Financial Aid Could Be the Deciding Factor

<p>… assuming I get into Brown, of course (hey, I can dream.) Anyway I’ve heard that Brown is not typically very generous when it comes to aid. Is this, in general, true? It would suck to have the monumental good luck to actually get in and then have my dad tell me he can only afford Berkeley. Compared to other ivies/ top schools does Brown stand out with regards to financial aid in any way?
Thanks…</p>

<p>I have heard that Brown is less generous than some other top schools. However, if you get a better offer from another Ivy, Stanford, or MIT, I think Brown will try to match it.</p>

<p>my financial aid exactly matched what I expected given my CSS/FAFSA. Yeah, if you have a 30k EFC you won't get much aid, but then again you wouldn't get much aid anywhere, not just Brown. 10k or something you'll be fine, though</p>

<p>i have 8 k... and also brown claims that they have this new work aid program where you don't have to do work study for your first year at brown.</p>

<p>That's correct.</p>

<p>you can expect something like:</p>

<p>8k/year EFC
4k loans/year
2-2.5k work-study (scholarship first year as said)
2-2.5k summer contribution
rest of cost in grants</p>

<p>Does anyone else have an EFC under $2000 besides me?</p>

<p>If I got into Brown, what should I expect fin aid wise?</p>

<p>I dont want to give away a lot of info, but I expected to get nothing from Brown as I applied under ED and well, I guess you could say I come for a pretty well-off family (not to sound cocky, it was the only way i can put it sorry)... to my surprise I got a VERY nice financial aid package from Brown. So I think they will consider everything, and besides, they have about 3 different loan/work-study programs too that will cut tons of costs off of the tuition. good luck :-)</p>

<p>If i didnt apply for finaid, would Brown reject me or dislike me thinking that im leeching off of my parents? cuz i dont think Brown would have gave me any finaid anyways (im not trying to sound cocky. sorry)</p>

<p>Huh? Brown is needs blind, so your application for financial aid (or not) is not taken into consideration during the admissions process.</p>

<p>and schools that aren't need blind if anything give preference to kids who don't need financial aid. Schools would rather get 40k from you than have to dish out money.</p>

<p>i don't want to scare you, but...</p>

<p>my experience with brown financial aid was not the best. granted, my EFC was fairly high (around 33 thousand... no idea HOW), but my financial aid package from brown was nearly the worst one i received last year (and i only applied to one school that gave merit aid). Not only did I appeal the financial aid package, but I also wrote a heartfelt letter (there was/is lots of stuff going on in my family that doesn't show up on paper yet) and my guidance counselor wrote me an additional letter on my behalf as well. Our efforts got me... about another thousand. Not enough to make a difference. The upshot is, I ended up at a place where i received lots of merit aid... and i'm not happy... so i'm applying to transfer.</p>

<p>I really wish you the best of luck and hope that your experience is better than mine! I have heard that Brown is not very generous, and experienced it myself, but there are many who do get good financial aid packages, i hope you are one of them! Good luck!</p>