Reading Your Award Letter: Undergraduate Students

A seven-digit number listed in the upper right corner that was assigned to you and your student record. Be sure to include this number in any phone calls or email correspondence with Student Services or Financial Aid staff.

The aid you were awarded will be listed with each type of aid in its own section. Your eligibility for each type of aid was determined during the awarding process, and you are only offered aid you are eligible to receive. The types of aid are:

• Grants/Scholarships (repayment not required)
• Student Loans (repayment required)
• Work Study (not credited to account; you will receive a paycheck for actual hours worked)

The accompanying columns display the distribution of aid for the Fall and Spring semester, and  the Total amount of each award. The bottom row lists the total for each column. 

Grants and accepted loans (minus the fee for Federal Direct Loans) will be credited to your bill each semester based on the amounts in the Fall and Spring columns. Work-Study is an earnable award that is not credited to your bill. You can earn the total amount of Work-Study over the course of the year, you are not limited to earning a set amount each semester.

This is a list of items used to determine the Cost of Attendance (COA) that was used as a framework for your award. It includes:

• Costs Paid to Tufts: Costs paid directly to Tufts University and will appear on your billing statement. Also noted as Direct Costs
• Costs Paid to Others: Educational expenses that you may incur but are not typically paid directly to
  Tufts. Also noted as Indirect Costs

Tufts Each budget category and its amount are listed, with total costs at the bottom. Please note that this is not a bill, and the award letter is not indicative of what your actual semester bill balances will be. You can use the Student Account Calculator to estimate your bill based on billed costs and the aid you received.

This is a breakdown of your total Cost of Attendance minus ONLY grant/scholarship aid (aid that is not required to be repaid). Please note it is shown only as a total for the academic year, and is not broken down by semester.

This is a breakdown of your total Cost of Attendance minus grant/scholarship aid (aid that is not required to be repaid), loans (aid that must be repaid), and work (aid that must be earned). Please note it is shown only as a total for the academic year, and is not broken down by semester.

The Estimated Net Cost represents the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), as determined by our analysis of family financial resources. The EFC is the combined total of the Parent Contribution and the Student Contribution. The Parent Contribution was calculated using financial information reported in your aid application. The Student Contribution is typically a standard amount ranging from $1,800 to $3,000. The Student Contribution may be higher than the standard amount if the student earned significantly high wages or owns substantial assets. 

Please note:

• Any Federal Direct Loan and/or Tufts Loan must be formally accepted by the student in order to be credited to their student account. 
• Work Study wages are contingent upon securing employment. Earnings are paid weekly and can be used to cover Indirect Costs. The earnings will not be credited towards your Direct Costs.

The Financial Aid office may need to alert you to additional information and circumstance related to your award. In these cases, a message is included in this section. There may be multiple messages present, and they will be listed separately. 

Always read any messages in this section, as they often relate to how your award was calculated. An example of a common message is one that explains how having a sibling in college reduced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and how the EFC could change will they are no longer enrolled.

This section details applying for aid in future years, how and why an award might change, and a reminder about the maximum number of semesters that Tufts aid can expect to be offered.

This section contains brief instructions of actions required for any component of the financial aid offer. For example, if you were awarded a Federal Direct Loan and/or Tufts Loan there is information regarding the active confirmation requirement for accepting each loan. Also, contact information is provided if you have questions.

This is a list of common financial aid terms and their meanings.