Education
Comparing two aid offers side by side
Offers are formatted differently by every school, which is what makes the comparison harder than it should be.
There is no required format, so one school may list loans alongside grants without distinguishing them, while another separates them clearly. The first task is therefore to re-sort every line on both offers into money that is repaid and money that is not.
Subtract only the non-repaid aid from each school's own published cost of attendance. The remainder is what must come from earnings, savings or borrowing, and comparing those two remainders is the comparison that matters.
Check what each offer assumes about living arrangements, and whether any element is one-off or conditional on something, such as maintaining a particular grade average or enrolling full-time.
Ask each school what typically changes in the second year. Awards that apply only to the first year are legitimate and common, and knowing which they are changes a four-year comparison substantially.
What to do next. Re-sort both offers into repaid and non-repaid, then compare the gap against each school's own cost of attendance.
studentaid.gov outranks this page. Rules, figures and dates change
between academic years. This is written to help you read the official sources, not to
stand in front of them. Start there.
Nothing here is a determination. We cannot tell you what you qualify
for, and no website can. The programme and the office that runs it decide that, after
you apply.
Still have a question?
Describe what you are trying to work out and a member of the team will answer, or direct you to the office that makes the decision.