<p>Put it up front, my EFC is 2850, and my family income is barely over 50k.</p>
<p>How much can I reasonably expect from my schools? At the first glance, my schools are offering me highly varying amount. JHU expects my family to pay 8k a year, while Duke expects my family to pay for half of the tuition (over 25k). </p>
<p>To be frank, I am really quite interested in Duke, but 25k a year is really a lot for my family. Is JHU just being generous to me, or is Duke giving me an unfair package? I know most of these packages are not finalized, but even then, how much change can I expect to see? I really need some opinions in this. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like you got a fair or an unfair package from Duke. You got the package they wanted to give you. This lower than expected award could be for a mulitiude of reasons. The EFC is only one determinant of how much money a school will be giving you. While I doubt the award you received was an error, I would definitely get in contact with the Duke financial aid office and ask about their appeals process. When you contact them, ask about what options you have for additional money and how much you could expect additionally on appeal. Also, in your appeal, you should state how much money your family has planned on contributing towards your education. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Also, sometimes schools will try to match what other schools have given you. So in your appeal, I would mention that Johns Hopkins gave you a better award, and see if they can do anything. Check out their FA site. There may be a sentence or two stating that they will do that.</p>
<p>Your EFC is really a calculation for federal aid. Both JHU and Duke are profile schools which means that they use their own formula to calculate institutional aid.</p>
<p>Duke claims to meet 100% of need plus $1900 summer earnings. According to college board, JHU meets 95%. So, there are one of two scenarios.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You need to consider what information was on the CSS profile that indicated that your parents were able to pay 25K. DO they own a home that has equity of $400? In many parts of the country this is quite possible even with an income of $50K. Perhaps JHU caps home equity as a percentage of income and DUke does not. Also, none of us really know how the schools look at retirement savings, but it is a question on the profile. </p></li>
<li><p>The second scenario is that Duke made a mistake. If the CSS profile indicated no other sources of money, then I guess this is possible. I’m not sure how often financial aid offices make mistakes. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Either way, it is definately worth a call to the school to have them explain how they came up with 25K</p>
<p>hmmm… My family do own a home, but has no retirement savings whatsoever. Even then, they expect my family to go nearly 100k in debt for an undergrad education? Both of my parents are already near retirement age as well; no way they can help me pay the loan years down the line. The thing that baffles me is the difference between the private school finaid i’m getting. Is that common?</p>
<p>^ JHU wants you so why not go there and not look back. I cannot imagine any way Duke would be that much better than JHU to justify paying an extra $15K.</p>