<p>Ok, I'm currently trying to decide whether or not I should apply to Cornell under early decision. I know I'm going to apply but I feel that applying under early decision will give me a better chance. The only thing that I'm unsure about is the financial aid. My family's annual income is under 60,000. Cornell says they are eliminating need-based loans and I wanted to know if, if I apply under early decision, would I for certain get a grant or scholarship or would I have to pay if I'm accepted? Thanks in advance, any information will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>If your income is less than 60,000, then you should get a generous amount of aid. I’m not sure whether you would simply be given lots of grant money (rather than a tiny loan with grants), but it wouldn’t hurt for you to apply ED if you are highly interested in attending the university. My family’s income is around 100,000, but I applied ED, got accepted later, and was given a very good amount of financial assistance.</p>
<p>Thanks. And I didn’t mean complete grant money I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be stuck with 40,000 dollars to pay each year if I did early decision. So thanks =)</p>
<p>Cornell accepts the Common Application, which has this rule:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>So if they don’t offer you enough, you say thanks but no thanks, and apply RD elsewhere. But apply ED only to your one dream school, when you don’t care about comparing FA offers.</p>
<p>This might be interesting:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html</a></p>
<p>Thank you. But in general, would most people say they offer pretty good financial aid packages?</p>
<p>With a family making under $60k, I’d say you’re definitely in a good position. Many ppl say Cornell can be snooty with FA, but if you’re in the lower bracket (under 60k), I’d say they are extremely generous. My family’s was just under 50k and I got full (and I applied ED last year and got in!) Whatever your package it will be loan-free, and definitely under 10k for the expected family contribution. I can’t speculate that much, though, because a lot of other factors go into the decision-making process, but that’s my educated guess.</p>
<p>Under $60K income/100K assets and you’ll only pay the $2370 student contribution and work study.
<a href=“https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm[/url]”>https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm</a>
<a href=“https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm[/url]”>https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm</a>
<a href=“https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm[/url]”>https://www.finaid.cornell.edu/apply/faestimator.cfm</a>
^^^do it!! If you plug every thing in correctly you’ll get a very, very close estimate, barring any drastic changes to your income etc.</p>
<p>Thank you soooooo much I’m very confident in applying for early decision now after this help and I really hope I can go there. =)</p>
<p>I’m a Cornell grad and LOVE the school and also believe ED is a good option for students who have a strong preference … and Cornell financial aid is very very good. That said there a few schools (Harvard, Yale, and Princeton among others) that tend to give better aid … if gettig a very good financial package will do it for your family then applying ED to Cornell will work out fine … however if the ability to compare financial aid packages to take the best (or negogiate with Cornell to try to match the best offer) is important for your family than applying RD may make more sense. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks! And I was looking at harvard and Yale as well but Cornell is my top choice</p>