So, I am confused… Cornell tells everyone that they meet full need… But so many people are considering other schools because Cornell did not offer enough money to make attending feasible. Have you tried appealing for more money?
We have appealed but haven’t heard back yet. My concern is that even if this year is affordable, if they “suddenly” reduce our aid in future years, we will be stuck.
Work study / student jobs, while helpful, won’t really make a dent if our contribution goes way up (as srparent15 described.)
I have spoken to Cornell FA and, while they were nice, at this point they weren’t able to provide any useful info.
Meeting full need does not mean free! I think people don’t understand what full need means.
You should look it it up. This is a big problem that people think full meet need means free but nothing is free unless it’s a case of a full scholarship. Financial aid usually consists of some grants and combination of loans but also EFC which is the amount a school tells you that you can pay. Unmet need is the difference between the cost and your EFC.
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Here’s an actual much better example and explanation than I can ever explain
I missed the part when I said it was free? I do not need to look anything up lol…
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I am so sorry to hear that. I hope everything works out the best for your family!
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It is extremely unlikely that a family’s EFC would increase that much without a commensurate increase in their income or assets. I don’t doubt that families would like FA to be calculated for all four years based on their lowest one-year EFC, but fortunately it doesn’t work that way, so the finite amount of FA flows to families who need it most.
If you’re on the Cornell parent page feel free to ask the many parents on there that had this happen to them last fall some still complaining about it, including the ones who actually lost jobs or wound up having to find extra jobs in order to make up for the extra income they needed to make in order to not take out loans. Many complaints. If you’re not on the page, then don’t make assumptions about something you have no clue about.
Parents venting on Facebook ≠ actual proof there wasn’t a legitimate, customary reason for their EFC to change (eg housing or asset appreciation, an older sibling graduated from college, etc).
I would like to hear more about the person who lost a job because they had to make more money, though.
I have numerous parent friends and I know their situations and have heard their complaints about it. Separately there are many others who have the same complaints. You can believe it or not. It doesn’t really matter to me if you do or not. For those attending in the future, it is just something they need to be aware of and when they commit and their parents are admitted in the group they are more than welcome to join.
We have been dealing with covid and millions of people have lost jobs and that has really impacted a lot of parents. One friend of mine has a kid who’s EFC alone went up by almost double digits when he wasn’t able to work all last summer and certainly wasn’t working this year when everything has been closed. There’s a shortage right there. That isn’t based on parental assets that’s based on the child expected EFC. The child’s assets didn’t go up between year 1 or 2 either since the kid wasn’t working at all during school either.
Again, you don’t have a kid there so you obviously don’t have the personal experience that many of us parents have dealt with to know. You can take it or leave it, I don’t really care.
This is what people who are considering attending need to know:
if there aren’t substantial subsequent changes to the income, assets, and other inputs reported on the CSS and FAFSA that your family submits under penalty of perjury before your first year, you can expect your EFC to remain basically stable for four years. Not just at Cornell, but at most schools that give out all/mostly need-based aid (this roughly corresponds to the pool of schools that require the CSS).
Secondhand individual, anecdotal internet cases should be taken with a grain of salt unless you’ve got a copy of their FAFSA in front of you.
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my financial aid still hasn’t come in… is there something wrong with my application?
Nothing here yet either.
How common is the transfer option? My son says several kids at his school got it. He was waitlisted and not given the option.
Has any of the ivies given out financial aid yet? It’s so close to commitment day
Most students received their FA on Ivy day or the day after. There are a few people waiting, but it’s connected to the school needing more documents.
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My to-do list is wiped… I’m so confused on what’s going on.
Has anyone gotten their envelope in the mail yet by any chance?
idk but a few people i know got the guaranteed transfer option
I submitted the documents they needed over 2 weeks ago and my portal hasn’t even updated… do you think something is wrong? I’m so scared I did something wrong and will end up getting no financial aid
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