<p>My family makes about 38,000 a year, yet our family is expected to contribute 14,000 to my education. I know we own about 600 acres, but this land is essential to our income. ARG</p>
<p>Do you have to take out any loans?</p>
<p>That's really counter-intuitive to everything conveyed in all of the press releases a couple of months ago. </p>
<p>Cornell</a> Chronicle: Sweeping new financial aid initiative</p>
<p>At $38k AGI, I don't think the cost should be any higher than $7k out of pocket. Maybe get in touch with the folks at financial aid and let them know that your family's land is working capital and simply can't be sold off? I would think that Cornell would be attune to such matters, especially considering it has the Ag School.</p>
<p>yes.. its actually quite funny how Cornell has the #1 Ag school in the country, and yet they don't understand your situation. But then again, FA office and Ag admissions are two different offices. I would definitely call the FA office and at least question their methods to this madness.</p>
<p>wow, this is the 2nd case that i hear that cornell is not following their policy. This sucks because i am around the same income as you this year; however, i dont own land or any business.</p>
<p>The only way i would consider going to cornell is if i really get no loans (yeah, i know i would have to take out loans for the work study/parent contribution part). So if they dont follow their policy, i wont go lol</p>
<p>the people who work at FA office are pretty much retarded (i.e. poor management and stingy). (and I'm saying this from my own experience and talking to many students and parents who equally have troubles with the FA office)</p>
<p>"wow, this is the 2nd case that i hear that cornell is not following their policy"</p>
<p>which policy would this be?</p>
<p>"wow, this is the 2nd case that i hear that cornell is not following their policy."</p>
<p>i don't see how cornell is not following its policy. they are using the land (as people can refinance/take out a new mortgage on land) as a form of wealth. someone whose income is $5000 a year but has $5 million in the bank or a parcel of land worth a lot, they shouldn't expect to have a loan free financial aid package. this is not breaking the rules. 600 acres is no cheap plot.</p>
<p>The policy governs loans not EFC, hence why I asked about the loans. At worst, if the family truly can't pay the $14,000, the student can take on some loans to defray that cost (since I'm assuming, under the new FA initiative, he won't have loans otherwise).</p>
<p>True, but selling the 600 acres would reduce our income to 0. I guess I might appeal the decision, but they said if I do I may not know until June.</p>
<p>You can appeal but I don't think you will win.</p>
<p>Back when my parents made ~100k and we owned one primary home (w/ a sizable mortgage), our EFC was ~10k. I just got my FA estimate back from one of the med schools I'm considering...50k EFC. Our income is still 100k and we still have a primary home with a sizable mortgage. The only difference is that we now own a second rental property (valued at over $1 mil but with a huge mortgage). You can't have assets like 600 acres or a $1+ mil property that generates income and not expect to be docked for it.</p>
<p>My parents plan to take out a home equity loan to fund part of that EFC (which is what mrsopresident was refering to). No one says you have to sell all 600 acres. I don't know what your land is worth but even at a bargain $1000/acre, you still have $600,000 in assets.</p>
<p>Cornell isn't the only school that does this</p>
<p>That is the part that people miss. The schools do not expect that you sell your land, business, house,..... What they recognize is that you have borrowing power because of the land, business, house....</p>
<p>I'll ask again here about the new financial aid policy. Does it apply to ALL students or just incoming freshmen?</p>
<p>
[quote]
My parents plan to take out a home equity loan to fund part of that EFC (which is what mrsopresident was refering to). No one says you have to sell all 600 acres. I don't know what your land is worth but even at a bargain $1000/acre, you still have $600,000 in assets.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you can get a HELOC these days. Something tells me that colleges are going to be hurting because so many students are paying tuition on credit.</p>
<p>^^and if that land is owned free and clear, i.e., no mortgage, then it reduces your efc by 600,000 * ~5.6% = $33,600.</p>
<p>OP: run your numbers thru the finaid cacluator on CollegeBoard's website and see what it comes up with under the Profile schools ("efc" is a federal calculation, which excludes home equity and other stuff that private colleges add back).</p>
<p>Top tier schools won't be hurting because there are thousands of kids that would be happy to pay full fare to go to those schools. I think many students forget that going to colleges is not an entitlement, it is a privilege. It takes sacrifice from everyone. There are many parents out there that have saved for many years to afford college tuition for their kids. It is not pay as you go.</p>
<p>you know, I was lucky to get a decent fa package last year, but it pains me to see cornell expect so much from such students. Many of my friends here are being charged much more money than what they would (now) be expected pay at schools of a similar caliber. The fact of the matter is, Cornell is at the bottom of the ivy league in terms of FA; for example Cornell gives no loans to families making under 75k, while other schools like dartmouth give free rides to those making under 75k. Dartmouth isn't even the best ivy in terms of FA. Even though Cornell is fairly large, I definitely feel like it could do a better job in terms of FA. I feel like we're going to lose many students and lots of diversity b/c of this crappy FA policy.</p>
<p>I agree, it sucks. But the University is already committing a much larger percentage of its resources towards financial aid than any other school in the Ivy League. If it commits any more, it will seriously start to erode on Cornell's ability to have leading professors and cutting edge research. </p>
<p>It's particularly painful because Cornell has traditionally been the most egalitarian school in the League -- enrolling a much more diverse student body -- socioeconomically speaking -- than the other seven. This has changed in recent years as the other schools have become much more aggressive in their financial aid policy. But Cornell still has the neediest student body and the most number of students to support.</p>
<p>Part of the problem are Cornell's contract colleges. A fair amount of alums feel that they pay their state taxes, so they don't need to further donate money to the university. Of course, New York State funding to Cornell has essentially been flat over the last fifteen years, and in-state tuition has exploded in tandem. When I started at Cornell, in-state tuition was only $10k a year.</p>
<p>But at least Cornell has a higher alumni giving rate than Columbia.</p>
<p>Yeah I feel you on that. Parents make 70K a year, and we are expected to pay full price. Granted, we have a lot of rental properties, but we depend on that for our income, and we still have mortgages on some of them. </p>
<p>Guess Cornell is losing this kid.</p>
<p>"Part of the problem are Cornell's contract colleges. A fair amount of alums feel that they pay their state taxes, so they don't need..."</p>
<p>Are you making this statement based off of any factual stats, or is this just an assumption? I'd be interested to know how contract college alum giving (and they don't all donate specifically to the contract colleges, but to Cornell--so I don't know how you could know this to be true) stacks up with the giving of alum from the endowed colleges. And New York State, at least for the past few years, has allocated between $150-$170 million (each year) for the contract colleges.</p>