Make sure you get all the financial info to ALL of your school. Then just wait until April 1.
I sure hope Yale works out, but you will just have to weigh all of your options and discuss with your parents.
An outside scholarship will not lower how much your parents will have to pay as Yale would use outside scholarships to reduce your self help aid first and then reduce their institutional need based aid. In order for your parents EFC to be reduced, you would have to get outside scholarships that would cover all of your financial aid from Yale.
We did get more than our EFC from one of my son’s schools similar to Yale but they are known for being generous. $45K as the EFC for $200K income is really low so you may be unpleasantly surprised. The other aspect to the final financial aid award that beyond what they expect your parents to pay there will also be an amount you are expected to pay which is typically a few thousand dollars from summer income and/or work study. So even if your parents are “only” asked to pay say $40K which isn’t far off what they want you may also need to pay as much as $5000. Are you willing and able to work a few hours a week during the school year and a pretty good amount of time over the summer? It depends on the school but at ours they do let outside scholarships count against your work requirement but anything beyond that they would take out of your institutional grants.
No. The schools do NOT offer you the EFC. You are expected to PAY the EFC. Schools that meet full need offer you the cost of attendance MINUS the EFC. Some also require an additional student contribution.
It is very possible that Yale will expect you to pay MORE than $45,000. Yale uses the Profile…and they use a lot of the information on it to determine need based aid awards. If your family income is about $200,000, I can’t imagine that Yale will give you more aid than $45,000 a year…even though Yale is extremely generous.
You don’t mention assets at all. Does your family have savings, investments, real estate, money in a cookie jar? With a $200,000 income, I would expect there to be some assets in the mix too.
ETA. Yale has very generous need based aid policies. With your almost $200,000 income, you might actually get that $20,000 a year in need based aid. At most other schools, you would get nothing.
Can you contribute $5k from your summer job savings/earnings?
Oops…error on my above post…should say…
If your income is $200,000 a year, I can’t imagine Yale will give you more,than $20,000 a year in aid (if that much).
Your family contribution will be at LEAST $45,000 per year (that FAFSA EFC).
Yale has a mandatory student contribution if you’re on any financial aid so I would basically be doing a work study, so I would hopefully reach that amount.
I guess I’ll just wait/hope for now, and hopefully it’ll all turn out well. I actually saw people posting with situations much worse than mine where they couldn’t afford anywhere (or their dream school) about two years ago so I asked my parents beforehand and although the numbers didn’t seem like they would work out, my parents reassured me and wanted me to aim wherever I wanted to (even though that’s a bad idea).
Anyway, thanks everyone for all the help!
It is possible at Yale to get significant need-based aid even with $200K in income. But a 200K family with an only child, both parents under age 50, and substantial other assets (excluding home equity), will be treated very differently than a 200K family with no savings, five or six dependent children, and both parents just a few years away from retirement.
I understand Yale is waiving the student contribution for some students, and lowering it for almost all others.