<p>Is anybody else somewhat disappointed in their financial aid? I want to go to Brown so bad and I don’t know what to do…there is no way I can afford it with the amount they gave me. Is the FA office flexible? Do they listen to appeals and whatnot?</p>
<p>Yes, somebody who knows about this situation, please respond! I got a significantly better package from Stanford, but Brown is absolutely my top school. Do I have any hope of lower my costs at Brown?</p>
<p>I’m in the same position ava1992. Brown has been my dream school since 8th grade, and I was estatic when I was accepted…and then I saw the financial aid letter. </p>
<p>To be honest, my family’s finances can handle the amount Brown expects us to pay. However, it’s considerably more than what I would have to pay at Columbia, which is really frustrating because Brown is definitely my #1.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em>
This entire situation is seriously overshadowing my acceptance.</p>
<p>honestly, brown’s financial aid SUCKS</p>
<p>full aid…pshhh not even CLOSE</p>
<p>I’d have to pay about 20K, and my EFC is NOWHERE near that.</p>
<p>Call, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. They frequently will adjust packages compared to schools that we consider to be peers, unless your income is low enough that you fall in specific ranges where we have particular rules.</p>
<p>Also, if you have significant savings in your name (even in say, a 529), your first year will be based upon draining whatever money you have saved for college and aid should increase once that money has been depleted.</p>
<p>For example, if your parents put away $20,000 in your name for college, Brown may not count that as $5,000 each year, they may in fact count it as 20k for year one. This is what I was explained 5 years ago when I was in your position and my financial aid was demonstrated for me (with no guarantee) for the next four years at the Fin Aid office and I ended up getting even more than they predicted. First we had to deplete some savings and then Brown kicked in big time to help pay on the back end.</p>
<p>This may not be their setup anymore, but you have to call and speak to them or sit down with them if you’re going to visit before determining what you have in your letter is written in stone or meaningful for four years.</p>
<p>Brown’s financial aid is not a scholarship for the middle class-- we don’t have that kind of money. Though aid has increased significantly for all of you guys, I have to say, most of my friends and I felt the same way about Brown’s financial aid-- it took the impossible and made it very possible. That’s not to say that it made it easy, but very possible.</p>
<p>I’ll be graduating with two degrees from Brown with less than 16k in debt and my parents made less than 6 figures combined most of my time at Brown while living in one of the most expensive areas in the country and while having my sister in college at the same time. I would have had half of that if I stopped at just my bachelor’s-- that’s something that I felt was more than reasonable.</p>
<p>Not to be a debbie downer on Modest’s light debt-load but, at least when I graduated 20-30k was a normal and, even fairly good debt load. The idea that one could graduate from Brown with both a BA/MA w/o more than $20k in debt assumes a fair bit of scholarship money or, an exceptional case</p>
<p>These days, maybe $15-20k more typical than the $20-30 my class faces</p>
<p>PS Modest is right, CALL and make them sweat it out</p>
<p>If you guys have the option of comparing packages between great schools, you’re in a great situation. I agree with modest’s post: my family is in a somewhat higher income bracket: I’m going to graduate with much more debt than him, but I’m still incredibly grateful to the financial aid department because, with a large family that has two kids in college, they’ve made what my parents were telling me was impossible very possible: difficult, and I do have to give up some opportunities (like going into the peace corps after college), but everyday I’m thankful for the situation I’m in. Again, call and see your options: not much else will get you the answers you need.</p>
<p>While our FA was excellent, I do understand your pain, folks.<br>
@chsowlflax17-- you might not have to give up your dream of Peace Corps. Here is a quote from the FinAid web site. Check it out, if it applies to you! There is loan forgiveness for quite a few volunteer programs, not just Peace Corps.</p>
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<p>Talk to them. I was originally given no financial aid at all. Then, my parents called the financial aid office and money magically appeared along with work study. So, yes, calling is a great idea.</p>
<p>Same here! I was psyched I got accepted, but it’d be about $10,000 less to go to Yale.</p>
<p>D has not recieved the Brown FA yet but she got the Columbia U one yesterday. I’m a single mom and a teacher I make less than 60K and the only FA she recieved was a 2,750 work Study?! I have to assume her Non-costodial Parent makes much more than we know and said things to imply he will be contributing although he has said the only help he would offer would be to help with loans after she graduates in four years, IF he’s in a finacial place to do so… If Brown’s FA is worse she will be out of luck. I couldn’t even get a 2nd mortgage for the cost of these 2 colleges.</p>
<p>@franglish: too much of my loans aren’t Perkins loans: my parents are taking out PLUS loans we’ve agreed I’m responsible for, and those can’t be forgiven. But they’re allowing me to stay at Brown, so I’m happy about it. And they’ll still allow me to go straight to grad school, as they can be deferred provided I’m in school.</p>
<p>For most people, if you can leave school taking on just the government loans directed at you (i.e. Perkins, Stafford), you’re probably in a pretty good situation, as those have decent debt forgiveness programs (if you’re interested in teaching or volunteer work, etc.) and you’d likely end up with mostly subsidized loans, which allow you to go to grad school without accruing interest.</p>
<p>modestmelody: Thank you so much for the advice. My sister told me that she has a couple of friends who went to Brown who faxed their FA from other schools to the Brown FA office and they matched it, but I wasn’t sure if these were just special cases. UPenn offered me considerably more than Brown did so I think I will show them a copy of Penn’s FA statement.</p>
<p>If Brown DOES match the FA from another school, will the award stay relatively close to that for the entire four years? My dad is worried that after the first year, it might jump back up to the Brown original price. To me, that sounds unreasonable, but does anybody know if this does happen?</p>
<p>No, they don’t magically jump back to the old price and when they do your package they can project out what it would look like if there are no drastic changes in finances. I’ve never heard of someone getting less money in later years without a DRASTIC change in family finances. Almost everyone gets more money because their savings are reduced.</p>
<p>If they can draft what it would look like if there are no changes in finances, do you think they can also draft out potential financial aid awards for expected changes in finances? Do you think the financial aid office would help me if I said “Everything else is going to stay the same, but my dad’s liquid assets are going to be reduced from THIS to THIS, because he plans on making a down payment on a house of THIS much.” I’m really hoping they can at least make some approximations for me…</p>
<p>How long does an appeal normally take?</p>
<p>No, they will not project each hypothetical for you. At least I highly highly doubt it. If your parents are buying a second home (rather than this being their first) then Brown is no likely to care much that liquid assets have been reduced. If I recall, and I thnk they are correct in treating it this way, Brown will not subsidize your education so your family can use that money to build equity. That’s money your family has and can choose to spend on education and Brown’s financial aid is meant for people who don’t have the assets to make that choice, not create opportunities for other investments for your family. </p>
<p>If you have a totally different amount of debt in your family from mortgage on a primary residence I do believe that will be taken into account. But think of it from Brown’s perspective-- is financial aid about helping you buy a larger home or second home or taking away the burden from people who can’t fathom that as an option? Necessary repairs, damage from a disaster, etc are things that I know they would take into account but don’t expect Brown to subsidize and upgrade-- if the system is working they won’t adjust things at all because of that.</p>
<p>Yeah I know, that makes a lot of sense. The reason were buying a new home is actually because we had to sell our old one a few years ago (to avoid financial ruin with the housing crisis) and have been renting property since then. But your right, I’m not all that hopeful. =/</p>
<p>Still doesn’t hurt to try though!</p>