<p>You've all been a big help, thanks</p>
<p>Princeton will waive the summer portion for atleast one year, if you have a valid excuse (ie working at a nonprofit and not getting paid enough to contribute) not getting a job doesn't count as an excuse</p>
<p>Wow working non-profit jobs? Isn't working mainly for money?...</p>
<p>To Calculate your EFC go to, as previously stated: <a href="http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml</a></p>
<p>On another note, those who work for non profit organization do make a salary, non profit refers to the type of corporate structure of the organization not that the people who work for the organization do not earn a salary, however, the organization is not in business to primarily earn profits for investors.</p>
<p>Mizo is right. my dad works for a nonprofit, but he definitely gets paid for it.</p>
<p>I think what ec1234 meant was "volunteering for a non-profit". my understanding is that Princeton will waive the summer student contribution if the student is low-income and will be interning without pay for a non-profit/NGO type business -- and may even waive it if you intern for a profit type business. The idea is that low-income students shouldn't be penalized by a required summer earnings component and have to give up opportunities to intern that might help them with their program of study.</p>
<p>Yale supports students in unpaid work through their alumnae clubs or I should say the club in our city supports students who wish to work an unpaid internship or who creat their own projects, the club pays the students' a grant to replace summer earning.<br>
Yale does this directly for each student on fin aid who for one summer studies or does an unpaid internship abroad.<br>
Wellesley also has a similar program for both domestic and international internships.</p>
<p>More on Yale's Fin Aid:
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/opa/campus/news/2005/20050303_aid.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/opa/campus/news/2005/20050303_aid.html</a></p>
<p>princeton has one of the best fin aid policies in the nation. i was offered nearly a full ride in financial aid minus $400 that i had to pay and then additional $700 in summer savings. they mean no loan if you dont NEED it. princeton reduces your summer savings if you are 1) low income and 2) if you have scholarships.</p>
<p>Only ivy "merit" scholarships come from winning Intel, Siemens, Davidson fellows, etc.</p>
<p>Remember also that if you are on financial aid and have outside scholarships, the outside scholarships are used reduce or eliminate student financial effort to zero:</p>
<p>eliminate student loans
eliminate work study
eliminate student contribution from summer employment</p>
<p>This is my D's situtation at Yale for freshman year.</p>
<p>This combined with initiatives for very low income families ...eliminating or greatly reducing parental contribution means a student can attend HPY for free or almost free with neither student or parents in debt.</p>
<p>Columbia and Cornell also have low income initiatives. Not certain the exact amounts....something near the $50K level. You must complete FAFSA and CSS as well. </p>
<p>To the OP....as a urm (hispanic), your application will get a nod in the addmissions department but does not help financial aid.</p>
<p>
[quote]
To the OP....as a urm (hispanic), your application will get a nod in the addmissions department but does not help financial aid.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree, although it's unlikely that there is any research to back this up one way or another. I'm sure that colleges claim that race/ethnicity doesn't affect financial aid, but I'm skeptical. My general sense having gone to college and law school is that a Black, Hispanic, or American Indian applicant who has excellent scores, grades, and recommendations will get a much juicier financial aid package than a similarly situated White or Asian.</p>
<p>This is also consistent with economics and human nature. There is only a (relatively) small handful of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students with excellent scores and grades. Schools must compete for these stars, and one obvious way to do it is to cut the price they must pay.</p>
<p>One of my best friends in law school was an Asian woman whose family was quite poor. She didn't get a dime in financial aid. Who was getting the financial aid? From what I heard, it was Blacks & Hispanics.</p>
<p>JMHO of course.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Schools must compete for these stars, and one obvious way to do it is to cut the price they must pay.
[/quote]
i'm pretty sure ivy league schools don't operate that way. i mean, there are tons of urms who don't get in and would love to go to an ivy, so in terms of competing for the best and brightest, they don't have to try that hard. for every urm who turns down an ivy league spot, there are numerous others vying for that same spot. i know that when i personally tried to increase my financial aid at harvard (they gave me absolutely nothing) by telling them that i may have to go to a school that gave me more money, they told me to go ahead and do it and that they were not giving me more aid. so, maybe your asian friend had some other assets that factor into why she didn't get fa.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i know that when i personally tried to increase my financial aid at harvard (they gave me absolutely nothing) by telling them that i may have to go to a school that gave me more money, they told me to go ahead and do it and that they were not giving me more aid.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If I may ask, what is your race, SAT score, and GPA?</p>
<p>
[quote]
so, maybe your asian friend had some other assets that factor into why she didn't get fa.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No, my law school's attitude was that she she should borrow the money, and use her obscene law firm salary to pay down her loans. (And apply for loan repayment if she took a public interest job.)</p>
<p>lskinner, harvard (and most, if not all, of the ivy league schools) do financial aid based on need rather than merit, so none of that info should matter. the only factors that should go into financial aid are family income among other things, not grades. by virtue of getting into the ivy league, they already know that you have the grades and test scores. but if you really wanna know, i am african-american, i got a 35 on the ACT and i had a 4.7.</p>
<p>EFC=expected family contribution. the number you receive after filing for fafsa. a friend of mine got into harvard and recently his dad lost his job. i think hes going to vard for free basically</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania has low-income initiatives for families whose income is below 60,000 a year- no loans are given in aid packages, so students/parents won't be in debt. :)</p>
<p>upenn only gave me 15k in my financial package. i was rather disappointed.</p>
<p>
[quote]
lskinner, harvard (and most, if not all, of the ivy league schools) do financial aid based on need rather than merit, so none of that info should matter.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Perhaps, if Harvard is 100% honest. But if there's a student they really want, I think it's likely that it affects the financial aid determination. For example, by giving you grants instead of loans.</p>
<p>Here's a snippet from an article I found on the Princeton Review website:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Affirmative Action and Financial Aid
As for financial aid, it only makes sense that colleges will do their best to meet the financial need of the students they want the most, whether those students are African American, white, Hispanic, or another ethnicity. Many minorities do indeed come from families with low incomes, and if a school is committed to improving its minority representation, one good way to do so is to make sure minority students receive the money they need to attend. Despite this fact, race-targeted financial aid is unusual at most schools, and schools that have tried to use it (such as Northern Virginia Community College, which had privately funded minority scholarships) have been taken to court. Financial aid will be based on what your family can afford to pay. Affirmative action will not really play a role.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What is interesting is that the author, while nominally claiming that race doesn't matter to finanicial aid, all but admits that it does matter.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i am african-american, i got a 35 on the ACT and i had a 4.7.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And if I may ask, what was your EFC?</p>
<p>By the way, I was surfing around this morning and came upon the following article:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Race, financial aid awards and college attendance: parents and geography matter
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</p>
<p>It's from the 90s but anyway, it states:</p>
<p>
[quote]
there is significant evidence that, during this period, colleges provided a larger amount of financial awards to black students, ceteris paribus.
[/quote]
</p>