<p>Hi there,
My name is Jonathan and I’m new to these boards (this is my first post). I’ve stumbled upon this site before, but never really spent much time looking at the topics. I was accepted ED to Brown, which I’m overly enthused about. However, I received my financial aid information in the mail today and am thoroughly disappointed. </p>
<p>For the past few years I’ve lived alone with my mother, who made around $60,000 a year. We got by, but only barely because we live in a very nice neighborhood near Princeton, NJ (we lived there because of the public school systems). My father did not, and still does not pay any child support. In March, my mother died and left me with the house that I live in now, her retirement funds, and a life insurance plan.</p>
<p>In order to stay in my current town and graduate with my friends, I was going to move in with my girlfriend’s family and spend senior year with them. Turns out that their apartment was way too small to support an extra person, and my girlfriend’s family moved in with me (into the house I’d been living with my mother in). This has worked out well for all of us, and this means that when it comes time to come home for summer and winter breaks, I will have a family to come home to. </p>
<p>The house is valued at about $150,000 while my mother’s retirement fund and life insurance plan are both worth $100,000, meaning I have $350,000 in assets. I was hoping that since I have literally $2000 in income each year (from me working), that I’d get at least a semi-decent financial aid package.</p>
<p>While I do realize that there are incoming Brown students who are much more deserving than me when it comes to receiving substantial financial aid packages, I feel really bad about spending a good chunk of my mother’s hard earned money and savings on attending Brown. (I will tell you at this point that Brown is giving me $1500 per semester)</p>
<p>Usually, a person’s parent dies when they’re older than high school students. A lot of people keep their inheritance money in mind throughout their whole life as a sort of fall back in case things do not work out, and I am no exception. I was planning on investing this money and keeping it in the bank until there was a situation appropriate to use it. I was hoping that Brown would see this and grant me decent financial aid, but it looks like that is not the case.</p>
<p>While overall my financial aid package will not deter me from going to Brown, I have become a tad bit less enthused about my being accepted and have lately been reminding myself that Rutgers would be almost free to attend. I will not let this opportunity of going to my dream school be passed up, as I have seen family members decline schools such as Harvard and then regretted it their whole lives.</p>
<p>Essentially, I come to you guys for advice. I will not back out of Brown, as my mind is set on going there, but I wish to ease the college burden, which I can especially see since the money being spent is “my money.” Is there anything I can do to try to convince the financial aid office to grant me more aid?</p>
<p>(By the way, I don’t mean to sound ignorant at all. I do realize that there are many people facing even tougher college financing issues, but would really just like to improve mine as well.)</p>
<p>Thanks!
-Jonathan</p>