<p>I knew this would happen.. I got into Olin, and now my parents are trying to make me go there. At Olin we would have no debt, but at MIT we would have roughly 160k that we'd need to borrow. Princeton is about 115k. This is the most awful decision I've ever had to make - going with MIT (what my heart is telling me) would put my family under unbelievable economic strain.</p>
<p>I've sort of asked this before, but: does anyone have any advice on either how to approach the fin aid office in terms of begging for more help, or do any alumni or parents have experiences or tips they could share on how to handle so much debt?</p>
<p>ANY AND ALL HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED
thanks so much.</p>
<p>There was a student last year on these boards who successfully negotiated a significant increase in her financial aid, and she is now an MIT freshman.</p>
<p>Did you tell MIT about the fin aid you got from Princeton? If you sent them Princeton's offer and told them how you have your heart set on MIT but your parents are telling you to go to a school that gave you more aid, maybe MIT would at least match or slightly beat Princeton's offer.</p>
<p>160k debt is a whole lot of debt and any reasonable financial aid office wouldnt force yoru parents to take on so much. I don't understand. How come you didn't get any financial aid even though you apparently cannot pay for a cent of the tuition?</p>
<p>Hmmm... Search for scholarships in your community, other scholarships, etc.
My friends who have done this have considerably lessened the amount they would be in debt. Especially as someone who got into those 3 schools, finding an outside academic scholarship would probably be relatively easy.</p>
<p>I hate to be a downer here, but if the strategies mentioned above fail, why don't you go to Olin? Putting your family under economic strain is not a good thing to do. Do well at Olin and then get funded for grad school....</p>
<p>awww, that's so sad though. I'm in a similar situation, and I think somehow, if you got into MIT (or some dream school) and you really want to go, you somehow have to make it. whether you manage to negotiate more aid or apply to a bunch of outside scholarships, you can go for it...somehow...soooomehow</p>
<p>"There was a student last year on these boards who successfully negotiated a significant increase in her financial aid, and she is now an MIT freshman.
"</p>
<p>The financial aid officers usually take appointments during CPW, and admitted students (and/or their parents) can come in and talk about their aid packages.</p>
<p>Well, here's the question you have to ask yourself - are the intellectual and academic benefits of MIT worth 160,000 dollars? Olin is a great school if you're considering the engineering fields they focus on, and its being free is an incredibly hard offer to pass up. What specifically about MIT makes it worth so much to you?</p>
<p>You should try very hard to reduce that number to under 50k. If you believe in yourself a lot maybe under 100k, but definitely not 160k. that's how much my house cost, don't come here if you will owe that :/</p>
<p>Also think about what you expect to earn in your future job. Some MIT grads become doctors, and some get a job on Wall Street. If you fall into either category, consider negotiating with your parents. For example, promise to pay half of it back once you get into your high paying job. If you want to be an engineer, though, I would definitely go to Olin.</p>
<p>no, I most definitely did not forget to fill anything out. It costs $48,200 to attend MIT next year. My family's EFC is now around 30k (went down since I made this thread) and my work expectation is something like 6k (same for all students). Also, borrowing large sums means accruing really large amounts of interest over time.. it's a lot of money, in short. My family's issue is that my parents have spent most of their lives paying off their college debt, our house is suddenly worth a lot of money, they have next to nothing saved for retirement and my brother will need to finance his college education in two years. It sucks,</p>
<p>You're making the absolute wrong decision in my opinion. I hate to be harsh but stop being selfish and consider the dire financial circumstances you are now putting your parents in. 160K of debt just for one student's college expenses as a parent is COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE when they have no money saved for retirement and another college-bound kid coming up coupled with the fact that you could be going to Olin for free.</p>
<p>I know there is a certain allure about a place like MIT but college isn't the be-all end-all. You can always go to MIT for grad school if you want to attend so desperately.</p>
<p>Point in fact, you can't always go to MIT for grad school.</p>
<p>The decision about how to manage a family's finances for students to go to school is immensely personal. Some families feel that it's worth any amount of money for their children to go to a school that makes them happy. Some don't. It's difficult to value-judge.</p>
<p>i got a full ride at caltech through the axline thing and turned it down to go to MIT with zero financial aid.</p>
<p>i won't digress into the reasons why i hated caltech, but there's something to be said about the relationship between happiness and education. if you are going to be tormented at olin, your work will suffer and you are not likely to accomplish your academic goals. college is not some magic machine that makes you awesome. it requires dedication, and if you feel that your environment is continually militating against your success, you will lose much, much more in the long term, both economically and emotionally, than if you went to the school of your choice.</p>