College of the Atlantic > Admissions

Welcome to COA's Financial Aid Help Pages. You'll find brief, easy-to-understand answers to most common financial aid questions followed by more detailed explanations. If you don't find the question or answer you are looking for, even if it is not directly related to COA, please contact Bruce Hazam or Laurie Ward in Financial Aid at 1.800.528.0025 or email one of us at bhazam@coa.edu or lward@coa.edu and we will be happy to help you. You can also send us feedback on whether you find this site helpful in answering your questions.

COA's school code is: 011385. This will instruct the FAFSA to send a copy of your Student Aid Report (SAR) to COA.

General Financial Aid help -- You may wish to start by selecting one of the following:

April 2007... The Department of Education hopes to simplify the FAFSA in the near future and is providing a new tool, called the FAFSA4caster, to help students and families prepare and plan for college before the senior year in high school. The FAFSA4caster will help estimate the federal financial aid for which a student may be eligible. (The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that students and families must file on an annual basis if they are seeking financial aid.) Read more about the FAFSA4casterhere.

The first piece of financial advice for students looking at colleges is to ignore the price tag. You simply do not know what a school will cost you out-of-pocket until you see a financial aid award. It is entirely possible that a $35,000 school could cost you less than a $25,000 school if the former provides a favorable award package.

About 80% of COA students receive at least some form of financial aid. Many have low expected family contributions based on their financial aid application, even $0 for some. We offer merit scholarships as well as need-based aid, making COA affordable for many students and families, regardless of income.

You should apply to schools you are most interested in, independent of the sticker price!

Acronyms: EFC, CoA (Expected Family Contribution; Cost of Attendance)
When you file an application for financial aid, your ability to contribute to the cost of education is determined by assessing your family's finances and other information. This is known as the expected family contribution (EFC) and it is generally the same regardless of what schools you are applying to.

The cost of attendance* of a particular school minus your EFC equals your "financial need". The financial aid officer will look at your need and determine what kinds of aid you are eligible for. This may include loans, workstudy, scholarships and or grants.

ABC College cost of attendance is $35,000. Your EFC is $12,000, therefore your need is $23,000.

XYZ College costs $25,000. Your EFC is still $12,000, therefore your need is $13,000.

* Pay attention to the cost of attendance figure (CoA), not the tuition figure. The cost of attendance generally includes tuition, fees, room, board, books, travel and miscellaneous personal expenses. Not all of these expenses are billed and some are based on estimates, for example, books.

The Details
Acronyms: FAFSA, SAR (Free Application for Federal Student Aid; Student Aid Report)

Here's an awarding example for these hypothetical schools: If ABC gives you a financial aid package worth $21,000 and XYZ offers a package worth $10,000, then ABC actually will cost you less! (You pay your $12,000 EFC plus $2000 not covered by financial aid as opposed to XYZ where you would pay the $12,000 plus $3000 of need not covered.)

And here's the typical application process: Generally you file a government form known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and another form for the particular school - often the Profile, but many schools have their own forms. Additionally, many schools require a Noncustodial Parent's Statement if the parents are separated or divorced. Be prepared to provide copies of the previous year's tax returns if requested.

After filing the FAFSA you will get something back from the government called a Student Aid Report (SAR) and that will have your EFC on it. When you file the FAFSA, you can indicate up to 6 schools where you would like to have copies of your SAR sent in addition to your email address.

If you are admitted to a school the financial aid office will then calculate your financial aid eligibility and provide you with the results, hopefully with your letter of admission or soon afterwards.

Acronyms: FAFSA; EFC; SAR (Free Application for Federal Student Aid; Expected Family Contribution; Student Aid Report).

1) You file a FAFSA with the federal government (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)

2) Most institutions have you file either the Profile or their own institutional form. They may also ask that you file a Noncustodial Parent's Statement if your parents are separated or divorced. Be prepared to provide tax forms and W-2s if requested. Download COA's financial aid application here. (pdf -77k)

The Details...
Filing the FAFSA online is the best way to go. It's quicker, more accurate and gives you quick access to your information should you need to look at it or update it later. You cannot file until January 1, but you should do so as soon thereafter as possible. Provide estimates if your taxes are not complete and then complete your taxes at the earliest possible opportunity - you'll need to go back and update your FAFSA information at that point. Visit www.fafsa.ed.gov to find out more. English and Spanish versions of the FAFSA are available.

You can file a paper FAFSA if you need to but it is not recommended. They are usually available in high school guidance offices, at colleges and universities, and often at libraries.

