<p>Can anyone tell me more about the financial aid at duke? I visited the campus yesterday and i completely loved it and absolutely want to ED, but I want to do some more research on the financial aid before I do.
1. I forgot to ask this question but my friend told me that if you don't receive the aid package that you need, then the ED is not binding. Can someone confirm this?
2. How is it overall? From the information that i received it seems to be very good. I'm sure a school like Duke has a ton of funding and should be able to give out a lot of aid.
3. I have an older sibling in college too, will this help me get more aid?
Thanks for the responses, I really want to ED to duke!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. You can always back out of an ED agreement if your package isn’t sufficient for you to attend.</p></li>
<li><p>Duke’s financial aid is one of the best in the country. I have yet to hear anyone complain about their packages here. A lot of us came because Duke offered the best package. One of my closer friends here even applied here ED because of its financial aid – and needless to say he was perfectly content with what he got.</p></li>
<li><p>A sibling in college will lower your EFC for sure.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If finances are a problem you can back out of the ED agreement, but honestly, the best way to go about it is to apply RD. When I was at Duke and other colleges, they did say aloud or on handouts that if finances are a problem they recommend RD so you can compare packages and all. Duke’s financial aid is supposed to be pretty good for those who need it, however, if you need money, RD is the best way to go (per colleges themselves).</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same as what username said on my college visits. Duke’s FA is supposed to be really good, but at almost every college I went to where someone asked about ED and FA, they said the best way to go about it if money was a big factor was to not apply ED but rather go RD and compare packages. You can opt out of ED if the package is not what you expected, however, from what I’ve been told its better to go RD.
Maybe call Duke directly and ask them?</p>
<p>Duke has a net price calculator that should give you a very close estimate for what you can expect from their financial aid. I suggest having your parents complete this with their financial info to see if it’s in the ballpark for what you need.</p>
<p><a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
<p>I know someone above said that you can back out of the ED agreement if your package isn’t sufficient for you to attend, but I will caution that this not an easy way out of ED. The reason I say this is that if you apply ED and are accepted, Duke then becomes the sole judge of whether or not you can “afford” to attend. You can’t just say that you didn’t like the package and then walk away. Duke’s pledge is that they will meet 100% of your “demonstrated financial need” which is a number that they calculate. If that number is too low for your family and you end up getting a bad FA package, then Duke has absolutely no obligation to offer anything beyond that. Additionally, if there are no extenuating circumstances (like a death in the family, medical emergency, etc) I would imagine that it’s difficult to argue with Duke that you cannot attend when they’ve already decided that you should be able to given their calculations. So all in all, the process is so subjective and biased towards the institution that I wouldn’t count on being able to exercise that option without some extraordinary circumstance.</p>
<p>^This, its not as easy as “I can’t afford it so I’m not going to attend.” With RD you can be the judge of where you are going to go and compare different FA offers.</p>
<p>But, at the same time, it is much harder to get into Duke as an RD applicant. If I remember correctly, the acceptance rate was 28% for ED applicants and around 11-12% for RD applicants for the Class of 2015. Duke will still offer a decent FA package, but the disadvantage is that you won’t be able to compare between schools FA packages like you would during RD. You wouldn’t have a bargaining chip as an ED applicant. But I suggest going for it if you are willing to give up the bargaining chip (plus Duke will still meet 100% of “demonstrated need”). Check out the calculator that Duke Dad suggested. You can also contacted the Duke Undergraduate Financial Aid office with further questions. I wish you good luck with your application to Duke!</p>
<p>Aren’t there a lot of hooked applicants though?</p>
<p>Speaking as a parent of a Princeton student and a Duke Student. Duke financial aid is good, while at Princeton it is excellent. We have two students in universities this year, and paid next to nothing ( slight exaggeration) at Princeton, and well over 20K at Duke + loans. We are a middle income family with some savings, nothing special. Next year we have been told without the sibling in University, our tuition at Duke will almost double, so make sure you weigh all the factors. That said, our son LOVES Duke, and we will sacrifice everything to keep him there. Just make sure you make the right decision for you and your family. Our son will graduate from Duke with fairly significant debt, unlike the Princeton grad.</p>
<p>^I don’t understand… you say the financial aid at duke is good but without the sibling you will be paying well over 40K + loans? Can you explain?</p>
