<p>i'm not sure why the $2000 seems so high, considering princeton's financial aid policy, if you have an efc of zero and you join an eating club, you end up graduating from princeton with $4000 worth of loans. That doesnt seem like a very high amount to me, especially with people on this board tlaking about taking out more like 100,000 worth of loans. And there are ways to make that amount less- for example all the eating clubs offer smaller (less expensive) meal plans to RCAs.</p>
<p>Finally, as a member of a residential college, the residential college charges a pretty high fee (1500? maybe 1000?) for programming and other things. As an upper classman, you no longer have to pay this fee, and thus the difference between room and board costs for the first 2 years, and the costs for the second two in an eating club, narrow significantly</p>
<p>"i'm not sure why the $2000 seems so high, considering princeton's financial aid policy, if you have an efc of zero and you join an eating club, you end up graduating from princeton with $4000 worth of loans"</p>
<p>Precisely my point.</p>
<p>$2000 to ME is a lot of dough for what is, ultimately, a social club.</p>
<p>EFC of zero? Yea, right. As if they have nothing else to spend money on - no clothing, no movies, no trips home for breaks...</p>
<p>From the prespective of someone who's D just missed qualifying for need based aid, $2K IS a lot of money, and a sum no one should be required to borrow. And yes, since I consider my D to be part of our family, I do consider her debts to be mine, too, at least in a moral sense.</p>
<p>Yes, $2000 is a lot of money. However, as ec1234 has pointed out, first-years and sophomores enjoy many of the benefits of the clubs without paying a cent. Juniors and seniors are the ones who pay the $2000 or less if they so choose. It seems to me that we have beaten this topic into the ground, but for those who want to learn more about eating alternatives at Princeton, here's a look at the student-written undergraduate guide: <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/sg/chap5.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/sg/chap5.shtml</a></p>