Frequently Asked Questions

A college using a need-based approach compares its cost of attendance (including tuition, room and board, fees, personal expenses and books) to the expected contribution from the family. If the family contribution is less than the cost of attendance, a financial need exists. The college then offers the applicant a financial aid package consisting of grant or scholarship, loans, and work study in an attempt to meet the financial need of the family.

There are forms that need to be completed each year to apply for financial aid.

The basic financial aid formula to determine a family's need is:

Cost of Attendance - Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = NEED

The College Board has an excellent description of and a web tool to calculate your Expected Family Contribution.

In cases where the Non-Custodial Profile cannot be completed by the non-custodial parent, it will be necessary for the student to obtain documentation verifying why this form cannot be completed. Such documentation should be in the form of a letter from one of the following professionals: secondary school administrator (principal, vice principal or guidance person), attorney, family counselor, clergyperson, or social worker and should state their understanding of the lack of relations between the student and non-custodial parent.

Under federal guidelines a student is independent only if they can answer yes to at least one of the following : Are they: 24 yrs. old, a veteran of the US military, a graduate student, an orphan or ward of the court, are married, or have dependents of their own.

For scholarship determination WPI may still require parental information for students considered independent under the federal guidelines. You will need to discuss your situation with someone in the Office of Financial Aid.

Please see the Verification page on this website for information on the verification process.

There is a limited amount of need-based aid available to undergraduate international.

Students and families can experience changes in their financial circumstances since the time that they filed the financial aid forms for the academic year. In these situations, students and families may submit a letter of appeal for a re-review of their information and offer of financial assistance.

Adequate written documentation is required to support any appeal you may request of your financial aid counselor. Please remember, granting appeals always depends on the availability of funds. Although you may have a valid appeal, our office may not always be able to grant additional funds. In this case, your counselor will make you aware of other financing options to assist with your educational expenses.

Please feel free to contact our office with additional questions that you may have in reference to your change in circumstances.

Yes, and missing those deadlines could cost you. Some scholarships offered by WPI, and others offered by State or Local agencies have deadlines. Failing to meet these deadlines may cause the student to lose eligibility for these scholarships.

Please take note of the deadlines for filling for financial aid.

It will depend on when and how you apply. If you are applying Early Action we will mail an award letter to you a few weeks after you receive your Admissions acceptance letter. If you are applying Regular Decision your award letter will be mailed to you sometime during the first full week of April.

We will only be able to put together a financial aid package for you if we have the required financial aid applications. In all cases, this means at a minimum the CSS Profile. You may also be required to complete a Non-Custodial Profile form.

Federal Work Study is a need based fund. This is the smallest allocation of need based funding we receive from the government, and as such it is the last item we put into a financial aid award.

If you do not receive Federal Work study you may still be able to find a job on campus, it will just be a position funded by an individual department and not through the federal work study program.

If you are receiving any need-based scholarship(s) and you continue to demonstrate a similar level of need as measured through the FAFSA in subsequent years, your award will be renewed at this same level. Please note that both merit and need-based scholarship(s) are not increased from year to year.

Your financial aid can decrease in future years if you fail to pass your classes or if your Expected Family contribution should increase, which would cause your calculated need to decrease.

Getting straight A's or doing exceptionally well in your classes will not increase your financial aid eligibility for subsequent years. We expect that you will do well in your classes and pass your classes.

A student is allowed to miss one (1) class per year with no effect to their aid package. If a student misses more than one class per year their aid will be reduced.

Outside scholarships will be applied to your account in the following order: Any unmet need calculated using the expected family contribution from the FAFSA will be the first amount offset by outside scholarship funding.

Once unmet need has been exhausted we will adjust the funds in your award in the following order:

• Federal and Community Service Work Study
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan (this actually converts to an unsubsidized Stafford Loan)
• WPI Scholarship (need based)
• WPI Merit based scholarship funding will not be affected by outside scholarship awards.

If you have any questions about how this policy may affect your award please contact the Office of Financial Aid

Financial aid awards for returning students will not be mailed until approximately the first week of July each year. We cannot start the awarding cycle until grades for D term have been posted and it then takes about a month for our office to review all files.

Living off campus will not affect your financial aid award. The only time a change would take place would be if you moved off campus to live with your parents or a relative which would then change your status to a commuter student. Living off campus in an apartment either by yourself or with friends is a pretty standard practice for returning students since WPI does not have enough housing to house 100% of our student population. The budget used for off campus generally differs from an on campus budget by only a few hundred dollars so there is no effect on your aid.

Yes. If you are living off campus and using loans to cover part of your expenses you can still borrow to the total budgeted cost of attendance less the financial aid you've been offered. When the loan funds are disbursed to the school anything that is left over after all WPI charges have been paid can be refunded to you. You can then put this money in your own account and use it to pay your rent, utilities, food etc. Please keep in mind that refund checks are usually not cut until at least two weeks into a term so you may need to cover a month or two of rent on your own until refund checks can be distributed.

WPI believes that the primary responsibility for an undergraduate education lies with the student and parent, to whatever extent possible. Therefore, all undergraduates applying for WPI institutional funds are required to provide parental information regardless of federal dependency status. Although a student may meet federal guidelines to be considered an independent student, and therefore receive federal funds as an independent student, the ability of parents to assist their children, regardless of age and dependency status, is a factor WPI considers in determining eligibility for institutional need-based grants. Because of this, the WPI Office of Financial Aid will require parental information (including federal income tax returns, schedules, and W-2 statements) from all students applying for need based institutional aid. This information can also be found in the financial aid section of the undergraduate catalog.

Your scholarship funding from WPI will not increase from year to year. However, your aid could decrease if you do not pass all of your courses. Please see the Aid Retention page for more information on how your aid is affected by courses passed, etc.

Please see the Verification page on this website for information on the verification process.

Please visit the Aid Retention Policy page on this website for more information.

Students are required to pass a minimum of 11 out of 12 academic courses during the A - D academic period. Failure to pass the minimum amount of courses can result in the loss of some scholarship funding. Please visit the Aid Retention Policy page on this website for more information.

Private Loan and Stafford Loan funding are the only forms of aid available for the summer. Traditional WPI need and merit based scholarships and loans (Perkins or Institute) are not available for Term E. Please visit the E Term Financial Aid page for more information.

If you participate in a project center and currently receive need based financial aid there may be a small increase to your need based scholarship. We will also increase your budget by a fixed amount depending on the project center you are participating in to allow for increased borrowing of loans. Please visit the Global Projects Aid page for further information.

Unfortunately Federal Work Study funding is the smallest fund we receive from the federal government. Therefore we are limited in the number of students we can offer this fund to. If you do not have federal work study in your financial aid award when you enter as a freshman, or if you lost federal work study funding the previous year it will not be offered to you in future years.

Outside scholarships will be applied to your account in the following order:

• Any unmet need calculated using the expected family contribution from the FAFSA will be the first amount offset by outside scholarship funding.
• Once unmet need has been exhausted we will adjust the funds in your award in the following order:
• Federal and Community Service Work Study
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan (this actually converts to an unsubsidized Stafford Loan)
• WPI Scholarship (need based)
• WPI Merit based scholarship funding will not be affected by outside scholarship awards.

If you have any questions about how this policy may affect your award please contact the Office of Financial Aid.