<p>I was recently admitted to one of the Ivy League schools under an early decision agreement. I only applied early decision because I was assured (and my parents were assured) that we would only pay what we could afford and that I would graduate debt-free. Definitely not the case. If I attend this university, I will graduate approximately $100,000 in debt and still have to pay for a law degree after that. This will prohibit me from studying abroad, completing internships over the summer (because I will need to work) and basically leave me with a mortgage after attending college. We are currently in the process of appealing the financial aid offer but I'm afraid that I will not be offered more money. I was also offered a full-tuition scholarship to Northeastern University (which was my second choice anyway) that would provide me with outstanding internship programs and leave me virtually debt-free. Can I even hope to be let out of my early decision agreement for financial reasons?</p>
<p>Unfortunately many students (and parents) don’t understand that it is not how much you and your family can afford it is what the college determines you can afford and the most generous colleges look very closely at income AND assets before they give that “generous” aid that is displayed on the websites or the often bantered 10% of income of whatever is rolling off the tongues these days. $100,000 is alot of debt and only you and your family can make the final decision and yes colleges will release you from ED. Read the information from the college and follow the directions if your appeal does not result in an affordable situation.</p>
<p>Yes. That is the failsafe clause for ED. I don’t know who assured your or your parents that you would only have to pay what you could afford. “AFFORD” is the term that is under question here. Neither you nor your parents determine what you all can afford. People who own lear jets claim they can’t afford some things because they don’t want to give up that life style. So what your parents say they can afford and what the PROFILE forumula says they can can be two separate things. </p>
<p>You got a scholarship from Northeastern, not a financial aid award which is a whole other thing. You could probably get a whole lot of scholarship options if you are the caliber to get accepted to the Ivies, but you are highly unlikely to get a better financial aid package than offered. Ivies do not give merit money. </p>
<p>So, yes, if you can’t pay what the college says you have to pay, then you can be released honorabley from the ED agreement. Tha’t part of the contract. You are lucky you got the NE offer when you did. SOmetimes people have to make this decision without the merit awards since some don’t come until later in the season.</p>
<p>Go to Northeastern. Stay out of debt.</p>
<p>Do you have money saved up for law school? If so, the Ivy will be expecting you to spend that on undergrad. Maybe that’s why there’s such a big discrepancy between what you think you can afford and what the Ivy thinks you can afford.</p>
<p>P.S. You don’t “have” to pay for a law degree, because you don’t “have” to go to law school.</p>
<p>I’m curious if your offer was really different than expected using the Net Price Calculator. How otherwise did you figure what your family contribution should be? From FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>Yes. You can decline the ED offer if your aid is not sufficient.</p>
<p>I do agree…what “guarantee” was there that you would graduate within your budget, and debt free?</p>
<p>Northeastern is a great option.</p>
<p>My parents and I met with a financial advisor, a private guidance counselor (both family friends) and my school guidance counselor, who all said that any Ivy League education would be affordable. The financial advisor gave us an estimated price, and we expected it to be higher than that price but not significantly (which it is).</p>
<p>Also, when I went to ANY Ivy League information session, tour or met with an admissions officer they claimed that any student can afford an ivy league education and they eliminate debt as much as possible. I’m okay with having a few loans to pay back, but I wasn’t expecting $100,000 or more. I come from a family with an income of less than $60,000 a year but our assets exceed $100,000 because of our house, which was an aspect of the “need-based aid” that we overlooked.</p>
<p>“Affordable” can mean a lot of things. Maybe you should contact these financial advisors, counselors and show them what the end result has been. Clearly they were mistaken.</p>
<p>Colleges do not offer students loans in those amounts, for the most part, particularly the ivies. Many of the ivies are loan free in terms of their aid packages. They are probably referring your parents to PLUS or to co signed loans if they cannot pay what they are expected to pay. Those are not aid awards and your parents/you have to apply and get approved for them. The only Ivy I know that has a loan fund of its own is Cornell. </p>
<p>Something here does not make sense if your famly income is less than $60K a year. Your house must be a valued at a heck of a lot since only about 5-6% of assets are considered towards parental contribution. But then again most Ivies cap home value at 2.4X income on the form. Again Cornell comes to mind. Also do your parents have their own business, own real estate as investments?</p>
<p>Your parents need to show the financial advisor the results of his advice. </p>