The FAFSA gathers information about your family and finances. It looks at things such as income, assets, number in family, number in college, age of older parent (in order to protect his or her assets) and more. After you submit the FAFSA, you get a Student Aid Report (SAR) emailed to you and copies are sent to schools you listed on the form (up to 6). The SAR tells you what your "expected family contribution" (EFC) is - a reasonable expectation of what any family with similar circumstances should be able to put towards the cost of education, regardless of what school you choose to attend. Keep in mind that it is supposed to be reasonable, not necessarily a reflection of what you have in ready cash. The formula used to derive this estimate does not take most debt into account or some other factors that are generally considered discretionary, such as a second home, a private high school education, etc.

Be aware that the EFC can change from year to year since you must file the FAFSA with new information on an annual basis. Changes may be small or large, depending on family finances and cirumstances and may move in either direction. For example, if two children are in college one year, each with a separate EFC, and the following year only one is in college, then that student's EFC may virtually double since family resources are now all directed towards one child instead of two. In this scenario, the individual student's financial need would likely decrease as would eligibility for need-based aid. However, the family's contribution to higher education would be about the same as the previous year if all else was equal; the money would go towards one student's expenses rather than two. Obviously, income, assets and other variables do come into play, but this is important in understanding how need-based aid is calculated in principle.

The Profile or school's institutional form usually collects additional information about your family finances and is used to determine if you qualify for institutional funds in addition to federal and state aid.

Don't be afraid to call the school's financial aid office to check if everything is on time and complete!

After you file the FAFSA online, you need to check your email for a notification that your SAR is ready for you to review. If you file a paper FAFSA, you will no longer receive a paper SAR as in the past - it will be delivered by email notification.

Read your SAR closely! There are comments included that often ask you to follow up and either correct or update certain information. Not following through is the most common issue in delaying or even reducing a student's financial aid!

COA requires that you file the FAFSA, COA Finnancial Aid Application, Noncustodial Parent Statement if applicable, and signed copies of tax forms from the most recent tax year. Federal aid eligibility is determined by the FAFSA as are state grants when applicable. Institutional aid eligibility is determined by a combination of the FAFSA information and other forms. An award letter is sent to admitted students that qualify for financial aid showing types and amounts of aid offered as well as an explanation of the school's cost of attendance figure. This helps a student determine what should be a reasonable expectation of the net cost of enrollment.

Acronyms: FAFSA, PLUS, SEOG, EFC (Free Application for Federal Student Aid; Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students; Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant; Expected Family Contribution)

Financial Aid comes in 3 basic varieties:
- Loans and workstudy are two categories referred to as "self-help" aid.
- Scholarships or grants represent the third category and are referred to as "gift aid".

Overview :
Self-help aid is often the first money put into a financial aid package since the primary responsibility of paying for a student's education lies with the student and his/her family. Because loans and workstudy require a form of student investment in dollars or time, they come under the category of "self-help".

If there is still financial need then often institutional grants kick in depending on the school, its budget and how much it would like to encourage the student to attend. Many schools may offer some form of merit-based aid that is awarded in consideration of academic strength or musical, athletic or other particular ability or quality that the student has. It is often offered completely independent of financial need.

For student's with particularly high need, federal or state grants may actually be the first thing added to an aid package. A Pell grant is a example of a federal grant.

And finally, many students may find additional assistance from outside scholarships. These are not from federal, state or school sources but from outside organizations that the student has contacted. Rotary International is an example of an organization that offers scholarships to qualified students. Check your school's policy on how they apply outside scholarship money to your financial aid package.

Loans
Student loans may include a Stafford loan, Perkins loan or alternative educational loan. Additionally, parents and graduate students may be eligible to borrow through the PLUS loan program.

Stafford loans are government regulated loans that come in two flavors - subsidized and unsubsidized. The government pays the interest on a subsidized loan while you are in school (good deal!). Subsidized loans are more common and amounts vary according to grade level - usually $3,500 the first year, $4,500 the second year, and $5,500 in the third and fourth years. As of July 1, 2006, newly issued Stafford loan interest rates were fixed at 6.8%. In the past, they were variable rate loans with a maximum cap of 8.25%.

Unsubsidized Stafford loans may be offered to students that filed a FAFSA but have no financial need, or to independent students (>24 years old), or to students whose parents were denied a PLUS loan. As of July 1, 2006, newly issued Stafford loan interest rates were fixed at 6.8%. In the past, they were variable rate loans with a maximum cap of 8.25%.

