<p>i got mine through an email attachment.</p>
<p>There is an email attachment. If you can't find it, don't worry it'll come by mail in your Admissions Packet.</p>
<p>We got the packet in the mail today with a polite and lengthy "rejection letter" from financial aid saying they had reviewed our application but we did not qualify. Not surprising (EFC was $99999) but kind of funny to get rejected like that.</p>
<p>basically just got a loan. No way I can afford duke now. Ah well this hurts and is depressing but thats life.</p>
<p>I got a part of my package which says personal expenses (4500$). Anybody know what’s included in that?</p>
<p>My finaid package was average, I guess. Here’s a comparison of all the finaid packages that I’ve received so far:</p>
<p>(Format: [$Total Cost] - [$Need-Based Grants] = [$Family Contribution]) (my parents are against taking loans).</p>
<p>Duke: $53,390 - $20,730 = $32,660</p>
<p>Rice: $46,760 - $18,556 = $28,204
Vanderbilt: $55,764 - $39,469 = $16,295
UChicago: $53,310 - $11,000 = $42,310</p>
<p>i got a pretty sweet package. best one so far.
48,650
45,600 in need based, fed grant, and academic grant
love it!</p>
<p>duke was generous, but since the efc we got is nowhere near accurate (max contribution i could expect could be, what, 3K a year from my parents and i working together) i could never afford duke. and their policy towards outside scholarships SUCKS!!!</p>
<p>@knat: How come the packages at different schools vary so greatly?</p>
<p>my duke financial aid package kinda sucks.</p>
<p>they only gave us $21,000, meaning we would have to pay $32,990, which is damn near impossible considering my family’s financial situation.</p>
<p>i was pretty depressed and afraid that the rest of my schools would also be stingy, but swarthmore was very generous with a $39,440 package. we would only have to pay $12,550 in all.</p>
<p>i’m trying to decide whether to appeal or just forget about duke. in any case, i hear from the rest of my schools next week so we shall see.</p>
<p>@adrivit,
I have no idea. As I received my UChicago package first, I wasn’t sure what to expect then, so I considered that the standard. From there, I was positively surprised by Duke and Rice’s. Then I received Vanderbilt’s surprisingly generous (but all need-based) finaid package, which made me much less happy about the Duke and Rice packages. But again, I’m not really sure. I’m planning on calling UChicago to see if they made a mistake, but I have heard that their finaid is pretty bad.</p>
<p>knat,
What is your income bracket???
How much was UChicago a year…</p>
<p>@knat: You’ve got some nice college decisions in your favour … so, if you want to go to UChicago over Duke or Vandy, why don’t you try to negotiate with UChicago?</p>
<p>I think $150K/yr < family income < $200K/yr. However, I’ll have an older sibling in college at the same time as me.</p>
<p>To sulthernao,
Duke isn’t shy about giving you even more aid if your family situation changes in future years. In fact, I went from receiving no aid to receiving $30,000 in grants due to my brother going to college.</p>
<p>I got so much aid and stuff that my family only needs to pay $1900 (yes TWO zeroes) for my first year at Duke. </p>
<p>I’m unbelievably excited. That costs less than my annual piano lesson fees lol</p>
<p>Only loan offers for me. I guess that means I won’t be going to Duke…</p>
<p>I’ve got about 42K in grant+loan from Duke (leaving me about 8-12K to pay), can’t complain that much. Wash U’s giving about the same amount of aid, but they’re throwing in free prefreshman summer research to sweeten the deal. Emory’s giving a full ride…</p>
<p>Decisions, decisions.</p>
<p>wow u guys are lucky. duke is my 1st choice frm where i got accepted, but they are giving me the least.</p>
<p>20k need-based
5000 loans
1800 work study… but my parents have to contribute $27,590.00. :(</p>
<p>dartmouth and swarthmore are offering 10k more in need-based aid but i like duke.</p>
<p>^actually if you think about it optimistically. You are going to pay ~15k in room and board where ever you go. so really the marginal cost is only 12k to go to Duke :)</p>
<p>Also if you don’t mind. What was ur EFC based on FAFSA? Cus I’m hoping for 20k in need-based.</p>