<p>Whatever happened to good 'ol saving up for college? My parents and I have been saving for a Dartmouth-level tuition since I was born. I have been working during my summers in anticipation that I would receive no financial aid (only because the theoretical ‘interest’ on the value of our house would put us over the threshold.)</p>
<p>This is a hard truth to learn, I understand. I sympathize with the OP, and hope the best of luck in your future endeavors.</p>
<p>So there have been at least three posts telling me I should have plugged into numbers to the Dartmouth financial aid calculator before applying.</p>
<p>I DID</p>
<p>I did put those numbers in at the beginning of the year. The calculator said that I’d receive a LOT of financial aid, enough that I could go if I were to be accepted. Thats why I felt I could apply in the first place.</p>
<p>But the financial aid office apparently used a different calculator, because they deliberated and said I have no need.</p>
<p>The calculator turned out to be just a way of Dartmouth getting more kids to apply. I didn’t know this until I got my financial aid package.</p>
<p>If you plugged the numbers into a Fafsa calculator, you will get a very different calculated need amount than with using a Profile calculator. Many kids[ and parents] who have not been through the college admissions process before don’t know this.</p>
<p>The University of Alabama actually has a gorgeous campus with plenty of spaces to sit and enjoy the out of the doors and study. It is a great school and Alabama is often overlooked. I’d think outside the box and go look at Alabama.</p>
<p>this may be an aside, but as a parent who has had to work 50 hours a week in addition to my husband doing the same; foregoing fancy cars, a keep up with the Jones house, fancy vacations and a comfortable retirement-to pay full freight for our kid’s education (this is what we wanted to do)-I just wish we could have a tax deduction for college tuition. How can we lobby for this?</p>
<p>I think your fears about NYU are well-founded. If you are looking for a campus experience, NYU is NOT it. I do think people can get a good education there IF they are excited about it and want to take on NYC with all of its challenges. But if you can go to a college like U of Alabama for free and get a decent education (they have an honors program, yes? And you’d surely get into it?), I’d go there and knock their socks off. In a way, you’ll be more free to focus on academics because you won’t have to worry about money. You may also be able to do fabulous internships, a year abroad, and a lot of other great things that kids whose families are barely stretching for the expensive schools can do. You could probably even take five years. U of Indiana, U of Alabama, you could probably learn a lot and experience a lot of great things at either of them. Some of those things you could not get at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I think I would definitely go to the U of Alabama if I were you. The South is a whole different place. It is SO interesting. So much history. So essential to understanding our nation. Plus, there is barbecue. Such good barbecue. You aren’t going to find that at Dartmouth! Really, it could be a great adventure.</p>
<p>I’m a UIUC student and I felt compelled to reply to this post.</p>
<p>It is true that Greek life here is huge but there are plenty of artists/hipsters especially on the Urbana side. At a large state school you’ll find every type of social group and no one’s really regarded as a ‘fringe group’ - there are way too many people at this school to establish the same petty social orders of high school. Even the fraternities have their own quirks, personalities and behaviors for partying, and they don’t all get along with each other.</p>
<p>There are plenty of smart students like yourself here, who came out of similar financial considerations, and the size actually gets gratifying after a while (take a colony of ~30,000 undergrads, within the same 4 year span of age as you and little responsibilities, and you’ll never be bored despite the stereotypes about cornfields). You can hang out with all your high school friends if you want to but I hardly came across mine unless I purposely sought them out. You certainly don’t have to drink around here and I never felt belittled because of it (I had gone to a few frat parties out of interest though). Also, since you are undecided and want to do law, you’re not going to be disadvantaged at all going to UIUC. Law schools only care about your GPA and LSAT scores. I personally feel the Ivy Leagues only have a distinct advantage for finance/I-banking jobs in terms of post-grad opportunities.</p>
<p>I can recommend a specific dorm if Illinois is still in your consideration - Allen Hall. It’s a friendly ‘artsy’ dorm that gives you a small LAC experience and you get to know your roommates much better than anywhere else. It’s on the east side of campus, away from the frat debauchery. They also have interesting, exclusive seminar courses and weekly activities to participate in.</p>
