<p>Harvard, Yale, and Stanford recently announced major changes to their financial aid policies. Despite making no changes to its own policies, Princeton continues to maintain that it has the best financial aid in the country. So my question to those fortunate enough to be admitted to two or more of these schools is as follows: Has Princeton put its money where its mouth is?</p>
<p>My offers from Yale and Princeton were basically identical, but Yale refers to its massive contribution as a "scholarship" while Princeton refers to its equally contribution as a "grant."</p>
<p>My brother will be in college for only two more years, so with the scholarship, Yale's contribution would decrease the moment he leaves school, but Princeton's contribution won't change because its grant lasts for 4 years apparently. Can anyone confirm?</p>
<p>I only applied to Princeton and Stanford, but Stanford gave significantly more FA.</p>
<p>I got into HYPSM. Still waiting on H, but Y is a bit better than P which is equal to S which is a bit better than M. So not that much difference I guess. I could probably take Y's and bargain with the other schools so at least they'll match Y's.</p>
<p>I don't have anything definitive yet: Yale needs another form, I need more info on what Princeton's "Expected Outside Awards" section means, and Harvard's isn't available online.</p>
<p>My Yale scholarship was $20 more than Princeton's grant, I think.</p>
<p>Actually, my Princeton fin aid package is just slightly worse than Stanfords. Lol actually Stanford's is slightly better is the correct way to put it. The difference is like 900 dollars so its negligible.</p>
<p>BTW: All of you should be negotiating Financial Aid packages. Chances are, you can use each strong package to push the weak ones higher.</p>
<p>lol well if u wanna talk about hypsm instead of just hyps, my mit fin aid package was great altho it was only a "tentative" offer, my princeton award online looks pretty stingy compared to it but once again i need to find out what they mean by estimated outside awards, & i dont know my harvard fa yet b/c its not online</p>
<p>For me, it goes in order of best to worst Yale, Princeton, Stanford, then MIT.</p>
<p>Hi guys! Are you comparing in terms of how much money you're getting, or how much money you'll have to pay? </p>
<p>Could we standardize aid to how much money the school expects you to pay (EFC+work study+summer savings)? </p>
<p>For example, School A gives you a grant of $4000 and expects you to pay $150 while School B gives you a grant of $3000 and expects you to pay $20. School B is the better deal, no?</p>
<p>Also, do all the financial aid packages cover the same budget? I think Princeton budgets 700 for domestic students for two round-trip airplane tickets home, how do the other schools budget travel, books, etc.?</p>
<p>This is all really interesting.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>debryc, I think the travel budget for Princeton is tied to how far you live from campus. My son's is higher than you list, but we live a long way from campus.</p>
<p>libra, I think you're wrong in assuming your Princeton grant will stay the same when your brother graduates. From this article <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/08/0204/aid/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/08/0204/aid/</a> published in February, 2008:</p>
<p>"When the students brother enters college next year, Princeton will split the amount the parents are expected to pay for their childrens expenses, cutting the parents contribution to Princeton in half."</p>
<p>I would think the reverse would be true, and the parental contribution would be doubled once a sibling graduates. You may want to contact the FA office to verify that.</p>
<p>Different schools will probably be the best deal for different students. For example, Yale excludes asset value up to a certain dollar value (I can't remember exactly what that value is off the top of my head). Princeton excludes home equity. Consider two families with equal income, family situation, etc. and equal total taxable asset values. If home equity constitutes the bulk of Family A's holdings, under Princeton's formula they would be better off. Family B, which has very little home equity and holds its assets in mutual funds, would likely fare better at Yale. Of course, the devil is always in the details when it comes to FA!</p>
<p>My need based grant at Princeton is 32k. Yale's is 30k with a family contribution of 17k (parent and me w/o work-study)</p>
<p>My fin aid for Princeton is 43K. Does anyone know what the cost of attendence for princeton is factoring in books, personal costs, room and board and tuition?</p>
<p>Yale literally gave me 10X the FA that Princeton did. No joke... this is insane.</p>
<p>I want to again emphasize that Princeton (and probably the other schools also) are flexible in how much aid is offered, so I encourage you to explore whether the Princeton financial aid office will match the other offers.</p>
<p>Hey sprtn117 -- That all adds to about $48-$50k.... same as with most private colleges.</p>
<p>I just got my H package, H > Y > P > S > M.</p>
<p>Think more in the $50-53 range.</p>
<p>Princeton</a> University | Costs & Payment Options</p>
<p>They show the estimate for 2007-2008 and they say not to forget to add Health Insurance and travel. University of Chicago went up more than $3000 this year.</p>
<p>In order from best fin. aid to worst: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton. But all of these schools require no parent contribution for me. So, I only have to pay in the one thousands if I choose to matriculate at any of them.</p>