Duke is my number one school, and although it’s a long shot, I’m strongly considering applying early decision to boost chances. My parents set the college budget at the price it would be for me to attend my #1 state school, around $30,000/yr inclusive.
I ran the NPC, and including work study, the price for duke would be at the top of our budget. I was pretty surprised bc my family income is slightly above $200,000 (although my parents haven’t been very fortunate with investments), so I didn’t think I would get any aid.
I’m just wondering how accurate the NPCs usually are, assuming my parents don’t change jobs or smth. If the aid is only a few $1000s off I should be able to manage costs by working more. However if the Calc varies by $10,000 or more, I can’t afford duke (as in, it’s not worth it… I may be able to afford it but my brother has to go to college 2 years later and the cost would put too much of a burden on my parents).
Would it be safe or ok for me to apply ED? Would I be able to get out of it if they didn’t offer as much aid as predicted?
I know I have some time to decide and I’m still talking this over with my parents, but I would like to see other opinions bc my parents are just as unsure. Thank you!
Do you have legacy or other reason that you have to apply ED? If you need to compare financial aid packages, you should not apply ED. In other words, if you are not sure the school is affordable or not, do not apply ED. If you are relying on the NPC number, give some room (someone suggests to add 20% but it really up to you) for errors in NPC for your decision. If the NPC shows it is near the upper limit of what you can afford, you probably should not apply ED.
@billcsho nope… I just wanted slightly better chances of getting in. Since duke is at my upper limit, I’ll probably not apply ED. Thanks
The Duke NPC came in at a cost near $30,000 even though your parents earn slightly more than $200,000 a year and you would be the only child in college ( until your brother begins in 2 years)? This cost sounds too low to me - did you fill it out with your parents? Did your family have anything unusual such as high medical expenses etc that the NPC took into consideration?
I think this income would bring a higher cost, even with minimal assets. I could be wrong.
@twogirls I thought so too, but I did fill it out with my parents. If it helps, we have practically no money in savings and a relatively expensive house compared to our income. Don’t ask me why my parents weren’t very careful with their money … I’m just as incredulous. I very much enjoyed my childhood though, so I can’t complain. I did have a sibling who passed away around 7 years ago, but it would be hard to believe that those hospital bills are still affecting us now (maybe they cut into our savings?). I also switched to public school after and the rest of my siblings have only ever gone to public schools. I don’t want to pester my parents too much about that though… I’m going to trust they answered me truthfully when I filled out the NPC.
You need to re-run that NPC. We have an income significantly lower than you, we have a lot of equity in our house, and what I would consider modest investments (in line with our income). The FA package came in with our expected financial contribution of nearly twice what you got. It was ridiculously unaffordable and more than 50% of our income after taxes and medical were deducted. Duke gave my D the highest EFC of every single college she applied to.
@SuburbMom I’ll definitely do that when they get back next week. I’m not sure what went wrong but I agree that the calculations don’t make any sense. Thank you.
I agree that you need to re-do the NPC and look closely at each question. With an income just over $200,000 and only one child in college, your family will likely not be getting over $30,000 a year in FA to Duke, unless there is something unusual going on. Most families with that income, with no unusual circumstances, and one child in college… are full pay, or at least very close to full pay. There may be an exception at schools such as Harvard- not sure.
Duke has a CoA of $70k. With $160k+ income, the total aid is less than $25k. It is not likely within OP’s budget.
http://admissions.duke.edu/application/aid
You have made an error. Assume no FA with 200K a yr IMO.
Sounds like a mistake.
Maybe the parents forgot to include the annual amount that is put into a retirement account?
Do the parents have any business deductions?
In any case, if Duke is your number one choice and you would attend if you can afford it, you can decide (if accepted, of course) when you receive their FA offer, and decline if it’s not enough to support attendance.
The ‘cost’ of applying ED to a school that isn’t affordable is that you can’t apply ED to another school that might be affordable.
If you have no other school you want to apply ED, it might be worth the risk. I think it is also possible to get a better idea of FA by talking to the school. Some will give financial pre-reads.
Thank you everyone. I’ll run the calculator again soon and if I still get a weird number, I’ll try calling the school. Duke is definitely the only place I want to apply ED. What constitutes as affordable though @vonlost? Am I allowed to decline ED acceptance if they don’t offer me any aid? Is the school in charge of deciding if my family can or can’t afford it? Or is it enough if my parents say we can’t afford it?
Ofc this is assuming I actually get accepted, which is doubtful… (But I can dream, right?)
It is solely your family’s decision if the offered aid is sufficient, and you simply decline the offer (and acceptance) if it is not.
This fall, also apply to a couple of financial safety schools. These would give you large merit…and their merit deadlines are often in Nov or early Dec…so don’t wait until after ED results come in.
One of the only ways you can get out of an ED commitment is if the aid offered is insufficient for you to attend. So I don’t think there’s a ton of risk actually. But you should still be reasonable about it: is the NPC showing a number you could afford? If so, then ED sounds okay. If not, ED doesn’t. Still gotta do your due diligence.
It may be risky depending on high school policy. In my D’s school, they would only proceed with in state public school applications for students declined ED admission offer.
^? You can apply independent of your school policies. Your HS doesn’t tell you where to apply. Or when, for that matter.
Well, they can refuse to send LORs and yes, in some instances, transcripts. HSs that send a lot of students to top tier colleges want to protect their reputations. Having students repudiate binding admissions looks bad.