Determining Financial Aid Eligibility & Need

Determining eligibility

To be considered eligible for financial aid, students must:

  • be accepted to a degree granting program
  • be a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the United States or its trust territories
  • maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress
  • be free from default status on any student loan or aid refund obligation

Determining need

The equation used to determine a student’s financial need is

Cost of Attendance (COA)  Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = Student’s Financial Need

To understand what this equation means, keep reading to see what COA includes and what EFC is.

Cost of Attendance (COA)

COA includes:

  • Direct charges (billed by LMRC), such as tuition and fees
  • Indirect charges (that you incur), such as living expenses (rent/mortgage, etc.), transportation (own car or public transportation), books (paper and online learning materials), and school supplies

2023-2024 Cost of Attendance (COA)

  • Nursing student:  $89,240 (living on own); $63,640 (living with parent/s)
  • Radiography student:  $113,220 (living on own); $79,620 (living with parent/s)

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

EFC is:

  • a measure of a student’s financial ability
  • calculated by a formula established by the US Department of Education
  • a dollar amount arrived at by applying the formula to financial information provided on the student’s FAFSA, which includes your (and your family’s, if you are dependent) taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, number of people in the family and number of people in the family who are attending college.

Aid disbursement and right to cancel federal loans

  1. Before you — the student — start the semester, you will pay your bill for tuition and fees, either out-of-pocket or using a monthly payment plan set up with LMRC’s Bursar.
  2. After the semester starts and the Add/Drop period begins, you and/or your parents must decide if you want to cancel or decline all or any part of any federal or private loan(s) granted.  If decided to do so, you should cancel or decline during this time period.
  3. One the Add/Drop period is over, your federal financial aid loan is “disbursed,” meaning, it is credited to your bill, provided all necessary documentation is complete.  If you have decided to cancel or decline all or part of a loan and have not yet done so, you MUST now do it within 14 days of the disbursement (when your bill was credited).

Questions?

Contact the Financial Aid Administrator at LMRCFinaid@tuftsmedicine.org