<p>I was only given 19k in financial aid and my total estimated budget was 57k.
A financial counselor told me that fordhams tuition does indeed increase by a small percentage every single year…i wonder what she means by “small”.</p>
<p>What makes you think that someone earning $150,000 can afford to spend over a third of their income every year on a college? Before taxes? I know my parents can’t, especially since they have 2 other kids to put through college… Furthermore, why is it a kid’s fault if his or her parents spend money on excessive things? I know I’d get slapped if I suggested my parent trade in a luxury car (which we don’t have) for a much cheaper, used one… Or if I commented on their purchases as being excessive and inquired as to why they aren’t saving for me to go to school… My parents participated in a tuition plan for me to go to a state school, not imagining that I would be qualified to go somewhere else. For my dad to send all of his 3 kids to an Ivy League school he would’ve had to put away $50,000 BEFORE TAXES for the last 12 years… That’s more than half of what he earned 12 years ago… Fair? I think not. Point being, a kid should not be penalized for his or her parents’ financial decisions.</p>
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A few points here:</p>
<p>1) parents are not generally expected to get the entire tuition out of one year’s income. For most families it would be hard to even get $20K out of one year’s salary, let alone $50+K. They get Loans, etc. </p>
<p>2) Even if your father had managed to put away $50K every year before taxes, if he didn’t just put it in a zip-interest bank account, he would have lost a s$*tload of it in the crash. Welcome to State U.</p>
<p>3) Kids are penalized for their parents financial decisions all the time. And for their lifestyle decisions. And for their worklife decisions. Etc. etc. That’s how the parent thing works. What 'til you get there.</p>
<p>agree. Fordham, sadly, is not known for giving out gazillions of overly generous aid packages. Its a very complex process and some kids seem to get the offers and other kids don’t. I do know this: if you have a very high SAT and/or go to a school Fordham likes, then the aid will be generous. Fordham gets over 27,000 applications a year. For some reason, they still have an admit rate in the high 40’s, which astounds me. I don’t run financial aid and don’t see what they see, nor know the restrictions they work under. The Ivy League Schools and some others, like Davidson and Richmond have large endowments and can offer enormous aid packages without loans. Fordham is not in that situation. We aren’t poor, but we aren’t “loaded” either, in endowment terms. </p>
<p>If was in charge of the world, the entire scholarship and financial aid world would change radically…more radical than our present Administration in DC. I wouldn’t punish the rich, but I would ask them to shoulder more of the burden, and remove that burden from the middle class. SAT scores are what schools use both for scholarships and for financial aid (even if they say they are needs blind…that is not precisely true…they may make an admissions decision needs blind, but then make a financial aid offer which is less than stellar). Fordham cannot possible house the 11,000 students it accepts each year…and they have no intention of really letting those people set foot on campus. The real ratio to examine is the one where students accept what Fordham offers…and for Fordham that is 1700 students from the 11,000 accepted. Thus, some offers will be mediocre to lousy because Fordham knows they will go elsewhere. And for many kids, they go to a less expensive school, or sometimes to a higher ranking school. (NYU btw is also not known for overly generous financial aid). </p>
<p>I hate it that kids with their hearts set on Fordham get disappointed with the financial aid offer and have to choose another school. I know we likely lose wonderful students. And yes, that means kids with loaded parents sometimes come to Fordham. Its a complex matrix. I am fearful that private colleges will price themselves out of contention very very soon…and state schools will become more competitive and push everyone down a tier or two. Its happening already in my home state, where tier 2 state schools are now as competitive as tier 1 state flagship was 5 years ago…its shocking! Its a conundrum for our entire society. Making Fordham affordable should be a major objective of the Administration, in my view. (Columbia had someone plop down 400 million restricted SOLELY for scholarships/financial aid…I sure wish someone would do that for Fordham…and yes, Fordham has billionaire alumni!) </p>
<p>Finally, you should all know that regardless where you attend college, it is what you make of it, and even if you are at your third choice school because of finances, you will be fine and be successful in life if you do your best and keep your chin up. </p>
<p>Its very unjust, it seems to me, to put such a burden on middle class…even upper middle class families, to set aside money or take on so much debt to educate their children. Its very scary. And it irks me to no end…in ways you cannot imagine, to see kids walking around Fordham, let alone other schools, with scholarships whose parents have enough money to finance the New York Yankees payroll. But it is what it is.</p>
<p>Ghostbuster, I could not agree with you more on adopting a needs-only scholarship policy like the Ivies’. Our oldest dau went to Brown and she received very handsome aid. We had three dependent children at the time & a much lower income. Brown says, the fact that you got in, is the scholarship — if you have need, we will meet it. And they do. </p>
<p>Also, schools like Brown have 2 FA policies — they use the feds’ for the aid they administer that comes from fed coffers, such as Pell Grants, and they use their own guidelines for aid that comes from their wallets—so dau #1 received Brown Grants in addition to her Stafford loans.</p>
<p>Brown’s endowment is nothing like Harvard’s or Princeton’s, but it is still higher than many other schools’. </p>
<p>With the child who is now a hs Sr, we will have a much more difficult time. Admissions will be harder for her, anywhere—she is not #2 in her class as her sister was, and she also is facing greatly increased competition in sheer numbers of applications everywhere. I am trying to get her interested in our flagship state u, which due to the increased downward pressure will not be a breeze-in for her as it would have a few years ago (she is not interested). I really do fear that she will not be able to attend the schools she loves that we have been visiting, even if she does get in, because of schools cutting back on FA now that their endowments have been shrunk. </p>
<p>It is just a bad time.</p>
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I’m hoping this doesn’t happen any time soon. I assume if they were to go to such a policy, the ones already on merit scholarships would be grandfathered in for their four years?</p>