<p>i got no merit aid, my parents have around 200k in the bank saved away for a bad time/ retirement and they each make around 45k a year. there is no way i can pay for wash u</p>
<p>so you got no money? I, too, didn't get any. WashU is really funny. It's so expensive and yet they do not grant enough aid. There's really nothing special about the school that would make me want to die for.</p>
<p>I don't see how WashU is any more "expensive" the rest of the private colleges.</p>
<p>WashU is not more expensive than other private schools. It only seems so because there is very little financial for deserving students. So it's not affordable most of the time. And then, cost of living in St Louis is very high.</p>
<p>Cost of living in St. Louis is high? I was looking through the WashU information booklet, and it said the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $495. That's dirt cheap. I can barely get a studio apartment for $600 where I live.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that WashU has one of the biggest (or at least top 10) endowments in the nation, numbering in the billions of dollars...do they just choose to not spend it on merit-based financial aid?</p>
<p>I guess they spend blow it all on stamps =</p>
<p>O jeez, not more of this "was u. blows away money due to their mailing lists crap". Let me begin by asking how many merit schlarships do the ivies offer, or amherst, or georgetown? none....I know that because I can not go to those schools because I did not qualify for financial aid. Some of the only reasons why Wash U. has leaped in the rankings as a University is because they are able to attract some of the best and brightest to their school with all of those brochures. I am an East Coast girl interested in law, and I did not know of Wash U. before they sent those brochures. However, the same goes for Duke, Stanford, and Emory (I was not aware of their prestige because of the Ivies in the Norhteast). The cost of living in St. Louis is pretty cheap in comparison to other cities, but again my New York experience makes me biased. If you do not have any other siblings, ask your parents for a percentage of their savings that you can pay them back after college. I am sure that with the prestige of the schools you have been accepted into that you are bright enough to succeed in the real world to pay it back. Remember, people with a degree make on average $100,000 more in their lifetime than people without degrees. So is it worth it?</p>