Financial Aid for Admitted Students
As you make your final decision about where to attend college, financial aid
is most likely one of the things you and your family will consider carefully.
If you have not yet received your
financial
aid
package, there are a few pieces of information in the Frequently-Asked-Questions section
that might help you. We also encourage you to visit the informative Financial Aid section on our website.
If you have already gotten your financial aid package in the mail and are
in the process of trying to make sense of it, this page was put together
especially with you in mind. We’ve pulled together a list of the questions
we are most often asked by students at your stage of the decision process.
Above and beyond the technical questions you have about financial aid, however,
we want to present to you some questions we think you should be asking yourself
as you consider your financial aid award from Lawrence and compare it to
packages you may have received from other schools.
- What is the value of the education I will receive at Lawrence, and each
of the other colleges I’m still considering? Is it really
a bargain to pay less for an education if it
doesn’t meet my needs?
- What is the likelihood that I can graduate on time? How will not graduating
on time affect the total cost of my investment? Think about it as more
than one or two more years of tuition, but also one or two more years of
foregone income. (For what it's worth, you should consider an investment
in Lawrence to be a four-year investment - unless, of course, you're in
our five-year, double-degree program. In either case, you should count
on graduating on time.)
- When comparing
financial aid packages from different institutions, am I comparing apples
to apples? Lawrence puts together financial aid packages
using a total budget that includes tuition, room and board, activity fee,
and an estimated amount for travel and expenses such as books. Have other
colleges included these things as well, or will I need to pay those costs
above and beyond the package I‘ve received from them?
- Has each college met my financial need? What is the composition
of my financial aid package from each institution – what
is the percentage of loan, work study, and gift aid?
- How much of my need will be met by each
college in future years? Will my financial aid packages at each
school remain consistent from one year
to the next or not? (Remember that Lawrence University strives to make it financially viable for all admitted students to attend...and that
means every year, not just freshman year.)
- How much loan debt am I willing to take on during my
college career? You may be surprised to know that Lawrence students graduate
with loan debts that are, on average, similar to those of students who
graduate from a certain, well-known Big Ten university in the state capital
of Wisconsin.
- Are the merit scholarships I’ve received from each
institution renewable for my entire time at the college?
What are the renewal criteria for the scholarships?
Financial Aid Frequently Asked Questions for
Admitted Students
