<p>DS was ecstatic when he saw his financial aid package online this morning! He had been so afraid the package would be too small and put Tufts out of reach, but instead, it was the best package yet! He’ll be heading back east from San Diego at the end of the week to visit his top three, but I can see he’s already in love with Tufts!</p>
<p>Received my package this morning. Absolutely, positively ridiculous, and not in a good way. I’m extremely honored to be selected as a Neubeaur scholar, but $3500 a year is not going to make much of a dent in $57,000. It’s a shame–I really liked Tufts, and apparently they liked me, but with divorced parents and another sibling entering college this year, there is no way I could ever afford it. College of William and Mary Class of 2015 (with, might I add, significant need based aid!) =)</p>
<p>Got mine in the mail today too (NYC). Basically full-ride whoot!</p>
<p>@bandgeek24601 If you like us, and if you think the financial aid award is way off (in a need-based way), you should at least try contacting the Financial Aid office about an appeal. They are focused on the numbers, so to receive a revised award, you have to be able to demonstrate - with the numbers - that the award you’ve received won’t work with your family’s finances, they will revise the award.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The financial aid office will not negotiate aid with families, but they will revise the award in instances where the initial calculation isn’t accurate in it’s account of need.</p>
<p>Dan, my financial aid package is no where near my FAFSA and it’s impossible for me to pay for Tufts although I’m 100% sure I want to attend. You just mentioned that they can revise the award. Does this happen often?</p>
<p>My D got her financial award today. For anyone thinking of applying to Tufts, think twice if you need aid. I’m sure for every kid who is over-the-moon about the package, there is one like my D, who won’t even go to revisit because this school clearly is not for middle-class kids. I can’t think of one middle class family who could come up with 46,000 a year.</p>
<p>Thanks Dan, I think I’m going to stick with my other choice though and not go through the hassle of appealing. To be honest, I was leaning towards it more anyway just because its geographically much closer to the college that my twin sister will be attending next year. I appreciate all your work on the forum however, and I will definitely consider attending Tufts for summer sessions and/or graduate school =) I was honored to be accepted and will miss especially the opportunities of the Experimental College and Global Leadership Institute, but the numerical expectation for my family to pay was just far too much. </p>
<p>I would definitely reword the Neubauer scholarship letter though. Being told that I was provided with special scholarship funds to “graduate debt-free”, then being presented with a total cost of $53,000, was almost insulting.</p>
<p>@ mustangmom
Our family is middle class and, yes, we couldn’t come up with $46000 but there is a range to the middle class. My D got her award letter today–Tufts met our need 100%, after accounting for our EFC, through a grant, fed. loans and work study. This is not say it won’t be a stretch. We are ok for the freshman year but will probably have to get some serious loans for years 2-4. But we feel it is worth it for the approx. 50% discount we got on the school’s costs. The scary part is that she got a grant not scholarship like she got at other schools, so it is very hard to know what kind of aid she could get in subsequent years. She hasn’t committed to Tufts and it is slightly higher in costs than her other schools but it is still being considered.</p>
<p>Upstatemom, best of luck to your D. I really hope it works out.</p>
<p>Posting for anyone who is thinking about applying Tufts class of 2016: Tufts is very serious about the EFC (and then some). For our family, this would mean selling our house (our only asset). I’m serious about being middle class (worrying about how to pay the heating bill, not how to afford a vacation, since we don’t take any–and driving two twelve-year-old cars.) They are not misleading you about merit aid. There is none. When you hear people saying they get a “full ride,” keep in mind it’s really not the usual experience. I’ve been through a year of college marketing–saying things like “how to make an excellent education affordable.” Keep in mind, no matter the school, that this really isn’t what you might think. Be optimistic, but realistic, especially if you have limited assets and more that one child.</p>
<p>Most top tier schools don’t offer merit aid, simply because it’s so hard to distinguish who would receive it once students reach a certain caliber. Tufts calculates its financial aid using the FAFSA, the same as most schools (save schools like HYPS with huge endowments who can afford to make students pay only 10% of the parents’ income). I come from a middle class family and while I’m definitely taking out loans for Tufts, they gave me enough to make it a reasonable option. Yes, the EFC is usually way off, but that’s the result of federal calculation policies, not a specific school. Some schools calculate EFC differently, but it’s usually for the worse. Last year, when receiving my FA packages, I received significantly less from BC than from any other school - and they were all need-based awards. Tufts was my most affordable option (aside from my safety), and I am extremely grateful for that. I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to receive enough aid to attend, and I am indeed very sorry and wish there was more money to go around. I just felt obligated to reply to some of the posts on this forum for future students’ sake. Sure, getting the entire cost paid for isn’t normal, but it can work out for middle class students too. I think the average FA package is around $32,000-34,000 or something like that. Best of luck to everybody going through the financial aid process right now or in the future - I hope everything works out for you! If not at this wonderful school, than at another equally great one.</p>
<p>My friend told me Tufts didn’t give that much financial aid, so when I received mine today in the mail, I was shocked to see I almost got a full ride!! Very happy with my financial package. 
