Hella

The damage is now in, at least for the first year.

I received my Financial Aid Award Notifcation Letter today via email and an official copy will be following by mail. This means that the Penn system has been switched over to the new year so U.S. Citizens that filed a FAFSA can now expect to receive their letters 2-3 weeks after filing the proper forms.

After reviewing the letter, I called the Wharton FinAid office to clarify a few things. I attended the Financial Aid Panel held at Winter Welcome, but this is quite a confusing process and I wanted to be clear on my options.

The next step for me is to file a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and I understand that this can be done electronically like the FAFSA. I should be able to do this soon. However, I cannot apply for the Citibank loan until after June 1 (this applies to everyone). Also, before taking the Citibank money, I must first take all the federal money I am eligible to receive (this applies to everyone, too).

One other clarification I sought was the difference between subsidized and unsubsized loans. With a subsidized loan, the APR works out to be lower because the government helps pay for the interest.

Now if the PennKey would start working. I called the ISC office to let them know of my troubles and apparently this has been a common issue for people claiming a new PennKey.

Filed under: B-School