<p>Did any schools give you a better financial aid offer than MIT? And, if so, where did you decide to go?</p>
<p>The University of Texas offered less money but had a much lower cost. I ended up going to MIT (who gave me the most money), even though it didn't have the net lowest cost.</p>
<p>MIT gave me the best aid compared to UF, Georgia Tech, Colorado School of Mines, Rose-Hulman, Carleton College, and Randolph Macon. </p>
<p>I didn't apply to any other private schools with large endowments after I got in early, I probably should have so I can compare the aid offers.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, & Princeton all beat MIT's hands down.</p>
<p>I got a full-ride/stipend to Notre Dame and my state university.</p>
<p>But Yale's financial aid was so damn amazing that the difference between a full-ride and Yale is a couple thousand, literally.</p>
<p>Don't know where I'm going to go. List is narrowed down to HYP & MIT, although MIT is looking less favorable because of significant financial aid difference...we'll see...</p>
<p>Well unlike tennisgirl my aid from MIT was amazing and Princeton screwed me over literally; I'm talking thousands and thousands of dollars. But MIT was the #1 choice anyway.</p>
<p>**MITs Financial aid was the best for me. **Caltech was a close second.
Princeton was a somewhat distant third. Stanford was a very distant
fourth.</p>
<p>Interestingly, I had to negotiate with Princeton and Stanford to bring
down what I had to pay to the current level. It was really bad to begin
with.</p>
<p>I received MITs financial aid package first, Princeton's second, Stanfords
third and Caltech's (overall) package last. Given I am getting merit aid
from Caltech the fact that MITs aid is comparable/better totally rocks
and says tons about how need blind MIT is! </p>
<p>M ~ C > P >> S</p>
<p>The A.B.Duke would have equalled M and C but other personal
considerations prompted me to pull out of it. In fairness though:
M~ C ~ D (W/A.B. Duke) > P >> S > D (W/o A.B. Duke)
<a href="The%20ranking%20is%20based%20on%20what%20I%20would%20end%20up%20spending/working%20and%0Anot%20based%20on%20COA%20which%20is%20different%20for%20these%20colleges">i</a>*</p>
<p>Ona related note, Financial aid was a big factor in how I selected the schools
I applied to (USNR ranking). It turns out from my personal experience and the
negotiations that USNR ranking on financial aid is largely meaningless to individuals.
The numbers provided are averages and do not reflect EFC specific aid formulation.
It certainly does not reflect aid to low or non existant EFC, 0 or no assets individuals.</p>
<p>Princeton handled the negotiation in a refined way but their aid is definitely not
comparable -- a shock to me, considering how much I have heard on and off CC
about Princeton's generosity.</p>
<p>Stanford! My family actually thought the numbers were a typo for a couple of minutes.
The aid numbers online (on Axess) kept changing from bad to worse daily. The recent PR about
Stanford and aid was aimed at the bulk of its enrolees (middle class ) and not people below
that (like me).</p>
<p>I got absolutely terrible financial aid at MIT (i.e. nothing). I'm going anyway.</p>
<p>That being said, the MIT financial aid department was really fabulous. During our CPW meeting, they sat down with us and went through each and every number on the sheet and really took the time to make sure that we understood where everything was coming from. I honestly believe that if you ask them, MIT will give you every penny that you deserve - we just unfortunately didn't qualify for any.</p>
<p>Personally, if you're having concerns about money, that's a big issue. I had concerns about money. Then I went to CPW and that all went out the window and I am a proud '12 with over 100k in prospective student loans. I can't wait for August! :)</p>
<p>MIT's financial aid was 15k less then Harvard, which has been a big deciding factor for me. I may try to call up MIT and try to appeal.</p>
<p>Although I am reluctant to make conclusions from these few comments, is it possible that MIT finaid is far more favorable at the low end of the financial spectrum compared to Stanford Princeton (Brown, Col, Penn, Duke etc), which seem to require some more substantial contribution than MIT; and is much worse for middle income students? I am leaving HY out of it, since their aid would appear to be superior at all points on the scale.</p>
<p>^^ I don't think it's possible to conclude anything from this thread, although given Harvard's offer to provide aid to families earning $180,000, I'm tempted to agree with your hypothesis.</p>
<p>Our family does not qualify for any aid at MIT (or anywhere else, for that matter). Like other MIT admits, our daughter got the hard sell from several colleges during April last year. One university sent dozens of letters, initially to my daughter, but later to us, stating "To the Parents of __<strong><em>: Are you aware that your child is about to turn down a $90,000 merit scholarship to the University of _</em></strong>?" All of this led my husband to believe that he might be able to "negotiate" with MIT.</p>
<p>At CPW, he met with the Financial Aid office, and came away with a clear understanding that MIT does not negotiate to match any merit offers. In fact, what MIT told us (verbally and in print) was that our daughter could take up to $15,000 in loans over the four years, but that we were expected to pay the rest. In other words, no one at MIT expected her to go into deep debt to finance her education, although I suppose she might have done this, had we been unwilling to pay.</p>
