<p>…Well, Brown did not match Dartmouth for some reason. I gave them my financial aid statement from Dartmouth and they only took off a couple hundred dollars. There is still about a $6,000 difference. I will call them again, but meanwhile, any suggestions? Is it weird that they weren’t willing to match one of their biggest competitor’s aid?</p>
<p>Oddly enough they did the same thing to me except they wouldnt match Dartmouth OR Penn...it was kind of annoying but hey, it's life.</p>
<p>If the difference is that big (6K definitly is huge), dartmouth might be the better option. The quality of education will still be amazing, and you're saving yourself 24K over 4 years (grad school anyone?). I think it is really weird, but such is life.</p>
<p>This is a no brainer... Go to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>trustory im in the same position, the difference right now is 12k, and I sent Brown Dartmouth's offer late last week - im hoping to hear back by tomorrow to see if they will at least come close : /</p>
<p>How long did it take them to send you a reply to Dartmouth's offer?
If Brown matches or comes within a few thousand, I'm gonna pull the commitment card trigger lol. I just hope they respond soon...</p>
<p>24k isn't a huge gap for an education that has a >160K sticker price and is valued at ~500K (in terms of annual spending per student)... particularly since it can be easily paid back with a low interest loan within a year of earning an average post-brown salary.</p>
<p>that being said, in past years, these offers were matched--my guess is persistance will pay off. it is, however, possible in light of the huge financial aid hikes at HYP that brown is being more conservative towards schools it typically wins matriculants from anyway (dartmouth, penn, etc.)</p>
<p>Georgetown gave me $2000 more than Brown did. Like dcircle said, considering the price tag of the overall price, $8000 more in the end wasn't that bad. </p>
<p>And I did ask them to match. They said they couldn't do anything except maybe turn what I have to pay into loans. :|</p>
<p>billman1020, what is an "average" post-Brown salary?</p>
<p>
[quote]
24k isn't a huge gap for an education that has a >160K sticker price and is valued at ~500K
[/quote]
Actually the gap is likely to exceed 24k as this is a good indication of each school's financial resources. Dartmouth's endowment per student is over twice that of Brown's, and it spends far more on research, advising, social life, planning and construction, and almost everything else imaginable. Brown lags behind in almost every category, and is probably the most overrated school in the top 20.</p>
<p>thanks for the input coughdrop, but it turns out you are bit misinformed</p>
<ol>
<li>everyone who knows what endowment actually is realizes it is only one source of income--only 5% gets drawn every year towards the annual budget. compared to dartmouth, brown has a larger revenue stream from research grants, unrestricted gifts, and other sources. as a result, brown actually has a larger overall annual budget than dartmouth</li>
</ol>
<p>Dartmouth</a> - About Dartmouth - Facts
05-083</a> (Budget and Tuition)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>as a result, brown actually spends more on research, capital projects, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>as it turns out, both spend the same amount per capita on financial aid. the disparities between financial aid offers isn't a difference in how much the two schools spend, but how they distribute their spending along the family income spectrum </p></li>
<li><p>while dartmouth concentrates resources on families earning less than $75,000, brown actually has a more generous cap for eliminating tuition requirements ($100,000)--a fact that is largely attributable to the $100 million gift brown received for financial aid a few years ago</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Brown matched my D's financial aid offer from Dartmouth; in fact the total family contribution came to a little less than Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Where do you get this statement?
"24k isn't a huge gap for an education that has a >160K sticker price and is valued at ~500K "</p>
<p>500K? Where do you find this info? or is it just a myth?</p>
<p>Yes, we here on the Brown forum just make numbers up.</p>
<p>My guess is that number comes from some widely circulated numbers about the different average earnings over a life time of a college graduate versus a high school graduate, therefore valuing any undergraduate degree at 500k over a life time. If you think that's even a useful metric, ymmv, all of that junk.</p>
<p>your point?</p>
<p>every school has a different system and frankly there are plenty of people clambering for your spot if you don't take it...</p>
<p>Well, I'm in an awkward situation... Brown claims after a review and second review of my financial aid app that theres nothing more they can do to help us. Don't get me wrong though, they were very nice on the phone lol! But, its very frustrating, since they are expecting my parents to pay over twice as much as Dartmouth expects, somewhere around a 12k difference - The financial aid officer attributed it to the different new financial aid initiatives that all the ivy league schools enacted this year, and they cant match them necessarily... I talked for about 20 or 25 minutes with her on the phone, and she really sounded as if all our options were exhausted and the number they gave was it. So, my rational mind is telling me to save the money and put it towards something useful! But my heart's telling me ill regret having the "what if i went to brown.." feeling and picking based on money. I figure I'm only gonna be doing this college thing once, right? lol, any advice on the financial aspect or similar situations out there?</p>
<p>I turned down a lot of money in scholarship elsewhere for Brown. It was just the right choice for me. I don't regret it and neither does my family. I kind of think you just have to decide whether or not the money will be a life-changing sacrifice later on or not, and then whether or not whatever sacrifice it is, if it's worth it for you.</p>
<p>I know I had to be in the right place to be successful. I probably would have dropped out of most colleges in the country or would have had to take a ton of time off at some point. Brown was right for me socially and academically. I didn't put a price on that.</p>
<p>I appreciate hearing that from you so much, modest. I had a gut feeling for a long time about brown, and even though I love dartmouth and would get an awesome education there too, I don't think I can quantify the excitement I had about Brown's entire lifestyle and philosophy. As long as I don't think I'll be putting any crushing stress on family finances after we talk tomorrow I'm gonna listen to dad and just go where I really want to go and make it work after : ) Thanks again!</p>
<p>Dartmouth is a better school than Brown, PLUS you'll be saving 12K each year. This is a no-brainer</p>
<p>My parent's had a great attitude about it. They, like me, tried hard to not fall in love with Brown before I got in. When I did, it was after I had already practically sent a commitment card elsewhere where I would have received over 80k in scholarship over 4 years and where the bottomline was already 5-7k cheaper a year. I loved the school and one of my best friends already went there.</p>
<p>When I got into Brown, I went back with my dad to ADOCH. My mom had been reading stuff online and had already pretty much felt that Brown was right for me and Brown was really my first choice from the beginning, but thought of as a dollar in a dream. I really felt so proud the day I got into Brown--definitely one of my most proud moments.</p>
<p>The day of ADOCH my dad was all about sending me here. He just felt it could not be compared to other places I was considering. It was too much of an opportunity in too many ways. It fit who I was in too many ways. My teachers had been pushing Brown the whole way, too. We went down to Financial Aid that day (I initially had no package) and we talked about the next four years, mapped out the cost, and my parents figured out that while they'd have to sacrifice their weekends (wouldn't really be able to eat out, wouldn't go on vacation, etc), that with the financial aid I'd receive my final two years assuming my sister went to a state school (was very likely and turned out to be the case) that we could squeeze Brown and I wouldn't come out in really rough shape.</p>
<p>We walked out of Financial Aid and handed in my commitment card that day.</p>
<p>It was probably the best choice I ever made.</p>
<p>But, it was a very personal choice and it was very much the right choice for me. That's not always the case.</p>
<p>FWIW, the school I was talking about above was Case Western Reserve University, and I still frequently recommend it to kids from home because it's an all too often overlooked choice for Northeasterners.</p>