Perkins loans are low, fixed-interest rate loans (5%) that are government funded but administered by individual schools and are available to high need students. Loan amounts may vary depending on school funding levels and the student's need.

Students usually do not have to start repaying on Stafford or Perkins loans until after they have left school or become enrolled less than half-time.

Alternative educational loans are offered through many private lenders. Students often turn to these when they have additional need but have used up their eligibility for federal loan money. Often they require a cosigner. Terms are usually not as good as the federal loans but the private market is very competitive and so may offer favorable terms. Maximum eligibility is usually restricted to whatever portion of the cost of attendance is not covered by the student's other aid.

PLUS loans (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students) generally let parents borrow whatever portion of the cost of attendance is not covered by the student's financial aid. As of July 1, 2006, newly issued PLUS loans are offered at a fixed rate of 8.5%. Previously they had been variable rate loans with a maximum cap of 9.0%. Repayment on PLUS loans usually starts 60 days after disbursement and is spread out over 5 or 10 years, depending on the amount borrowed. PLUS loans are also now available to graduate students that may have used up their annual Stafford loan eligibility.

Workstudy
Workstudy generally refers to a federally funded program subject to certain eligibility rules. Many students think workstudy is simply the college offering to pay them for a job but in most cases students must have financial need based on the FAFSA in order to qualify. Usually students receive a check made out to them for work completed and then they can spend the money however they wish. The amount of hours a student is eligible to work depends on the amount of the award and the hourly rate they are paid. Legally, a student may not work more than 20 hours per week in a workstudy program but the average amount of hours at COA is much less than this. COA uses Maine State minimum wage, which is considerably higher than the federal minimum wage, for entry level positions .

Grants and scholarships are free money that may be awarded based on financial need, merit, or a combination of both. Sources may include federal or state governments, outside organizations (e.g., Rotary International), or the school you are applying to.

A Pell grant is federal money that may be awarded to students with an EFC lower than $4,111. It generally varies in size from $400 to $4,310 for full-time students.

SEOG is another type of federal grant - Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant - that is administered by individual schools but funded in part by the government. Eligibility and grant amounts vary from school to school.

Some states offer grants dependent on a student's EFC. If your EFC is below a certain threshold, you may automatically qualify for a state grant.

Need-based institutional grants (money from the school you attend) may be offered if you still have financial need even after other aid you qualify for has been applied.

Merit-based grants may also be offered by your school if you have particularly desirable characteristics that the school is seeking (for example, in academics, sports, etc.). They may also be offered by outside organizations.

There are millions of dollars in outside scholarships available to qualifying students in the US every year. By seeking out opportunities and applying you may be able to add to the financial aid package that your school offers. Be sure to check the school's policy on outside scholarships, though. There may be terms you have to meet in order to realize the maximum benefits of any outside scholarship. Also, under most circumstances you cannot legally be "over awarded". In other words, the combination of your EFC and your aid package (with outside scholarships included) cannot exceed the cost of attendance of the school. If this happens, your aid package must be reduced and schools will have different policies on how they handle this situation.

College of the Atlantic offers a special, merit-based award to students with exceptional academic achievements and citizenship qualities. Students are automatically reviewed for this award during the application process and financial need is not a prerequisite. Awards may vary but at a minimum they provide a valuable, flexible travel and research grant that can be used to augment a student's academic and/or extracurricular experiences on or off campus. This grant money can be used towards COA's own special programs in International Studies or certain other course areas but is not limited to these. For example, it might be used to help fund a study abroad program or summer travel or research opportunities.

Through the generosity of numerous donors, we help fund both need and merit based awards to a large number of students. A partial listing of these funds is included below and is continually growing and changing.

- The Maine Student Scholarship provides need based scholarship awards for students from Maine. It is funded through the Betterment Foundation, H. King and Jean Cummings Charitable Trust, the Fred C. Lynam Fund and Andrew Nixon of the Kenduskeag Foundation and Dead River Company.

- The General Student Scholarship Fund provides general need based financial aid. Funding sources include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and COA's Silver Anniversary Endowment gifts.

- The August Heckscher Scholarship Fund provides two annual need based scholarship awards for students (one female, one male) with a preference for juniors focusing on public lands, government or the arts.

- The Maurine P. and Robert Rothschild Graduate Scholarship Fund provides need based scholarship money to graduate students with preference given to those pursuing work in the education field.

