<p>I was recently accepted under their Early Decision Program and just received my financial aid estimated package today.
My family’s contribution is $52,566.00.
My parents together make (after taxes) around 125,000 a year. We are a family of five and asking my parents to pay that much is taking about 40% of their income. I really do not want to withdrawal my application, Brown is my dream school and I’ve wanted to go here since the 8th grade… but I seriously don’t know what my options are at this point. I’m a little depressed but at the same time, I don’t want to play the victim role. What should I do?
I’m applying to about twelve different scholarships, but at the same time, I don’t want to depend too much on scholarships because I may not get them, then I’m totally screwed. I have to commit by January 15th. Please help with any type of advice or suggestions. Thank you :)</p>
<p>Normally, the Early Decision Program is binding… But maybe there’s a way you can ask them to keep your spot until RD comes, that way you can see if another school made you a better finaid offer. There’s a high chance Brown will match it.</p>
<p>But I dunno if it’s possible.</p>
<p>The thing is, The Early Decision is, as mentioned higher, a binding agreement to attend if admitted. So, technically, you HAVE to attend, no matter what…</p>
<p>Maybe try and call the school, maybe ask if they can keep the spot for you until RD, or if they can try and assemble a better finaid package.</p>
<p>You should just talk to your parent and to Brown, they’re the only persons who can really help you.</p>
<p>Congrats on getting in, though.</p>
<p>^ Except, no.</p>
<p>You can break the agreement if you need more aid than they can give you. I know someone who got into Brown ED but couldn’t afford to pay the EFC. His negotiations failed, and he was allowed to apply elsewhere (ended up going to another school that offered him better aid).</p>
<p>I’m perplexed as to why they just told you. Did you have time to submit other applications? Do you have other options?</p>
<p>Regardless, Brown is NOT going to make you attend if they require you to pay things you can’t afford. This situation is the major exception to the binding ED agreement.</p>
<p>You applied to other schools, right? I would try emailing them or calling them, and defend your case. Tell them that there’s no way you can afford it. (Are your parents going to cosign for you?) The only factor that can break the ED agreement is $, or so I’ve read.</p>
<p>I would sit on it, because all those kids who will turn down admission in RD may earn $, so they’d have some more to offer.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what my mom tells me. :)</p>
<p>In the meantime, defend your case and wait for your other RD schools to come in.</p>
<p>I almost applied RD to a school, but I decided not to because of $. Now I have to wait until April to even see if I’ve been accepted.</p>
<p>I’m getting a little impacient - I hope you’re more pacient than I. :)</p>
<p>nelly – I am sorry you are in such a situation, but this is a really good example for future applicants – never apply ED if you need financial aid! </p>
<p>Your first step is to contact financial aid and discuss your package with them. One thing your family needs to understand about financial aid is that Brown expects tuition and fees to come from 3 “sources” – current income, past income (savings) and future income (loans). They don’t expect you to pay 40% of your cash flow, because they expect that your parents saved money (and given their high income, they theoretically should have), and they expect them to take out loans (which given their high income, they should afford easily). If your parents’ income after taxes is $125,000, I am not at all surprised that you did not qualify for financial aid. Did you run the financial aid calculator on the website before applying?</p>
<p>It certainly is possible that FA made an error, or your parents input information incorrectly, and you do need to check with them. But your family does have a high income, so it is very likely that nothing will change. You will, of course, qualify for an unsubsidized Stafford loan.</p>
<p>You CAN turn down Brown. ED is binding, but no one can force you to attend a school, no one can force you to write Brown a check. If you can’t manage the money, then you are allowed to turn down the acceptance. </p>
<p>If you haven’t already applied elsewhere, now is the time to find schools with Jan. 15 deadlines. Realize, however, that probably the only schools that will give you better FA packages than Brown (based on your need) will be schools whose deadlines were Jan. 1. So you need to look at instate options or schools with large merit awards. </p>
<p>What CAN your parents afford? This is really important for you to know. Again, for future applicants, that is a conversation you need to have with your parents before applying to colleges, and not after getting the financial aid package.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Did you ever run a financial aid calculator before you decided to apply ED? Before you withdraw your application and apply elsewhere, you need to sit down with your parents and run these numbers at other schools to see if it makes sense applying to them too. If your parents have no savings/home equity/debt tolerance to allow you anything besides a lower tiered school known for merit scholarships, then that is where you need to focus ASAP. If you missed those deadlines then you are looking at low cost in-state options +/- eventual transfer. You are exactly the type of student who should not have been an ED applicant. It is unfortunate that you were not counseled about this beforehand. Your high EFC was predictable and even if Brown is screwing you, you have no way to show them FA offers from peer institutions to leverage their decision.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about this, I can’t offer much advice but I hope it all works out for you.</p>