Can’t wait to visit!</p>
<p>Just be careful with terms like “average.” I get that some percentage of applicants get $56,000, and that is very, very generous. But what is the family income for that kind of aid? This is a better question to help families understand where they fit in the estimation–not what the “average” is, but what people with their income can, realistically know they will get in aid. This income-specific information is more important than the school’s “average” FA package. Perhaps I was overly optimistic when I read the word “average” as we started looking at schools? Though I knew the meaning, I felt “average,” not rich, but not poor—middle class.</p>
<p>I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking that happens when you start dreaming of your child’s future, and how that future starts on a grassy quad at some LAC. I’m guilty of wishful thinking, for sure. At a school with no merit aid, as ellopoppet points out, you may be paying EFC+. I can’t speak for BC, but I can say some other schools (non HYPS) do offer more aid–I don’t know if they call it merit aid, or if it’s a quiet thing, embedded into your package. I wanted to go on the record with that so others might know this as their children “fell in love” and “found the right match.” These are terms often used in the marketing of colleges–even by subjective bystanders such as their guidance counselors. The fact is that most of us can’t afford the colleges we “fall in love with” or “fit us” best.
If we rely on the myth that the search is for love and fit, the week after acceptances, the love and matches turn into hard realities.<br>
Not averages, but realities.<br>
This is true for our family, perhaps not all Tufts families. I’m glad if it’s not true for you, if you have good resources. Then you can be a part of “love” and “fit.”
But it’s important to have this narrative on the thread for middle class families. And yes, it’s important to have the “full ride” narratives too. I’m persisting because of the magical thinking that takes over the college process. I’ve just gone through it.
Ask colleges why they often don’t send out financial aid packages with the acceptance letters. (In contrast, the women’s colleges do send both, together. Why?) Tufts, for example though, separates the two. Tufts welcomes you to the school you fell in love with, and then days later tells you what it will cost. Note the posts that are looking for this information–these kids want to know if the dream has come true, and the university makes them wait, knowing what dream might have come true. . . if only. . . .
Maybe it’s not really a marketing game. And maybe the intention is not to manipulate 17-year-olds.
The reality is: It does prolong an already long process. Whether the delay between bits of information is necessary or not, it does have a profound emotional impact on young people–really vulnerable ones, who have high stakes in the game, who have already been through a lot. I’m worried most about them in all this.</p>
<p>I agree with ellopoppet. Some people get good aid and some don’t. It really depends. But Tufts actually does give good aid relative to other institutions. Indeed, the average student debt after graduation is about 20-23K. That’s pretty good considering you are getting a great education and that you don’t pay interest on any loan until you have a job (and interest rates are super low right now).</p>
<p>Paying off that kind of loan isn’t so difficult.</p>
<p>Most students will have a work study option, or perhaps loans, or perhaps some grants.</p>
<p>Ellopoppet is right. Top schools rarely, if ever, give merit based scholarships. Like HYP don’t give out merit based scholarships just like Tufts. Why? Because everyone is of merit! You are going to top institutions and to distinguish people is really hard if not impossible. Instead, most aid is given in the form of financial aid.</p>
<p>On the plus side for people considering about loans, interest rates are really low which is a nice relief in some sense. Sorry to those who can’t afford and congrats on those that can. It’s a really difficult process and one that requires considering the opportunity cost of everything (e.g. what do I forgo if I do/don’t attend?).</p>
<p>I understand what you are saying mustangmom. It is really important to go into this process with eyes wide open. Like ellopoppet and buzzers have said–top schools don’t give merit aid because everyone admitted is worthy of it. It’s the lower tiered schools that use merit to lure high-stat students so they can bolster their own stats. That’s why the advice I read here on CC before my D applied was so excellent–apply to a variety of schools. Do your homework; get educated about this process. Do the EFC calculators–I knew about what our EFC was going to be before D started applying. I did the FAFSA and CSS extremely early. So I knew a little of what to expect from a school like Tufts that says it “pays 100% of need.” I think people hear that and think “well I think my need is X, and so therefore woo hoo, if my D or S get in, no problem.” People don’t realize that the schools will calculate what THEY think our needs are and give out the $ accordingly.</p>
