What has the biggest impact on whether a 4 year university is affordable?
A. The amount of financial aid that the university offers.
B. Whether it is a public or private university.
C. The distance you live from the university.
D. Whether you live in the same state as the university.
Answer: A. The amount of financial aid that the university offers.
The percentage of scholarships dispensed by a given university normally determines the probability of the university being considered costly or otherwise by the students. Such aids have the potential of making the cost of learning daunting to several students yet they ease the impact of the cost of tuition fees on the respective learners. This can be in the form of grants, scholarships, work-study or study-borrowing which all have a part to play in revealing the actual costs a student is likely to face.
For instance, a private university that has placed its tuition fee at about $50, 000 for one year may seem very expensive. If, however, that particular university offers a student a financial aid package which includes a $20,000 merit scholarship, a $15,000 needs-based grant and a $5,000 work study the actual cost to the student becomes $10,000 per year. This can make the cost of studying at a private university less than the cost of studying at a public in-state university that charges $15, 000 per year but rarely offers a substantial amount of scholarships and/or other financial aid. Equally, two students studying at the same university might be charged exceedingly differently depending on their scholarships. Thus, while a student from a low-income family may be given cover full scholarship, another student may be given only partial sponsorship. This explains how the availability and the offer of aid not only can make a university affordable by outweighing other factors such as public/private or in-state /out-of-state tuition.
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