<p>I'm currently a junior in high school, and I've been interested in CMU for the longest time. I've requested a lot of information from them and have inquired about what kind of options they have in their physics department. However, the one drawback I've found with the university is that it is pretty expensive and I've noticed that they don't give very much financial aid or scholarships. Is this true? I would love to attend CMU, but I also don't want to put my family or myself deeply in debt...has anyone had experience with this?</p>
<p>I only know what my friend got, he comes from an upper middle-class family and only received $3000 for his ED financial aid, so not much aid apparently.
Hope this helps a little bit :P</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon meets full need for only 29% of their students, and on average they meet 83% of need. So most students with need get “gapped,” but it appears they try to spread the available money around to come as close to meeting full need as they can. </p>
<p>no. they are among the stingiest “elite” schools for people with salaries well above average; in our case, the net price calculators show it to be tied with Cornell in third place behind pomona and lafayette. This is of the non-state schools we examined. Most generous with need-based aid in our case were Tulane and Vandy. This is not to say that each school costs the same amount because they don’t, obviously. We have found the npcs, thus far, to be quite accurate, but then we have no businesses or other large assets other than a home.</p>
<p>What do they consider the “cutoff” for average salary? I’ll have to ask my parents exactly how much they make, but they’re definitely not in HUGE financial need.</p>
<p>In 2011, the median income of the 114 million US households was $50504. That is, the 50th percentile.</p>
<p>The 80th percentile was $101,582 and the 95th percentile $186K.</p>
<p>However, middle class income on CC seems to be about 80K. Upper middle class income can go to 180K on CC. Who the upper class are on CC isn’t quite clear; perhaps they are the top 7%.</p>
<p>Before you get any further in creating a college list, be sure to get your parents’ last federal tax return and sit down with them. Run each school’s “net price calculator,” put in the data from the tax return, and show them what elite colleges are going to expect them to pay. Chances are, they’ll cough at least once. Where you go to college is a family decision, and the sooner you incorporate that into your list of colleges the more realistic your list will be. If you have the stats to get into CMU you have the stats to find yourself some merit money at m any schools, maybe even some automatic tuition scholarships. Check the financial aid forum for the url for such scholarships. Remember, tho, that the merit money is used first to replace student loans, work study, and grant aid. If there’s any left over it can go toward remaining costs.</p>
<p>CMU is not known for great financial aid.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.enrollment.cmu.edu/netprice/npcalc.htm”>http://www.enrollment.cmu.edu/netprice/npcalc.htm</a> will provide a customized answer for you for CMU.</p>
<p>Thank you ucbalumnus! That is so helpful!</p>