<p>Hey did anyone get an email with a link to their finaid package? I did and according to the package there is no way in hell I can afford Tulane lol......<em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Yeah, same here. At first I was so excited to add up the columns and end up with $32000, but then I realized that number included the 24k they had already offered me. And another $6000 is stafford loans.
Ugghhh. I hate having to cross Tulane off my list; it was so close to the top.</p>
<p>Yeah same here I didn’t get any grants just about 5k in stafford and perkins loans…i basically would have to pay 20k/year out of pocket and that is just way too unreasonable. I can’t even fathom what the monthly payments on 80k of debt plus interest would be.</p>
<p>I got a great package; they gave all but around $4000 (my EFC), with around $1500 coming out of loans, and $1500 coming out of work-study.</p>
<p>I think that Tulane must have the most frustrated group of admitted students , because there seem to be more students who really, really like the school only to learn that Tulane’s FA for middle-class families usually includes way more debt than other, similarly-ranked schools. I know at least four seniors last year in our town for whom Tulane was their absolute top choice, but the only one who’s going didn’t need financial aid. Everyone else found that other schools just had tremendously better financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Terrible package and when I called, they said that had not uploaded the FAFSA yet to consider that…only CSS. Hello…Pell eligible and they did not even include that!
Cross them off the list…they said to check back in two weeks…huh?We’re not even in the same galaxy dollarwise! Ridiculous and not too helpful on the phone, either!</p>
<p>I received my email around 9:30 this morning. They offered me $31200 in scholarships, and I should be able to receive $8000 in loans. That covers everything up till my EFC of $11000. The only problem is that with the current state of the economy, my family has nowhere near that amount available. Therefore, unless some random money surfaces soon, being able to afford Tulane is looking impossible.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat. I was offered $34800, including $5500 in Stafford loans. I don’t have enough money saved to even pay off the rest of one year. Private school is looking less and less like a reality for me.</p>
<p>I did apply for a $12000 scholarship through NESA, but I won’t find out if I get anything until late June. So I don’t know what to do :(</p>
<p>I got my financial aid package today as well. Disregarding the stafford loans I was offered, they came within $3500 of my EFC, which is $12k.</p>
<p>I got a whole $0 (outside of 24K merit). Woo-hoo. Still not crossing it off my list quite yet, though.</p>
<p>Yeah nothing for me either except 8k or so in loans and the merit money. Was expected though.</p>
<p>According to college board, Tulane only meets 95% of need. Plus, they are a profile school, and based on our package last year, they do not cap home equity. Our package last year came in at about 12K over our federal EFC, but when we calculated our institutional EFC it came in about right. Once the shock wore off, we realized that it was “doable” and now even consider it “fair” We have the home equity, we just may have to move someplace cheaper once my three kids are done with college. </p>
<p>Some people are saying what their packages look like without mentioning their federal or institutional EFC. It would be helpful to those in the future if that info was mentioned so that people can really judge how good/bad the financial aid at Tulane is.</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone with a family income of under 75K got the “no loan” package Tulane promised to incoming freshman this year?? How do those packages look?</p>
<p>I guess I am confused. Scholarships of over $ 30 or 34k is a LOT of money. Why are people upset? Paying 20K /yr for a private school is pretty reasonable. Yes, certainbly in this economic climate having to come up wuth any money seems really tough, but I would hope that posters dont look a 30K+ gift horse in the mouth. JMO</p>
<p>^^ It’s a “No loan” tuition package, which means in this case that tuition, fees, and transportation will be covered by Tulane’s finaid package and the EFC.</p>
<p>I’ll be just fine with this package; over the past year, I’ve turned $5000 in job earnings into around $14,600 by betting against the market (shorted Citigroup, Wynn Resorts, shorted E-Trade after the bankruptcy fears then bought it again at the bottom, etc).</p>
<p>@jym626: In my case, my family can’t pay as much as our federal EFC is. (Around $25000, I believe. I don’t know my institutional EFC.) It’s not that the package isn’t generous enough, I can appreciate $29300 being given to me, but I still can’t afford to go. I would have needed an exceptionally, unrealistically large financial aid package to attend. As I said, I don’t personally have the money to pay for even one year after this package, and my parents aren’t paying for my college. I’m not ungrateful, and I’m not even complaining about it since I think I got a fair package. I’m just poor.</p>
<p>I am truly sorry you cannot pay the federal EFC. But, just curious, if they calculate your EFC would be that much, I woudn’t think that you’d be classified as “poor”</p>
<p>That EFC calculation includes home equity, possibly retirements (idk bout this one just guessing) and other assets that will never be cashed out to pay for college.</p>
<p>^^ Unfortunately, they do consider home equity to be available cash for college, and many families do take out second mortgages or home equity lines of credit to help pay college expenses.</p>
<p>Was the no loan package $75,000 or $70,000? I was under the impression that it was under $70,000. Our family makes SLIGHTLY over this amount (less that $100) before taxes/other stuff and we have mucho loans in our package. =[</p>
<p>I was kind of disappointed with the financial aid package. It’s a decent package, but they missed our EFC by about $4000. It wouldn’t be such a huge deal but I’d also graduate with over $25,000 in debt. Yikes. We’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to minimize $25K of debt, but I would say that coming out of a highly regarded private school like Tulane with that is not too bad. I don’t know all the details, but I am under the impression that these loans have fairly long payback schedules at low interest rates, so the monthly payments are not too onerous. I know it is scary now with jobs being tough, but in 4 years things will very likely be better. Of course, I don’t know what you think you might do after undergrad, and that can influence things too.</p>
<p>By the way, if you family makes only $100 over the top number, there have to be ways to make it so this does not penalize you. There are people that can help with situations like this. You also need to talk to the people in the financial aid office directly.</p>