<p>One of the best eye-openers for me was an excellent preview day at Smith College last August. They ran a series of workshops, including one on fin aid. Up until that point, I was also under the misapprehension about what 100%-need-met meant. This whole discussion probably belongs on the fin aid forum because it is an important discussion.</p>
<p>RE: Women’s colleges and fin aid. Not all send acceptances with fin aid. My D got into Simmons in Jan.; they informed her of a merit scholarship she received then, but we did not get the fin aid pkg. until about 2 weeks ago. Smith also–acceptance on-line; letter of acceptance with fin aid a few days later.</p>
<p>
Often, what the schools believe your need is isn’t as relevant as what the government believes your need is.</p>
<p>I’ve seen this posted in other threads around CC: that the concept of a “safety” or “likely” school needs to be broadened to include financial safeties as well - and that’s a way of thinking that I brought into the counseling work that I’ve done with family members over the last 2 years. </p>
<p>I’m saddened to hear that our aid award will not work for your family, MustangMom. There are families, every year, that find themselves in your predicament. While the majority of feedback around our financial aid is more in line with upstatemom - awards are fair, not necessarily easy, but fair and make Tufts an affordable option - that doesn’t stop us from hearing the families that turn down our offer of admission because of merit money or other concerns.</p>
<p>Hi all - I had been holding my breath for days, and last night I could finally exhale. My daughter really wants to go to Tufts, but we had not yet received the financial aid package. She got to the mail before me yesterday, opened the package looked at the numbers and she told me Mom I think this is pretty good. Bottom line - YES we can do this. Tufts was very fair and thoughtful in the aid they gave and I am so very happy. I learned throughout this process that nothing is definite. There are so many variables among people’s circumstances and almost everybody thinks their EFC is too high, but it is what it is. 2 schools that we were told were ‘very generous’ with aid, gave us the smallest packages, and a couple that I werent’ sure we could afford were more than fair. Thank you Tufts!!</p>
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<p>I could kiss you for saying that. I still laugh every time I picture someone in the admissions office saying that about my Stern scholarship… I’m incredibly grateful, but come on guys… you know good and well that students don’t just take 5 grand in loans, they take on about half of their parental contribution as well. And ironically, tufts gave me the worst financial aid offer out of a spectrum of schools spanning from in-state safety, to middle tier, to top tier.</p>
<p>@DanAdmiss: I recently received my financial aid package and like some people here, it isn’t enough for me to attend Tufts. It really do want to go to Tufts, but in the end, it might come down to money. Do you know when the deadline for appealing is? Would it be the same as when one would submit his or her deposit? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>^May 1st is the date by which you have to reply to their offer of admission. In the packet that comes with your financial aid award paper, theres a paragraph on (I think) the second to last section about appeals. It just says to turn it in “as soon as possible”. I’d recommend doing that so that if Tufts doesn’t pan out, you still have plenty of time to decide on a different school.</p>
<p>@DanAdmiss–how many of these little scholarships does Tufts offer? I was admitted to the Neurbaur (I definitely spelled that wrong) program with all my loans covered, but I was under the impression that Tufts offered no merit-aid. Even if only a tiny bit of merit-aid is offered, it is somewhat contradictory to bill the school as not offering merit aid, as the people in the Financial Aid office who I had spoken to mentioned, and then give out small merit scholarships. Again with the rather laughable inconstancies–I was being told several times on the phone, “We’re sorry if other schools have offered you more, Tufts doesn’t offer merit aid” while holding a letter telling me that I had received a merit scholarship in my hand.</p>
<p>@Michaelwiggins, agreed with getting the worst aid from Tufts. I got more needs-based aid from an out-of-state public school with a far lower cost of attendance (7500 in grants and 1900 in work study out of a full cost of 45,000) than I did from Tufts.</p>