<p>As to what the admissions officers s saod. again, it comes down to the definition of “afford”. If parents have assets and income that the fin aid formula determisn can AFFORD the costs, they aren’t going to get aid. There are folks who make millions of dollars and have all kinds of assets tied up in things that feel they can’t AFFORD the $60K+ after taxes that an ivy league, or many private colleges cost. Their definition of afford and the colleges’ are not going to agree. Few people want to “afford” college costs on their income/asset level even if the formula says they can. I personally cannot without sacrifices I don’t want to make, but according to the forumulas I can, and my kids are eligbile for zero fin aid.</p>
<p>But something is off in this picture, IMO. I have a friend who was in the same situation. Income about $60K. Expected his kid would get a full ride to Harvard since that is below the income cut that Harvard says they will give full packages. But…but, he owns a number of apartment buildings, many of them paid off. And they counted heavily. If he sold a building, it could pay for Harvard, but then his income is hit heavily. And this is also his family retirement nest egg. Harvard said, too bad. </p>
<p>So something like this is in the picture that we are missing unless some mistake is made. Perhaps the fin advisor can discuss this with the fin aid office since he was so terribly off in his predictions.</p>
<p>It all depends on the Ivy. At some, an income of $60,000 a year would give you very significant need based aid.</p>
<p>Did your family ever DO the Net Price Calculator on your Ivy website? To be honest, that would have given you a better guestimate of your aid.</p>
<p>Still…with an income of $60,000 or so, I would expect your max family contribution at most of the Ivies to be about $23,000 a year. Is that about what it is? </p>
<p>Maybe your appeal will be a positive one.</p>
<p>I think we are seeing a lot of posts this week (not just this one) where students and parents relied on what other people SAID about FA/costs for a college, but did not actually run the net price calculators themselves. Wish there was a way to promote this due diligence step more actively – it would be nice if high school guidance counselors would push this step harder.</p>
<p>You’re right, I never actually ran the calculator because it’s importance was never stressed to me, I felt very confident in what I was told by others. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that I should have researched this more carefully. I’ll be the first to admit that I was an excited high school student who made a somewhat uninformed decision about college. Thank you all for your advice and encouragement.</p>
<p>What you were told was that the ivies would be “affordable”. Again “affordable” is not an exact term and is very subject to who defines it. Most ivies do not include loans in their packages–Cornell is an exception, and none do for students who are from low income familes. The loan amount sounds like a referral to PLUS (parent loans) and other places for your parents to borrow what the school’s calculator says they should be paying but they can’t. </p>
<p>Again, without more info, it’s not possible to figure this out. With a $60K income, something is not right here. A family owned business, or an ownership share in a business, owning real estate and a lot of assets, over a half million would bring you to a $25K a year required contribution, for example. If your family has a lot of assets, you can’t expect to get a lot of financial aid. Makes no sense.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the full tuition offer to Northeastern!</p>
<p>A further question: If I decide that it is necessary to break my early decision contract for financial reasons, will this college blacklist me and notify my other colleges (namely Northeastern) that I broke my ED agreement? Will Northeastern withdraw my acceptance because of this?</p>
<p>Provided you do request the release from the ED agreement because of finances ASAP, there should be no problem whatsoever with Northeastern. </p>
<p>Contact the too-expensive college/university immediately, let them know that they are unaffordable for you, and ask for release from the ED agreement.</p>
<p>I don’t know if NE subscribes to the Early Decision list, but if it does, that is a possibiity, so you had better request the Ivy not to put your name on that list while you are trying to negotiate a better aid package. Because if the list is already out and your name is on it, you can get flushed automatically. I don’t know if NE subscribes to that list. YOu had better talk to NE just in case. Once, it is established that the Ivy League school cannot come up with a package that is affordable to your family, then they will officially release you from the ED contract.</p>
<p>Though I’ve never seen a school NOT release for such a reason, it technically can hold you if you want an unreasonable match to another school that just happens to come out with a great scholarship offer that is no where close to what your family would be expected to pay anywhere. Comparing offers is what you give up when you apply ED. You appled for fin aid, and so that gives you good grounds as to what some expectations are. But if what you are expecting is a match and your assets are such that it is ludicrous to expect getting full tuition paid on a need basis, there can be an issue. I’ve yet to see that happen, however.</p>
<p>But timing can be an in issue while you are going back and forth, so you had better make sure you are not on that list and that it has not gone out, or you cna get auto-flushed.</p>
<p>With income ~$60k, I would expect a lot of need based aid from Ivies even with ~$100k asset including equity according to Net Cost Calculators. Did you overlook something like 529 plan?</p>
<p>Billsho, something is missing in this picture. There has to be assets of over a half million in order to get that kind of expected contribution, or ownership in some business. I asked in an earlier post.</p>
<p>^ Yeah.
OP should contact the ED school to request a release from ED agreement and also notify your GC regarding your decision.</p>