<p>I just got my financial aid today after numerous calls over the past few weeks and found out that I have about 20k in unmet need. My EFC is 0, so I have no means in which to pay this aside from taking out a private student loan which would end up costing 80k for four years. The issue is that I had deferred admission for a year so I'm committed to Carnegie Mellon without a backup or rival offers to contest the package with. 80k in loans just for undergraduate seems like a hefty sum and I'm afraid I'll drown in debt before I even start earning money. I plan on calling the financial aid office on Tuesday to see if there's any way my package could be increased. But is there anything else I could do? Anything I could say that would make them more likely to increase my aid? The reason I had deferred for a year was because of medical reasons and my parents struggled just to pay for the health bills, but I'd addressed this situation in my CSS Profile, so I don't know if I should mention this again to the financial aid office? I've also applied for several scholarships, but even if I managed to get all of them, it would not be enough to make up for the huge deficit.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your illness. Which school are you accepted to? If it’s SCS or Tepper, you might have a chance at getting better aid by calling the finaid office. However, if you’re in H&SS, the chances sound slim. </p>
<p>You may have luck with searching for local scholarships, especially if you have a unique talent or situation that scholarships might cater to. If your package does not already contain a Pell grant, then you should apply for one.</p>
<p>That said, 80k of loans is not a crushing amount of debt. It’s fairly manageable, in fact, supposing you are in a major where you are certain you’ll find gainful employment after college. On the other hand, if you’re trying to become a history or philosophy major or fine arts or something where employment is limited and lower-paying, then you probably should reconsider coming to CMU in the event that you need to take on debt.</p>
<p>If you’re doing CS and have a decent amount of AP credit you can graduate in 3 years and save 25% (actually more since can begin repaying the debt sooner)</p>
<p>Actually, you don’t have $80k - you have $20k at most for one year.</p>
<p>Each year’s package is unique-- you really don’t know what the package will be the next year.</p>
<p>The budget is also based on your personal expenses and books- which are $2500 - you don’t need to spend that much -not even close. So now you’re down to 17,500 of unmet need.
Add in a works study job, a summer job and even lower, plus a winter break job.</p>
<p>As of now, I’m accepted into HS&S undecided, but I’m hoping to declare cognitive science and try to go pre-med. I hadn’t really decided what I’d wanted to do until this year, but now I’m fairly certain that I’d like to pursue an MD. </p>
<p>I had thought the financial aid packages would be around the same over the four years, so I calculated my unmet need as 80k. What factors would cause an increase in my financial aid package sophomore year?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Yeah, agreed… if you are on that serious of a budget, you probably don’t want to do CMU undergrad. You should go to a cheaper school for undergrad and then attend somewhere prestigious for your MD. Med school is long, costly (about 200k), and offers very few chances for financial aid whatsoever. Added to 80k of debt the debt that medical school would bring you could definitely be crushing at that point.</p>
<p>If med school is certain, you’d be wise to go to where it costs you the least for undergrad. I am told the most important factors in med admissions are GPA and MCAT, not where you get your undergrad degree. 80K is way too much debt. That $80K will balloon to $92K (assuming 6% interest per annum) by the time you finish med school since the interest accrues while you in med school. And then, perhaps it will balloon some more during residency. And don’t forget the medical school loans.</p>
<p>Still a bit unclear.
How is it that your financial aid only became known to you after you left a deposit May 1?
At this point- unless you double deposited (which is unethical) how would you change schools for fall 2011?
If you left a deposit elsewhere-- it’s unlikely your $800 deposit at CMU will be returned.</p>
<p>Packages could change if family income or circumstances change.
With high grades, you could see a more generous amount of grants and fewer loans and even be successful in competition for external scholarships–but indeed, that is a terrible long shot.</p>
<p>What difference does it make for the poster’s situation? A lot of financial aid packages are not completed by the May 1 deadline, I have found, forcing some kids to double dip. I personally know several such cases right now and I blame the schools, not the kids. It’s a disgrace they are permitted to do this sort of thing and they deserve what they get in terms of the double dipping. I hope such schools get the boot in the decision.</p>
<p>In the cases that I know, a deposit is not required at the school that is still fooling around with the aid packages, but the student is forced to deposit elsewhere to cover himself. As a mom, I would tell my kid to forget the school that can’t get its act together by May 1, but many kids can’t let go and are hoping to get an acceptable package if that school is the first choice for them.</p>
<p>Right, because the incompetency of a couple of overworked old ladies in the financial aid office is definitely a strong reason to kick your dream school to the curb.</p>