Accepted Yale REA. Should I apply to other schools for financial aid?

OP noted Yale is $88k. Yale shows this as COA for next year. Then you have 3 years of inflation. This next year costs are up $3k.

So we are talking $360k plus.

If her family is taking out the loans she is talking about (we don’t know this as her parents may very well have the cash to pay outright) - any guidance to tell someone to take out hundreds of thousands of loans for ANY college is malpractice in my opinion.

My comment that Yale is $300k is because it’s not. More likely $360k or more and that’s a HUGE difference.

Btw the average Yale grad (if they’re working) made $76k.

If you go to law school, that’s another hundreds of thousands.

Everyone is free to post their opinions of course. But I’m scratching my head at the guidance I’m reading that OP should attend Yale and it will all work out.

Btw - what if the economy tanks and all these high paying jobs disappear when they graduate. Kids impacted in those years often never recover.

Unless the parents are in better shape than OP believes and I’m guessing when one of the country’s most generous schools offers nothing that they are - but if what OP is mentioning is true, she shouldn’t get within 1000 miles of New Haven. It’s likely financial suicide for life. And if a UC doesn’t come through, them Alabama or Arizona or another similar where btw you won’t find any shortage of smart people, including those they bought, not brought, away from the Ivies.

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I don’t disagree with this…but IF these parents say they can pay…and decide to do so…it’s their family decision.

They just need to be sure they will actually qualify for loans for all four years. It would be a shame to start and over leverage loans in a couple of years…and not quality after that.

If they are taking loans. We don’t know that.

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I agree with this, also regardless of how the parents fund this, she has also said her parents intend for her to pay them back so it is essentially a $300,000 loan for her, if that’s truly the case. I don’t think op can make a decision until she sits down with her parents and talks all this out.

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This is the unknown I keep mentioning.

My guess is OPs parents can cash flow this or have assets to sell to pay. Getting no aid from Yale shows a certain level of wealth.

However, OP was concerned in message one she couldn’t afford $65k and in earlier messages (one hr ago) OP noted a lot of loans but that Biden will wipe out the debt. I can’t get a message # on phone but it was an hr ago.

There are all sorts of reasons why those law schools dominate the clerkships, IMO the big one is where the Supremes went to law school themselves.

The relevance to the article though has to do with whether top law schools favor certain undergrad programs vs the notion that undergrad doesn’t matter. At Harvard it certainly does. Yes, approximately half the grads did not come from the 22, but then we are talking spreading those roughly 275 spots (assume a class of 550) across about 150 other colleges (I am using the HLS class profile as a reference https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/hls-profile-and-facts/).

Using rough numbers based on the cited percentages, out of a class of 550, on average 110 graduated from HYP, or almost 37 each; 165 graduated from the 19 remining 22 elite schools (UCLA may or may not be among those) or almost 9 each; for the remaining 275 spots spread among about 150 other institutions, it is less than 2 each. I would guess that there are a lot of onesies, including from some very large undergrad programs.

I do think doing well at UCLA and scoring high on the LSAT is going to give OP plenty of good law school options, it is still a cut below Yale.

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If they can afford it I agree. You cannot afford it if you are taking hundreds of thousands in debt.

But again we don’t truly know the financial situation.

My guess is OP doesn’t know the full extent of the parents situation given that Yale gave nothing.

You are free to your opinion, but $360k is, of course, only 20% higher than $300k. You say it’s a HUGE difference. It’s simply not, especially in the context of lifetime earnings for a Yale graduate who chooses a business or legal career.

You are of course free to give your advice, but please don’t be dramatic when a teenager is already struggling with an emotional decision. Her parents might be a more reliable source of perspective than tsbna44.

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The OP says her parents think these debts will be wiped clean. A couple of us have noted…this is not likely. At least not for the whole amount.

If the OP is expected to repay the parents, are they drawing up a loan document with interest and a repayment schedule? If so…the OP needs to understand clearly what that means.

Also, if the parents plan to co-sign a loan, this could be problematic for someone entering big law or IB…where debts really are viewed as a liability.

