<p>I am a Cornell University 2012 applicant, hoping to get a positive decision here in a few days, much like the rest of you.</p>
<p>Yesterday I received my financial aid information from the University of Chicago, to which I was admitted in the early action round. Quite frankly, it sucked, and it has placed a great amount of fear in me as I wait for further FA notifications. My EFC as calculated by FAFSA was $1793, yet I am expected to contribute well over $8K a year at the UofC. I find that completely ridiculous, as my household income is well below $30K/year.</p>
<p>Will this lackluster figure follow at Cornell, or is there hope for a bit more FA in Ithaca? This has been a reality shock to me, and I'm worried that I may not be able to attend college (period) without amounting humongous debt.</p>
<p>This address explains Cornell's financial aid policy. I don't know what is the policy at Chicago. But this should help set your mind at ease. Let's hope you get accepted!</p>
<p>While that is heart-warming, they said the exact same thing at UChicago with the new "Odyssey Scholarship", and here I am looking at $30+K at graduation.</p>
<p>My family makes about $29,000 a year. I got my financial aid package before the new financial aid initiative was released (I got in ED), so I'll be getting a new one soon, but mine sounded a little like the one you got from UChicago. The new financial aid policy at Cornell refers only to loans, not to what your family has to pay. Cornell wants my family to pay $5,000/year, and me to pay $2,000 (from working over the summer). At first, they had wanted me to take out $4,000 worth of loans per year, but that's gonna' go away. You might have a lower family contribution, though, if your family makes less than mine. Also, when they calculate costs, I think they take some travel costs and personal expenses into account, so part of that $7,000 goes towards those things, so really by you paying $2,000 I think they mean you paying for your plane tickets and stuff. Not positive, though.</p>
<p>A forum about financial aid for Cornell. I'm a nervous wreck too. My EFC was like 12 thousand dollars a year, which KINDA makes sense because my family MADE 80 Grand a year together. However, My father lost his job in the beginning of the year :(. I sent them a letter with proof and everything. I called the financial aid desk and some secretary told me that piece of information doesnt matter. They only go by last year's statistics. THATS RIDICULOUS! Last year is supposed to predict this year. How can this year be like last year if half of my income is gone! My dad is also old and hurt. He can't go back to work. This is really tough for me :(</p>
<p>Can I expect to get any aid with a combined family income of ~115K-120K? The new financial aid policy stated that loans are capped at 3K for families with combined incomes under 120K, however, that seems too good to be true. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something.</p>
<p>seuferk - Cornell was actually the only school to exactly match my EFC, and it was the cheapest for me to attend (and this was last year, before the new policy!). I highly doubt they're going to raise the EFC -- the new policy isn't just to make them look better, it's to respond to the student outcry against the old policy.</p>
<p>The EFC is based on your family's assets....income, value of home (if you own it), car and savings....I have a friend with a family income of around $29,000 but b/c they somehow owned their home and had 2 fairly nice cars she had an EFC of around $5,000</p>
<p>Student contribution (not summer earnings) is also determined by your own assets....mostly your life savings...which I don't think is fair...Cornell managed to drain my life savings in 1 year.</p>
<p>I agree, it makes no sense at all but it's all a part of the oh-so-joyous world of college financial aid.</p>
<p>no....how families who make $29,000 are expected to contribute thousands of dollars toward tuition expenses. I don't know about you...but my parents don't have $8,000 sitting in a bank account. I'm in kind of a crappy situation...before my parents married they were living near the poverty line and when they married they both had a lot of debt to repay and it's affected a lot of things for them and our family. I'm certainly not ashamed of them and I'm proud of the life and opportunities they created for me and my siblings.</p>
<p>I knew from day 1 that I would be contributing a lot of money to my education...my parents simply couldn't afford to give me any money and were unable to sign my loans. Initially, I wasn't happy that everything I worked to save for years was gone in such a short time and I will be graduating from Cornell with nothing in my bank account and there's no trust fund waiting for me upon graduation (like most normal people)....but for a Cornell education, I know it will be worth it and I don't regret anything.</p>
<p>hehe...that was a long rant to a simple statement :-)</p>
<p>don't know much about stanford or harvard.....but I do know that any need-based aid you're eligible for is 100% replaced with grants at Princeton and I think that policy extends over a wider income bracket than Cornell....where you get all need-based aid covered with grants only if your family income is less than $75K</p>