<p>Is there anyone out there that has received a "free ride"? How low does your EFC have to be in order to get full financial aid, or does Cornell never give full need-based aid without the use of loans? I have heard that if you go to some schools like Harvard as long as your parents (or your) income is under 35 to 40, 000 you can basically attend for free. Is that true with Cornell? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Cornell hasn't instituted a similar policy. Loans are a component of the financial aid packages at Cornell. That being said, if your financial situation truly does merit a "full ride" kind of situation, rest assured, Cornell won't give you much in loans, maybe a thousand or a couple thousand.</p>
<p>Every student always gets around 10,000 in loans if they are receiving financial aid.</p>
<p>Or, at least my friend, myself, and people whom I've spoken to did.</p>
<p>I've never heard of someone getting a totally free ride, either. Usually loans take a fair fraction of aid package.</p>
<p>Harvard is Harvard ($$$$$). Cornell is rich, don't get me wrong, but they do give the typical person loans + grants. If you are in the lower income ratio I'm sure they would give more GRANTS + little loans. If you get in you'll be able to decide better...I wouldn't worry about it too much right now. Once you get the fin aid letter you may be able to manipulate it a bit (request more). Just don't let money "own you". Still apply to Cornell and you never know how much you'll get.</p>
<p>"Every student always gets around 10,000 in loans if they are receiving financial aid"</p>
<p>That is not true. I have a 0 EFC and I usually get less then $4000 in loans a year which is always knocked out by the MFCNS scholarship. I have several friends who do have a nice parent contribution but recieve much less then $10,000 in loans as well. While there is technically no such then as a "free ride" without outside scholarships, if you parent contribution is extremely low (like less then 3,000) then you virtually have one. The Cost of Attendance at Cornell is only a budget and once you learn what you don't need (like a meal plan and books for every class) then over the years you will be able to cut alot of costs. While this is not exactly what you asked, I hope it helps.</p>
<p>yea, cornell is pretty stingy with its financial aid, but it is certainly understandable. quite frankly, it is just... too damn big. well, i got a pretty sh^^y package as my parental contribution was 7,000 although my annual income was only ~22,000 and my FASFA EFC was 313. the loans is another problem, but if you work hard, you should get a few outside scholarships to offset them.</p>
<p>starmel18,
if you dont mind me asking, whats your family's annual income? how did you get the 0 EFC? i mean, i think 22,000 is pretty damn low.</p>
<p>For a 7,000 contribution (if you are not including your summer savings) your parents must have some outside assets or savings that are being taken into account. If not, then you got ripped off. PM me and I will give you that name of someone who you can talk to about fixing that. Also, if you sliced you parents income in half then you would be in my neighboorhood.</p>
<p>Weird...my EFC was only a few thousand higher and we make about 5 times more than that</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your answers. I am an independent student so it is just based on my income. Even with working full time by the time I pay my bills (and tution at my school now) I have nothing to contribute and when I did my FAFSA and all that other fun stuff my EFC came out to 0. I was just asking about "families" because I was curious if Cornell had a similar policy.</p>
<p>I received merit based scholarships to my college now (Syracuse) but I hear Cornell does not offer them. I guess I should stop worrying because who knows if I will even get in! SO many people so few spots....</p>
<p>The ivy league doesn't give merit scholarships</p>
<p>With your work experience you may be able to get into Tradition (a small scholarship that focuses on work and service) if you get accepted. Good luck with your application though. Shoot for the stars and worry about the rest when you get there. Besides, from what you said, aid should not be a really big problem. Cornell is stingy if you are middle class but if you really need it they will give it to you. :)</p>
<p>unfortunately, the majority of us are part of the middle class.</p>
<p>malakiblue--I know Stanford just instituted that policy and I think Harvard and a few others have it too.. it's rare though.</p>
<p>figgy--"Cornell is rich"? If you're talking about the endowment, maybe, although per capita it's not that high. If you're talking about the students, I'm pretty sure you're just wrong...</p>
<p>wow. I said "Cornell"...didn't say "per capita of Cornell" or "Cornell students"...nice try tho lol</p>
<p>i got 4g from tradition and i still got 8g in loans and workstudy. what a bunch of bs</p>
<p>polo1a is just flat out wrong. No one I've met received ten grand in loans, nor did I. We all know that Cornell is the least generous Ivy but that doesn't mean Cornell gives everyone ten grand in loans. It's just not true.</p>
<p>I get ~10,000 in loans each year.</p>
<p>OK Spanks, like I said, it happens at Cornell more often than at the other Ivies. Polo1a indicated that essentially everyone gets that kind of a package. Unless you're generalizing your experience for the entire student body, which I don't believe you are, your situation is anecdotal.</p>