It’s not dramatic. Look at the debt payment schedule at $60k. That’s a lot of coin.

Again you are assuming an assured payback by going to Yale and nothing is assured.

That’s reality. If you want to call it dramatic, that’s your right.

But I stand by my comment. It’s my belief.

Too many kids get themselves in debt that strangles them - $40k, $50k, $60k etc.

One needn’t look hard to find these stories that are out there all over the media.

Why do you think there’s so much excitement over President Biden even wanting to eliminate $10k.

It’s like credit card debt but worse in staggering amounts. And it’s not ‘just’ another $60k unless you are paying for law school too.

And don’t forget your interest accrued while you’re in school.

Again I’m talking worst case. I agree this situation is unlikely as Yale gave no aid. It may turn out that Yale is affordable and the parents have wealth. . I’ve said this all along. I’m commenting on the worst case that is what has been presented.

Focus on the OP, not on debating amongst yourselves

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Here’s what I know (absolute-wise)

  1. My parents are taking out loans, and they are working under the assumption that those loans will 1. be wiped or 2. be easier to pay due to long-term inflation

  2. There will be no contracts where I will need to pay a co-loan. My parents are very generous and 100% making sure that no debts or loans get taken under MY name. Theirs… unsure.

  3. I’m not worried about MY financial situation. I am only worried about their’s – and the mental burden they will need to face when they take these loans.

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The best thing OP can do is to sit down with her parents and have a frank discussion about how they will pay for Yale. Will they need to borrow some or all of the $$? If so, who will be responsible for paying that back? They also need to understand that IF any debt is incurred it isn’t going to magically disappear - someone will need to pay it off.

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And didn’t OP mention having siblings that will be going to college soon? If the parents are ALREADY taking out loans to pay tuition, does that mean MORE loans once siblings hit college? If so, this could really snowball quickly. I hope that is not the case, but definitely needs to be clarified with the parents.

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Yes! This is also what I am terrified about. They have TWO other children, and 1 who is applying to college THIS YEAR. They’re also hoping for her to get into an Ivy-League…

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Talk to your parents!!

In my education-valuing immigrant family it was expected the parents would do their utmost to support the kids educationally, and the kids would do their utmost to support the parents when the parents were old. And that’s exactly how it worked out.

I also borrowed the cost of 1st year law school from my parents and more than paid it back, no contract or anything in writing. Unneeded, as again culturally it would have been unthinkable for me to renege.

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So your talk with them needs to cover the plan for you and, if you do choose Yale, how they plan to pay for the next kids. Again, if they are already possibly resorting to loans to cover these expenses, I would be very worried that their strategy is just more and more loans for the next kids and that is a very, very bad idea.

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OP, while it most likely that the second property and your parents business is what is responsible for the lack of financial aid, one thing you should check is if your parents entered data correctly into the FAFSA and CSS profile forms.

One mistake that a lot of people make is to report retirement assets as non-retirement assets. This can have a big impact on financial aid if the parents have significant retirement assets because retirement assets are not counted against you for financial aid but regular assets are.

BUT… please note that “retirement assets” refers only to assets in recognized retirement accounts like a 401k, 457, or IRA. They do not mean money the family intends to use for retirement but that is in a regular cash account or real estate.

Also, if your parents support anyone other than their children (eg, your grandparents) Yale may give you a “credit “ for that. Same if they have significant medical costs that insurance didn’t cover.

Edited to correct a typo to say that that retirement assets do NOT refer to assets that families intend for retirement but that are in regular cash accounts or investment accounts or real estate. They have to be in a 401k, IRA or similar designated retirement account.

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Adding on that you should check that untaxed income section was entered correctly and not double counted with the “regular income”.

Thank you! I’ll check his section out but unfortunately, they do not have a retirement plan … so I doubt there can be any mistakes there. I’ll double check everything to be sure.

I’m really glad you understand.

On one hand, they are firm about their decision to spend as much money as possible, and even told me yesterday (before I got my letter) that “education will always be their highest investment.”

On the other hand, I really don’t want this decision to snowball very quickly. I need to get the specifics from them.

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