<p>To nellyata123, I am sorry that you are in this situation and I hope everything works out for you so that you can attend Brown.</p>
<p>Depending on your major, take loans…</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your responses. Yes, I did do the financial aid calculator before applying and it told me I would only have to contribute 20,000 a year, which was perfect for my parents. That’s exactly what they could afford and which is why I decided to apply ED. Yeah, they just told me on January 03 because they still had to process some information. I’m majoring in Human Biology and eventually planning on going to med school, which is something I have to factor in. I was thinking about taking out loans, but also applying to scholarships. I recently read on the brown financial aid site that outside scholarships can not be used towards the EFC, which is really scaring me because that’s why I’m applying to scholarships in the first place…to lower my tuition.</p>
<p>Brown considers factors beyond what a basic financial aid calculator will (particularly, house value). It’s possible that things like this contributed (greatly?) to the difference.</p>
<p>I’d be very careful with loans. You’ll have to think very hard about how much you can really afford to pay back (and how the interest will work on these loans). Your starting salary may sound high, but you have to do things like get a place to live, pay for food, deal with transportation, and so on. As the parents on the financial aid board will point out, it adds up quickly. Also keep in mind that a non-negligible number of premeds change their mind and decide not to go to med school, so be aware that this happens.</p>
<p>I wish you good luck. Given that Brown’s numbers differ so greatly from the aid calculator, it might be worth at least talking to the financial aid department (who knows what will happen?), but you should plan for the worst case.</p>
<p>Nellyata:</p>
<p>You must not have used Brown’s Financial Aid calculator. There is no way you could come close to a $20K EFC with an after tax income of $125K even using minimal assets expected of someone in that high an income bracket. If you included an on-campus job and a summer job (certainly expected if you are getting grant aid) your family’s EFC would be lower than you quoted even if you got no direct aid. Since this is a dream school of yours, I’m hoping you can make it work but I don’t think there is an error here when Brown tells you that they expect substantially more than $20K. You cannot take out loans to make up the difference - only your parents can do that. You need to see if that is something they will do to make this work. Agree with fireandrain above that it is expected that your parents will fund your education with past earnings (savings), current earnings, and future earnings (loans).</p>
<p>Yes, definitely go over the financial aid with someone in the office, and maybe too with someone locally who has experience with that if you parents feel comfortable with that. There are factors besides income (savings, debts (such as large medical debts) that sometimes need to be factored and might not have been. Also your parents need to be factoring in future financial changes. For instance if you have a younger sib who will be in college while you are, once that student starts in college, the financial aide calculations will adjust your parents contribution for you (and even more for the second student) but not until then. When I went to Brown many years ago, it was out of my parents reach, and even more so when my dad lost his job for part of the year just before I started Brown. We went into financial aid, gave them the sob story, and they found more money for me. I am forever grateful.
Now many years later my family is close to where yours is. We saved for our kids college for the last 30 years and now I can “afford” to pay Brown full tuition for my student! We hoped there might be a little help once there were 2 kids in college but since the sib didn’t go, we are still paying the full ride. It can be a stretch, but to us it is worth it. You and your parents will have to decide if that is true for you. Will Brown make it as inexpensive as a state school? Definitely not.
PS Ivy league etc schools use a much more sophisticated aid calculator than the simple FAFSA one. One that does take into account assets owned such as property, businesses, and retirement funds, so that those cannot be “sheltered” out of site of parents contribution. (and rightly so!)</p>
<p>Thanks so much. I was deff. not going to take out 50,000 out for loans each year. Loans were there to supplement the rest of what I have to pay. My parents will contribute and hopefully I can get as many scholarships as I can to help them out. I will use loans to make up what is left to pay. But yes, I did use the financial aid calculator and entered all the information that I did on my CSS Profile. If my EFC was 52,000 on the financial aid calculator, I would have never applied E.D. Which is why I was really confused, but I will get in contact with them next week. Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate it all of your advice.</p>