Financial Aid Negotiation, Please Help!

<p>Hi
my estimated efc for cornell is about 35k, and cornell is "meeting" that price, but 7.5k of it is in subsidized loans</p>

<p>1) how are loans in any way meeting your need, especially when you may have to take out further loans on top of the efc cost?</p>

<p>2) why is cornell's fa so bad? rice and vanderbilt are giving me more fa, but i want to go to cornell
how do i negotiate with the fa office to get a reasonable price (my efc of 35k is something i can afford, i cant afford 42.5k)</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!</p>

<p>Call them.there is a process to argue your case… they may ask to see fin aid awards from other colleges… its need blind trying to get more aid won’t effect admisions</p>

<p>Student loans help meet need because there is no qualifying; the money is guaranteed available. Schools without unlimited endowments can offer attendance to, e.g., 10% more needy students if student loans cover 10% of the cost of attendance. Parent loans, with qualifying, may additionally be needed to help cover EFC.</p>

<p>Cornell may indeed respond to offers made by other schools; give it a try!</p>

<p>I received a letter from Cornell saying that they would match any offer made by Duke, MIT, or any other ivy. If any of those schools gave you more than they’ll definitely adjust your aid and they may even give you more than the others</p>

<p>yeah i saw the same thing
however, rice and vanderbilt arent those schools
do you know if this is a rule, or do you think theyll still match these schools?
im visiting cornell next friday and am going to try to meet up with the fa office then, hopefully visiting will have some impact on the decision</p>

<p>our experience with cornell fa was pretty bad. they would do ivy match via loans but that’s the end of it. so we said Bye to them.</p>