<p>I’ll ditto kevercho – at least on the points where I can personally relate. One thing about Dartmouth is that 4,000 undergrads is not all that big – the social scene is a bit suffocating because of this, and finding niches is harder. And I would definitely say that the Ivy League boost is most apparent in terms of I-banking/finance jobs, and less so elsewhere.</p>
<p>Looking back, I’d also second the other opinions about Alabama since you’re getting a full-ride, but Illinois is more known academically. With a few exceptions, all of our LAS graduate departments are ranked 25th or above in the nation. Engineering is simply kick arse (4th best overall), and the Business school is good too (something like 12th?). Something to keep in mind…</p>
<p>I simply don’t buy that Dartmouth uses a different calculator than the one on it’s web site. Not a chance. Small differences maybe, but zero aid for someone who the calculator shows would get ‘lots’, no way.</p>
<p>As a smart college applicant, I’m sure you did lots of research! Ran your numbers through lots of calculators. There’s little chance that without your making a big mistake that calculators would suggest you would get ‘lots of aid’ when you qualify for none.</p>
<p>"I simply don’t buy that Dartmouth uses a different calculator than the one on it’s web site. Not a chance. Small differences maybe, but zero aid for someone who the calculator shows would get ‘lots’, no way. "</p>
<p>Funny. I ran my numbers through too. The Dartmouth calculator said my EFC is $12,500. The financial aid information send after I got admitted said my EFC is $50,000. No mistakes, checked it over a few times. When I called to ask why this happened, they said that they actually add business losses back into income when calculating out aid, which they don’t do on the calculator. So all those business losses we had actually counted as a plus in our income instead of a minus. Which is weird, since it sure seemed out like a minus when we stopped having money and almost lost the house.</p>
<p>The info on how every Profile college handles business income is in every FA book. You didn’t do your homework and the calculators only work with straight forward information. Again, your mistake and lack of research, not Dartmouth’s attempt to trick you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Definitely not true.</p>
<p>When you go to Dartmouth’s FA calculator for income of parents they take in the following factors:</p>
<ol>
<li>Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
1a. Add back losses from business, farm, capital losses, etc.</li>
<li>Untaxed income and benefits (i.e., child support, IRA’s, 401K, 403B, etc.)</li>
<li>Child support paid</li>
</ol>
<p>[Parent</a> Contribution Calculator](<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~admissns/dfce.cgi]Parent”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~admissns/dfce.cgi)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m not understanding something, but it seems that what Sybbie describes could indeed be described as “adding business losses back into income.”</p>
<p>Hmmmm I wonder about their calculator. I just plugged our numbers in for kicks and it came out less than our EFC.</p>
<p>sybbie719 is saying that it isn’t true that the calculator comes up with a significantly different amount than the FA office. It says right in the calculator to add back business losses.
I can see how this rule could hurt some deserving families. But not having such a rule opens the barn door wide open. Almost every business has discretion about when to recognize losses, and often it is only an accounting entry.
momofthreeboys…if the difference is significant in your case, I would call the FA to find out why.</p>
<p>Then maybe adding back business losses isn’t what caused the EFC to be low. It doesn’t really matter what caused it. The point is that I honestly plugged in the info. to the calculater and the financial aid committee gave me a very different number. That’s dishonest. Also, I don’t understand why losses would be added back into income since the money doesn’t exist.</p>
<p>aranyria, it may also be that the numbers your parents supplied to D are different from the numbers you put into the calculator.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the business loss thing, either, but my understanding of accounting practices is sketchy.</p>
<p>Business losses can be almost anything including many intangibles such as write downs for good will. You can take a three month business trip/vacation and use it to record a loss. When colleges do a thorough review, in my experience, they will parse the losses and see how it effected dollars in your pocket and make a judgement on validity of the write downs.</p>
<p>Again, for the OP to be calling a college dishonest is nonsense. I’m wondering if her parent’s have been honest with her because surely as business owners they must understand the situation. And I’m pretty convinced she didn’t plug in the correct info as she was unaware, as Sybbie pointed out, that the web site gives clear instructions on adding back losses.</p>
<p>I understand the disappointment, but she’s calling the wrong kettle black.</p>