- The Alice Blum Yoakum Scholarship Fund was established by Mr. Robert H. Blum in honor of his daughter, Alice, to provide support annually to undergraduate students who plan to be actively working for biodiversity and especially for the preservation of underwater species in various parts of the world.

- The Merrill Scholarship, funded by Mr. Charles Merrill helps sponsor an annual exchange student from Palacky University in the Czech Republic.

- The Davis-United World College (UWC) Scholars Program is funded by Shelby and Gale Davis. This award provides scholarship money that covers the full financial need of UWC graduates that enroll at COA. To learn more about United World Colleges, visit their homepage here.

- The Craig Greene Scholarship and Campus Stewardship Fund was established in memory of our longtime faculty member, Craig Greene; his passion for botany, natural history and human ecology inspired a generation of students. Funds support need based scholarship and campus stewardship.

- The Rebecca Clark Memorial Scholarship was founded to honor Rebecca, a graduate of COA, who tragically lost her life in the tsunami of December 2004 while conducting research on sea turtles in Thailand. The scholarship provides merit based scholarship money with a preference towards juniors with marine science and/or policy interests.

Definition: Outside scholarship money (Money not from federal, state or institutional (school) sources. For example, a scholarship from Rotary International or the local Horticultural Society.)
Acronyms: EFC (Expected Family Contribution)

Summary
There are two basic strategies for finding outside scholarship money that we recommend:

- using the Web to conduct free searches, and
- calling local clubs, organizations and small businesses to see if they offer scholarships (many do!)
It is important to note, however, that different schools may have different policies on how they apply outside scholarships to your financial aid package. COA's policy is listed at the bottom of this page.

Searching the Web...
There are literally millions of dollars of scholarship money available throughout the US - all you have to do is figure out where it is and whether you meet the criteria for submitting an application.

Many Websites offer free searches. Two examples include FastWeb.com and the College Board's site, collegeboard.com. Generally, you answer a few questions and then the site will suggest certain scholarships that you might consider applying to.

Beware of organizations that try to charge a fee for searches. While they may be reputable, there is plenty of free help available from other sources!

The local connection...
Consider calling every club, organization and even small businesses in your town, city or county. You may be surprised at how many offer scholarships - you just need to find out whether you meet qualifications. For example, the Italian-American Society may offer scholarship dollars but you must be Italian-American to qualify.

Some outside scholarships are merit-based (independent of financial need) but most are need-based or a combination of both. They may ask for confirmation of your need or they may ask you to write an essay... just be sure to provide what they ask for and meet all deadlines if you wish to qualify.

COA's outside scholarship policy...
At COA, we have a generous policy in dealing with outside scholarships:

If a student applies for an outside scholarship and notifies us by July 1 of the award year, we will apply 100% of the amount awarded towards any unmet need. In the event that unmet need is then met and an over award* situation exists, we will reduce a Perkins loan before any reductions in institutional aid are made.

* When a student's EFC plus their financial aid package exceeds the cost of attendance, this is know as an "over award". You cannot have more resources than the cost of the school if federal, state or certain other types of aid are involved. Therefore, in an over award situation, the financial package must be reduced and this is one situation where school policies may vary.

Q. Can I afford college, especially an expensive one?

A. It is very possible! Until you see a financial aid package, you don't know the true out-of-pocket cost to you and your family. We have many students at COA whose expected family contribution is quite low. You should apply to the schools you are most interested in, independent of the price tag!

A. Yes. We have a merit-based Presidential Scholarship for exceptional students and we often award institutional grant money based on need.

A. Check with the schools you are applying to. Virtually all will require that you complete the FAFSA (the government application) and many will also require that you fill out The Profile or their own form. Additionally, you may need to file a Noncustodial Parent Statement if your parents are divorced or separated. Be prepared to submit copies of tax returns and W-2s if asked.

A. In most cases you are not considered independent until age 24, regardless of you not living with your parents. There are some exceptions - for example if you are married or have a child, but it can be difficult to make a case for independent status otherwise.

A. If you are admitted to a school the financial aid office will then look at your eligibility for aid. Hopefully you will either receive a financial aid award notice with your letter of admission or soon thereafter. After all, it would be difficult to know whether to accept the offer of admission if you didn't know what the true cost of the school would be.

A. We recommend you search the Web and contact local organizations, clubs and small businesses. Be sure you know your school's policy on how they apply outside scholarships to your financial aid package.

