<p>I was accepted RD and received my financial aid package yesterday, but Cornell calculated my expected family contribution at ~$15,000/year higher than I can actually afford, which would mean that I cannot attend. I know that all the Ivies have strong goals for allowing all accepted students the chance to attend financially, but how successful will appealing the aid decision really be?</p>
<p>I appealed and it was successful, . Research says there’s a 65% chance if you do it right, it get’s accepted. You have to have a clear reason for your appeal or it won’t go up by so much. E.g. You parents have some responsibilities which wasn’t accounted for in the form, your parents lost their jobs or simply you want to match another school’s offer (peer). In my case, I filled in the form wrongly, It really doesn’t hurt to appeal.</p>
<p>Yeah currently I cannot afford it either. My family income is around 110,000 a year but asking my parents to contribute 50,000 a year is insane because we still haven’t even paid off our house. Plus income tax is as high as always…
I’m desperately trying I have my parents appeal so I can go to Cornell.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Wow, that really sucks. is that your parents’ combined income or do each of your parents make that much. If formal, I didn’t know Cornell Fin aid is that bad. I got decent aid since my parents made less than your parents do. But, expecting a family to pay 50-60% of entire after-tax disposable income to afford college for their kid is borderline ridiculous. </p>
<p>Try best to appeal fin aid, but if they refuse, just go to a cheap state school. No college is worth 50k a year to attend. I’d only spend that much on a school if it was medical/ dental school, or a Harvard/ Wharton MBA.</p>
<p>NYULawyer: That’s combined income.</p>
<p>I’m trying my best to have my parents appeal and then when I go visit Cornell, I plan to talk with a financial aid adviser. Hopefully they’ll reevaluate my application and give me more aid.</p>
<p>^
good luck, man. just remember that Cornell isn’t anywhere close to being worth 50k a year to attend. I wouldn’t do it even for 30k a year. 20-25k a year, maybe. </p>
<p>I say this as a Cornell alum.</p>
<p>Schools do not expect your parents to pay for COA out of their current income. They expect your parents to use their savings and future income to pay for your schooling. If you filled out your form correctly and there is no extenuating circumstances then it is unlikely they will change your FA. I would start looking at your other options.</p>
<p>@NYU Lawyer so what about people who pay the full thing? Its not worth their money? @rhea2013, it was probably a mistake in filling the form or sth, my mom (single parent) earns just 70k a year. And she was asked to pay 32k (im an int’l so the calculation was probably different). I realized how absurd this was and saw I made a couple of spurious mistakes in reporting expenses, savings, assets and debt approximations so I appealed and it got reduced to 22k. Which is still a little absurd but my mom thinks its worth it for Cornell.</p>
<p>Cornell not worth full price tag especially for undergrad - I say this as an industry professional for over two decades, and from hiring/interviewing of experienced graduates from tier 1 private schools. If someone has full tuition from a nationally ranked school it is an easy decision to go with that, or even a decent state school (like U Mich) if you are paying in state tuition, just an example.</p>
<p>ccinfo - Funny you should say that. We were full pay for our older daughter. She graduated with a job which paid over 6 figures. Our younger one is there as a full pay student also. We believe it is worth every penny. I am also a hiring manager and have been very happy with Cornell graduates. I think over 50% of students at Cornell are full pay, so there are a lot of people who think it is worth it.</p>
<p>Oldfort - And that is great thing about these forums - we can freely express our opinions!! Congratulations to you on your accomplished children and their success.</p>
<p>I see a lot more comments here along the lines of ‘Xxxx is not worth $$$$’ than I see ‘Eww why would anyone go to bottom-of-the-barrel Xxxx? That’s an awful place.’ People seem to think the 2nd comment is obviously rude, but not the first. We are not in a position to do full pay at the high cost colleges, at least not w/o significant loans, but I do not begrudge those who can manage it and do, whether easily or not. Our family’s college choice path would be different if we had more money. The first comment is in a different category than saying a college may not be worth the $$$ for a particular family in particular circumstances. It is important to help students understand how these costs will impact their families and why it might not be in a family’s best interest to go down that road. But blanket statements like that are not gracious and not true.</p>
<p>ccinfo - I just find it interesting that on your first post you would come on this forum to give your opinion about whether Cornell is worth it. Are you a Cornell alum? There are thousands of colleges out there with many full pay students at each school, and you should find yourself here to make that comment. Heck, there are parents paying 65K for High Point U. I would like to hear why you don’t think Cornell (of all schools) wouldn’t be worth the price tag. What’s you basis for “worth it” determination? Return on investment or quality of education. Some NYC private K-12 schools charge 40+K/yr for tuition. For many families it is “worth it” because quality of education.</p>
<p>We pay full tuition for our D (in-state contract college which next year is approx. $43,000 total cost) & she will graduate with no debt (did the same for her sister at a less expensive school). We are not wealthy, but early on made up our mind that this would be our financial priority. We lead a fairly simple life in a rural area with no “toys” that many have…it can be done & we feel that she is getting more out of Cornell than she could have at most colleges.</p>
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<p>Yes, at least in my opinion paying full costs for a college degree is not the smartest move. The opportunity cost of dropping 60k a year on a college degree is just enormous. With that money, you can invest and make a quite a decent profit off of it if you know what you are doing. Or, heck you can buy a small condo in L.A. with that much. Nowadays, you can receive a good education at many different schools, private or public. Just be smart and cautious about dropping dough on diplomas. Remember, there is no refund for your diploma. After you graduate from Cornell, Cornell isn’t certainly giving you any money back even if you realize the degree wasn’t worth the cost. As a Cornell alum, I know far too many Cornell grads who ended up unemployed or working crap retail jobs. Imagine how much more miserable these people’s lives would be if they spent 250k on the degree that returned very little career value.</p>
<p>I am paying 50k a year on my law school degree, all as loans. I am very debt averse and very nervous about doing this. The only reason I decided to do it was because my school had 80% success rate in placing its grads to big corporate law firm jobs, from which I would attain a high enough salary to service my debt.</p>
<p>rhea thats crazy, my parents make around 110k and I’m getting 30k+loans from Cornell, and that number will probably go up as Duke gave me 40k and Cornell said they’d try to match it</p>
<p>Im not having a great experience w/ Cornell fa either</p>
<p>Efc is 36K, i have to pay 43.5k, why does Cornell think giving 7.5k in loans is part of meeting need?</p>
<p>Also, I only have to pay 39k at rice and vanderbilt,
- will Cornell match?
- why are these schools giving more? I thought I really liked Cornell but it’s starting to seem like a cheap school w/ no money</p>
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<p>… Cornell does not give merit aid, only need based. With only 40,000 applicants this this year they don’t have to…</p>
<p>@kalbany Whaaat?! I thought Cornell didn’t loan! Or at least they put a nice low cap on it for students whose families make over xx-k?</p>
<p>[Financial</a> Aid Initiatives | Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend/financial-aid-initiatives]Financial”>Financial Aid Initiatives | Financial Aid)</p>
<p>Need based loans are capped at the federal maximum for families making 120k+/yr.</p>