<p>End of story: We decided to pay, and we've had no regrets. She began working on a cutting-edge UROP the spring semester of her freshman year, and she has the opportunity to continue research over the summer. She LOVES it there, and I don't think she would have had these sorts of opportunities anywhere else.</p>
<p>One sad story, and a lesson to take away....</p>
<p>This year, a friend of my daughter's was accepted to MIT, but the family have told her they can not afford to pay for her to go. She's pondering whether to take $130,000 in loans over four years. Personally, I don't think it's worthwhile to go into this kind of debt. Parents, parents, talk frankly with your children BEFORE they apply to colleges and universities. Make sure they understand what you can pay, and what you can not. It's just heartbreaking....just heartbreaking to talk with this young woman now, who will undoubtedly have to turn down MIT for a state school.</p>
<p>Mia305, I came to a similar conclusion based on the anectodal evidence. </p>
<p>*MIT has a generous matching grant option for Pell grantees. *This pushes
MIT to the top since none of the colleges amongst HYPS have this. USNR
measures economic diversity by % Pell grantees so MIT is defintiely
supporting economic diversity as a key goal more than the other colleges.</p>
<p>Very few of the posts on CC actually differentiate
between overall expectation and strictly cash contribution. H and
Y augment aid with work. The earning expectation from work should be added
to family contribution to figure out how much the college actually
expects overall and should also include the additional $1,500 medical
insurance that most colleges do not seem to cover but some like C do.</p>
<p>Using this methodology at the lower end of the spectrum (below the
mid-income earners) HY may seem * at best *comparable to MIT (and Caltech.)</p>
<p>I agree with Mia305
I'm upper middle...and although MIT's was competent (much better than the nonexistent Duke, Upenn....etc.) Princeton was much better...and Harvard's was the best. But i'm pretty set on Harvard...so I won't try negotiating between Harvard and Princeton, even though I've heard that Princeton has some wiggle room with their financial aid.</p>
<p>Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton beat MIT hands down. We are middle income and it will be very hard to justify attending MIT with those offers. It really bothers me that MIT is stubborn about its policies. In every facet, from research to open courseware, MIT is a leader, but its financial aid policies are behind what HYPS are doing, and so they will be a loser this year of the top middle class students who must rely on financial aid.</p>
<p>^That's because MIT actually has more middle-class students than other top schools. </p>
<p>It's easy to have great financial aid for middle-class students when most of your students aren't in that category.</p>
<p>^ Also (and once again, this is a middle class kid currently in discussion with MIT FinAid) keep in mind that MIT's endowment isn't as big as those other Ivies. Those places frankly have more money to spend, and more money that Congress may MAKE them spend.</p>
<p>In addition, I bet the cost of running MIT is pretty darned high compared to non tech-specific schools. All that equipment has, on average, GOT to be more expensive than the materials needed for English and Philosophy majors. (Not that those majors are easier, just perhaps cheaper for the college).</p>
<p>As the general statement, by the by, my dealings with MIT FinAid have been positive. Am I hearing the news I want? Well, to be honest, it really doesn't look good and I think I'm going to a much cheaper State University. </p>
<p>But MIT is still reviewing, they're kindly hearing me and my parents out on every issue we've brought up, and they've been extremely responsive to our questions, even if the answers aren't necessarily what we're hoping for. They're straightforward and honest, whereas other colleges I've dealt with sometimes dodge questions or are impossible to deal with when you mention the very thought of "appealing" financial aid.</p>
<p>It seems to me that HYPS are trying to increase the number of middle class students, and that will make them better places.</p>
<p>And MIT's endowment, while smaller than Harvard's is over $8 billion and was the fastest growing last year at 25%. So it is just a matter of how they plan to spend it. They're emphasizing aid to those w/ less than $75k, but they'll lose families who scrimp and save and live frugally and work but don't want to take out loans.</p>
<p>Originally, I had about equivalent offers from MIT and Princeton...but as it turns out, I had forgotten to send my parents' tax forms to Pton. After we faxed those in, Pton re-evaluated my offer. For me, Princeton is $12,000 cheaper per year - and though I would prefer to go to MIT, $12K is not a small amount of money! It's not something my parents can just spare, and I do not want to take out the difference in loans...it could possibly add up to be a lot in loans after four years. </p>
<p>When I talked with the MIT fin aid office during CPW, they seemed nice...but it seemed like they would not be willing to match Pton's aid. :(</p>