Cost of Attendance (CoA) - Not just tution; it usually includes room, board, books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses. It should provide a reasonable estimate of your educational expenses.

EFC - Expected family contribution. The EFC is reported on the Student Aid Report that is generated by filing the FAFSA.

FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The federal financial aid form that virtually all colleges require.

Merit-based aid - aid that is usually awarded independent of financial need and based on academic performance, athletics, music or other student qualities or accomplishments.

Need - Financial need is determined by subtracting your expected family contribution (EFC) from the cost of attendance (CoA)

SAR - Student Aid Report. After filing the FAFSA, a SAR is returned to you via email and forwarded to schools you included in the school code list. It lists the information you submitted and includes comments and the EFC that was calculated.

Self-help aid - aid that includes some form of personal investment from the student, such as loans and workstudy.

Verification - some FAFSAs/SARs are selected by the Department of Education for a process called verification. This may mean you will be asked for additional forms, such as the Verification Worksheet (the school should provide this for you), tax information (if not already requested) and any other documents deemed necessary to "verify" information from various sources or assist in reconciling any discrepancies.

Free EFC Calculator (estimate your expected family contribution without actually completing a FAFSA)

For free scholarship searches and other useful financial aid information, check out the following:

April 2007... The FAFSA4caster. A direct link to the FAFSA4caster website is provided at the bottom.

A. A new tool designed to help students and families determine what federal financial aid they may be eligible for. You provide information about your family and finances and it calculates an early estimate of eligibility for financial aid as well as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

Q. If the FAFSA4caster says my EFC is 10,000, does that mean that's how much I have to pay for college in dollars?

A. Not necessarily. The EFC is used to determine your need. Need is calculated by subtracting your EFC from the cost of attendance (CoA) of a particular school. For example, if your EFC is 10,000 and the CoA of a school is $30,000, then your need is $20,000. Financial aid offices then look at your need to determine if you are eligible for certain types of aid, such as a Pell grant, Stafford loan, state grants and more. Federal and state aid may not cover 100% of your need so many schools may help out by providing additional dollars, usually from their endowments. Financial aid packages can vary quite a bit, so your true costs could vary significantly from school to school and not be equal to your EFC. Don't forget that you might be able to augment your financial aid package with outside scholarship money. Details on all of this are explained towards the top of this page.

A. Probably not. Changes in your family earnings, assets, and status (for example, number of children in college) may change somewhat from year to year. The FAFSA4caster provides an estimate of your aid eligibility at the time you use it with the numbers you provide. The numbers that you ultimately enter on the FAFSA from year to year may vary a little or in some cases a lot. Also, certain types of aid may change depending on your grade level. For example, Stafford loan eligibility typically increases from the freshman to sophomore to junior year.

Congress and the President signed into law new legislation on September 27, 2007, known as the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (CCRAA). Part of this legislation addresses issues with lenders and financial aid offices that have been in the news since last spring. As a result, guidelines have been codified for schools that wish to offer student and parent borrowers a Preferred Lender List. The purpose of such lists is to provide a service to borrowers by screening a variety of lending institutions and pick "preferred lenders" based on clearly defined criteria, making that information and process transparent. Students and families are free to choose any qualified lender they wish -- they are NOT required to select one from a school's list.

Here at COA we committed to developing a new preferred lender list with strict standards long before legislation was passed. Priority has been given to any available loan benefits (e.g., reduced fees or interest rates) that would benefit the borrower. Customer and school service have also been important in screening lenders as we want to ensure that any loan processing issues can be easily and successfully dealt with. While we anticipate providing a list of prefeered lenders that can offer competitive loans and quality services, we cannot guarantee that there are not other lenders that may have more attractive benefits or services given the rapid nature of change, the sheer volume of lenders and individual borrower preferences. In other words, there may not be a "one size fits all" lender. For that reason, we are striving to provide choice when considering competitive benefits and quality services.

Legislative changes and recent credit issues in the finance markets have been having an impact on lender benefits and causing some lenders to drop out of the federal student loan market. There are almost daily bulletins in the news about changes in the industry. There is even new legislation in Congress designed to provide liquidity and access to capital as we move forward into the coming academic year in order to ensure full access to loan opportunities.

We are hoping that by the end of the month of May we will have revised preferred lender lists completed for student Stafford loans and parent PLUS loans ready to publish on this website. If you have any questions on this topic, please feel free to contact me or Laurie Ward at 1.800.528.0025 or email us at the addresses listed on the top of the page.