amount being paid for a single semester of college. I will be using the tuition of Wichita State to show you how to figure this; one credit hour of tuition is $138.14. For example, a three hour credit class multiplied by the $138.14 equals $414.42 for one class at this college. This should give you an estimated amount within a few dollars of your financial aid for the semester. This will allow you to see if you have enough financial aid to cover the tuition of the classes for the semester.
If you are transferring into WSU from another college, you can apply for a transfer scholarship that is about $500. This scholarship will be applied to your first full term at this college. So the amount will be deducted from the amount of tuition and fees owed for the first semester. In this case, you may be able to pick up one further class for this semester.
Just remember with financial aid, you will have to have a minimum of 12 credit hours in classes to maintain your financial aid status. If you fall below the minimum credit hours and grade point average, you will need to fill out a form for review to regain your financial aid.
Financial aid can help cover the cost of a dorm room or other essentials if you are lucky enough to have received a full scholarship that covers your books and tuition. However, financial aid will not cover the fees for any college. Those are paid out of your own pocket, so you will need to figure that into your college credits you will be taking each semester.
While there are quite a few more factors that play a role in your financial aid and what it covers, these few general items can help you figure out what it does cover. Don’t let this detour you in attending college. Start a community college to get your core classes, English, sciences, and math, out of the way and saving you a bundle in fees and book prices.