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<p>Harvard, Princeton and Yale are in a league of their own when it comes to financial aid generosity, a step above the other Ivies and highly selective universities, which includes Duke. Duke is on par with the other Ivies and if you use the net price calculators available on the College Board’s site ([Participating</a> Schools Using College Board’s Net Price Calculator](<a href=“Net Price Calculator (NPC) - Education Professionals”>Net Price Calculator (NPC) - Education Professionals)), you’ll get a fairly accurate estimate of your net price at Duke. By inputting your financial data just once, you can compare Duke’s net price to other schools that use the college board’s NPC - Dartmouth, Brown, UChicago and others. You will see that Duke’s net price is in line with those and other highly selective schools. No won’t be as generous as HYP, but no others are either. </p>
<p>As for EFC with multiple kids in college, all of the highly selective schools that use the CSS Profile will use the same percentages for calculating the EFC. With 2 in college, you can count on the parent contribution of EFC being 60% of what it would be for just one in college. With three in college, the number is 45%. Princeton and Duke both use this same methodology when calculating EFC for multiple children in college.</p>
<p>Bottom line is, yes you will get better FA at HYP, but Duke’s FA is on par with any other highly selective school.</p>
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<p>Thank you for the very detailed response to my reflections of Princeton and Duke Financial Aid. Little did I know when I had my children, I needed to have them closer together so that I would have two at University at the same time!!! I remain dismayed
( not with Duke or Princeton) that as a full time working mother, I might have been better off not working, so that we could qualify for more financial aid in general. My husband and I are working 3 jobs each just to keep our sons in University, and while worth it, it is difficult at times. Lucky for us, our two sons appreciate the sacrifice, and thank us all the time. They both have on campus jobs, and know that we will pay for tuition and room/board, but they are on their own to pay for things like parties, movies, trips etc. Like I said in my earlier post, my sons’ happiness is paramount, and right now, the Dukester ( as I like to call him) can’t imagine himself anywhere else. It’s all worth it in the end. When we realized we had students who were able to be accepted at top universities in the country, we knew we would do whatever it took to help them fulfill their dreams. I hope other parents feel the same.</p>
<p>How about FA for international students ?? Being from the birth place of the arab spring, can that be considered as a plus in my application ??</p>
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<p>I was at Duke a long time ago ('80’s) and Duke financial aid was terrible then but they have more money now and are more prestigious. I hope they have become a more generous and kinder school. When Reagan cut the Pell grant program, Duke promised publicly that Duke would fund the difference with college grants…HA! I was told in August of sophomore year that I would be $2,000 short each semester (a LOT of money in those days). Roommate’s rich parents offered to pay or lend me the money but I was already maxing on loans at 9.5% (parent’s do you remember those low rate loans from that time?). I had to leave for a semester, worked fast food because that’s all there was in my two-bit town, but my petitions and angry letters worked (possibly, roommate’s rich parents also had some influence–friends of the Biddles)… but I felt Duke had made a commitment. I don’t regret my time at Duke, remain active in alumni activties but I have chosen to give, not to Duke, but rather as a generous supporter of scholarships for local students going to junior college. One thing it did do for me is appreciate the cost of my education. When I returned to Duke, I had a grad student teaching computer discussion session who would cancel class when only a few of us would show up…I knew how many hours of greasy burger time I had spent to pay for the grad student to be there for me so I would hound him at his office until he gave me my hour or more of time. </p>
<p>Be very careful with the EFC calculator and early decision. If Duke gives you a package that is enough to cover the difference between family EFC and Duke’s cost, ED REQUIRES that you withdraw all other applications. If you get a better offer–same total package and family expense but more grant and less loans from another school–that is insufficient reason to back out of an ED agreement. Certainly getting an offer that more than covers the difference between EFC and cost from another school does not allow you to back out of the ED. The only way you can back out of an ED agreement is if the school DOES NOT meet your estimated need OR you have a sudden change in circumstances (parent loses job) and then the school is supposed to redo the package for your new circumstances.</p>
<p>FA for internationals is actually pretty bad (well compared to domestic)</p>
<p>^ And there’s a good reason for that. </p>
<p>Duke, along with every other educational institution in the US, uses federal dollars for a large portion of their FA. Federal resources are only allowed to be given to US citizens and permanent residents (those more likely to be a consistent taxbase). Thus, the institution would have to fund international students 100% out of their own pocket. </p>
<p>You’ll find that, outside of HYP, and maybe a few others FA for internationals are generally bad.</p>
<p>even when one is highly qualified for the institution ??</p>
<p>Merit money and FA are two different things. Almost all Duke applicants are “highly qualified” in some sense, but Duke is a reach for everyone, really, nobody is “highly qualified” for Duke.</p>
<p>Alright, I guess you’ve answered my question 
Thank.</p>