Financial Aid??

I was accepted to Duke tonight and I am ECSTATIC! However, upon seeing my financial aid package, I had to come back down to earth. I have a couple unique things, but bottom line: What is your experience with Duke financial aid? How well have appeals worked?

-Duke incorrectly adjusted a number on my FAFSA that made my EFC go up $10,000 to $60,000. I’m planning on correcting this (but was waiting to see where I got in before I went through the trouble).
-My dad was unemployed from October 2017 to April 2018 (he just got a job and starts in a couple weeks). This wasn’t a HUGE financial burden, but my parents did have to halt contributing money to my college savings for that time. My parents’ income, both on the FAFSA and now that my dad has a job, is between $150,000-$200,000.
-My mom is going to lose her job definitely in the near future. Her company is merging with another and they hired someone else for her position.
-My original EFC of $50,000 is just not reasonable. My parents can contribute $27,000 a year, and I’m willing to take out about $10,000-$15,000 in loans a year for a college that is highly ranked and that I truly LOVE, which might be Duke (Blue Devil Day here I come!). I live in northern NJ, so the cost of living is ridiculous, and I have a younger sibling. My parents aren’t willing to stop saving for retirement or anything like that, and I agree that they shouldn’t have to.
-When my parents did the net price calculator, they got $40,000, which was reasonable and falls squarely in budget. Can I use this number when trying to get a better financial aid package?

Sorry for all these strange points, I’m just trying to see if I have the basis to make Duke possible. I have a full ride to the University of South Carolina Honors College, which is the #1 Honors College and the #1 International Business program, but obviously it’s not Duke. I have a hard decision ahead of me and I’m trying to make it slightly easier by reducing the financial burden Duke would put on me and my family. If you can just share any anecdotes, that would be great!

Following - similar situation

The only thing you can do is try. We went for a visit today and I had planned on stopping by the financial aid office but we didn’t get a chance. I would like to see if there is any chance of wiggle on ours as well. It’s definitely doable, and I would much prefer to have my daughter 2 hours away from home. But, it’s around 7500 more a year than our financial aid award from MIT. Good luck!

Just in case anyone’s curious: I talked to my financial aid counselor, who was really helpful in outlining the options but did not change my award. Bottom line, Duke expects my family to pay 1/3 of their income before taxes, and rather stupidly suggested that I use a monthly payment plan to do it. I’m not quite sure where Duke thinks I’m going to get that money from? Maybe grandparents usually contribute? My financial aid award totaled to $13,000 and included mostly loans, some grants, and a work-study option. In addition, they are not willing to recalculate my financial aid package to take into account my father’s unemployment until the spring term.

Duke knows that my family will have to take out approximately $50,000 in loans a year and isn’t altering the financial aid package, which I consider to be a little ridiculous and condescending. I genuinely thought that private schools were supposed to be very good with financial aid; this school, by far, is the worst financial aid package I have received yet, and most of my schools are state schools for which I am out-of-state and don’t include merit (UNC, for example).

Schools like Duke are very good at meeting financial need. Someone with a family income of $150k-200k doesn’t meet their criteria. It’s not really that surprising. I live in NJ too and cost of living doesn’t give us any help.

Yeah, I can appreciate the frustration as it’s a steep cost and the upper middle class is typically the people that get “squeezed” with regards to college costs. Having said that, not many people are going to feel pity for a family making $150-$200k/year. >$150k/year puts your family in the top 8% of American household incomes. $200k is top 4%. So, that’s actually not even “upper middle,” just “upper.” And, yes, Duke and other schools don’t take into consideration cost of living which is another obstacle for those in expensive areas, but that is by choice.

By law, colleges assess financial need based on income from past year’s income and not the current one. I believe it’s actually two years ago rather than one at this point…Certainly, you should inform them if situations change (which you did already), and then can re-assess at a later date (like they said they would in the spring, presumably when this year’s taxes are complete). Back when I was in school, I did the same and they were actually pretty good to work with and reasonable, although it was 10+ years ago (and that’s when financial aid wasn’t as strong too).

Good luck with your decision.