<p>So I have been waitlisted by too many colleges. WashU was practically my first choice and I was determined to get off its waitlist until I was told that it had a horrible financial aid package. Anyone willing to confirm or refute this by providing one's EFC and the aid offered?</p>
<p>The problem isn’t the aid offered relative to the EFC, the problem is the EFC itself. It’s broken, it’s stuck in the past. The formula considers working families making 80 to 150K to be wealthy and needing only minimal aid. It’s insane. My dad is retired, my mom has take home of about 60K and THAT gets you an EFC of over 40K!!? Middle class families should just stop applying to these schools … it’s just a waste of time and $ …</p>
<p>^Yeah our income is only 70000, so low-mid income-ish, and the only reason we have money enough to set us at 30000 is because my dad worked his butt off and practicaly saved all his pay for the last 30 years.
…and colleges want us to use all of it at once on them. HA!</p>
<p>…but yeah, seriously, ANYONE??? Show some altruism! (:</p>
<p>I agree 100% with plumazul–</p>
<p>The EFC system is broke but it’s not gonna change in the short-term. I’ve saved money to hopefully retire in the next 5-10 years but get penalized for having accumulated some savings for the future as a regular investment instead of an IRA account. Shame on me (I guess) for not knowing and playing the game better and being middle class. It’d be nice if more aid would flow up to middle class folks but they claim it would take away from the neediest and I can understand it to a point. It’s a real mess that we have created here and makes for some REAL tough decisions. </p>
<p>Many of us have to consider delaying retirement now (cry cry) to help pay for our child’s education. We all want the best for our kids and for them to have a great college experience but few folks can afford this without some financial help. In our case, since FA is 0, the option is to “borrow” from retirement or go elsewhere where college is cheaper-----We do have a choice.</p>
<p>Found an interesting article. It’s about Duke, but I’m certain the same is true for most elite private universities, … like WashU … </p>
<p>[Duke</a> draws ?rich kids of all colors? | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-draws-rich-kids-all-colors]Duke”>http://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-draws-rich-kids-all-colors)</p>
<p>what a screwed up system …</p>