<p>My Daughter wants to go to Cornell. I think she could get in ED and would love to avoid all the hassle of multiple applications and tough decisions under stress. The ED option is very appealing. However, what are the financial risks to waiting for regular decision and possibly considering offers from other schools that may offer more AID? DD is 2240 and 800 on Math SAT, and expected to be Nat'Merit Scolar and Nat Achievement Scholar, I'm not worried about admittance, but am concerned about paying, and probably will not qualify for much based on "need". Does ED make sense?</p>
<p>No. Cornell is a school that does actively look at comparative packages and will change their financial aid offerings accordingly. I believe they even have said so outright. They also are one of the less generous ivies, and even have their own pot of loan money to dish out. With ED, you just aren’t going to get that privilege. Long time boardmembers who have undergone this process have reported quite a spread in aid packages even among schools that proport to use the same methodology.</p>
<p>When you apply ED, you are going to basically take the stance that if the aid package makes it at all doable, you are going to make it work. If the package is truly undoable, you tell them, they see what they can do, but likely with no other comparisons at that time of the year, and if it’s still not doable, you are released from the deal. That would then mean the end of Cornell as an option for your DD. If you truly have a line you cannot cross, and can truly swallow paying above that line, then go on ahead. But you are drawing a very firm line in the sand.</p>
<p>The problem with this, though it makes perfect sense in theory, in practice, we don’t always live that way. We’ll pay $X if our back’s against the wall, but if $Y which is half of $X is viable option,we may take it over $X. I’ve seen it happen many times. Sometimes for ED2, packages for other schools come in early and an ED canddidate does get to compare and with the reality of the dollars on paper right there, priorities shift. With ED, you’ve got the offer in isolation and those puppy dog eyes looking at you saying, “please, please, please”, and the whole ED thing has a momentum of its own, and it 's difficult to make the hard decision. </p>
<p>So keep this all in mind When it works, ED is beautiful. In your first choice school by the holidays, and hopefull with an aid package that works. And you want it so badly that when you see other classmates with stats not there getting half off scholarships from schools that your DD considered, it isn’t going to matter a bit. But, it’s when it doesn’t work, that there is the pain. With NM status, we are talking some possible full tuiton rebates at schools like Fordham and Northeastern, you know or Tulane or… really a number of them. But you don’t know till the end about that.</p>
<p>If you don’t qualify for much need based aid…then what would you think Cornell would offer your daughter? They offer only need based aid, and it is based on their definition of your ability to pay.</p>
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Have you try their NPC? See <a href=“Unknown Address”>Unknown Address;
<p>Thanks for the link to the calculator, I had heard of it and will use it soon to understand what they think my ability to pay is. Thanks to all for responses.</p>
<p>OK, I used the calculator and found out my daughter’s expenses for first year would be $62,168 and she has Zero net need. although we are just gov working stiffs with no investments, no inheritance ever, no business, only one asset (our home) and current mortgage is nearly the same as when we bought it 16 years ago due to equity loans, and a younger sibling we hope to get thru college in a few more years. Definitely not going to do ED Cornell. Feeling sad because she definitely wants Cornell as first choice, but that price is way way beyond our reach. </p>
<p>Try another school like Colgate and maybe a few more, like Fordham and see what you get. Those are just estimates, but it gives you an idea. Play around and see if there is much “give” there, like if you reduce income by say $10K does it make a difference. If you can’t budge it without draconian changes, that means the likelihood of your DD getting ANY financial aid anywhere is just about nil. That is something to take into heavy consideration in putting her list together because there are schools, like Cornell that do not give ANY merit money, so if you have zero need by their formulas, that is what you are going to get from them. You need to look at schools that have merit awards, and big enough ones that can bring the price down to the level you can afford. No sense applying to a $60K school that has three awards at $20K and the rest under $10K when you need to bring the price down to $30K net. Look at state schools, catholic schools and schools where she would be top of the stats.</p>
<p>Thanks, will look at those. Her brother is 4th year at UVA. He wanted to go to Cornell too but we told him we could not afford it after looking at UVA’s offer. She will look at UVA too. It’s really a great school.</p>
<p>Did your son apply to Cornell? Did he get any aid from there? </p>
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<p>A URM with those numbers would be foolish to ED. Apply broadly, and wait for the money offers.</p>
<p>If a similarly high GPA, look at the best $ need-only schools out there: HYPS.</p>
<p>Include a couple of need-only rural LACs, who are known to be generous, such as Amherst and Williams or Pomona. Take their offer, and show it to Cornell. Include some high merit aid schools.</p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>It appears that the OP does not qualify for financial aid when running her numbers through Cornell’s NPC. I’ve suggested she run some other schools’ NPCs that meet full need as well and play around with the numbers. If she’s way off, from qualifying for aid, there is not much of a chance that Williams or Amherst or Pomona are going to offer financial aid. She needs to be looking for schools that have large merit possibilities. </p>
<p>we don’t disagree cpm, but that is the beauty of the common app. Send out a half dozen truly reach applications and see what they say; and if no money, then take the big merit money somewhere else. But lets not pretend that need-based aid is 100% formulaic; its amazing what can happen under “professional review.”</p>
<p>And don’t forget that HYS has much more generous need-based aid than does Cornell. Two working folks making $150k could get zero from Cornell but be eligible for nice aid from HYS. (Harvard caps tuition at 10% up to $180k.) Sure, not a full ride, but HYS at a big discount is worth looking at, IMO.</p>
<p>Long shot odds? Absolutely! But you gotta pay the app fee to play. :)</p>
<p>Agree w/bluebayou that as a high achieving AA, HYPS are worth a try, including EA for one of them unless there are other multiple unrestricted EA schools she’s interested in. The OP should run their NPCs. For both of my kids, those schools offered significantly more generous FA than schools just a step down; three years ago there was over a 20k/yr difference between Y and Pomona.</p>
<p>Here are some big merit scholarship shopping lists:</p>
<p><a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<p>hey OP, we had the same discussion in November 2013. we told her no ED to cornell, must try RD</p>
<p>that was a rough conversation and we are anticipating another possible conversation later today when we find out RD. our EFC is not really affordable depending on how they calculate using the CSS data</p>
<p>Thanks, these replies are all helpful and they all make sense. My son did not get much AID offer from Cornell, I think the reason was we did not get our Financial Aid information submitted early/correct,we did not understand the process, by the time we realized the error, he decided to take UVA’s nearly full ride merit offer and that was good decision for him. My daughter just really wants to go Cornell and I want to understand the process earlier on this time. I now see clearly that ED Cornell is not the way. Her GPA is around 3.8, she is struggling with AP Calc and Physics, so I think HYPS will be stretch/reach but worth a try, especially if it could mean a competetive offer from Cornell.</p>
<p>Go to the AA Students forum and do a Search and see if you can find some Results threads from past years, that could give you an idea of ballpark stats for AAs at HYPS.</p>
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<p>Of the Ivies, unfortunately, Cornell is on the lower/lowest end of the calculation of need.</p>