<p>I’m sorry but for those that are full pay or near they will be investing 200k+ for the education. I am certain that each one of them thinks it is a good investment and should repay (at some point). Being able to repay 20k or less after graduation does not seem like much of a stretch.</p>
<p>
No one said anything about making “bucket loads” of money. People graduating who make between $30,000 and $60,000, depending on their field / location, should have no problem making a couple hundred dollar loan payment each month. People can always apply for a hardship deferment if a job isn’t forthcoming or is lost. </p>
<p>Also, my parents never took responsibility for paying for my education. In my experience speaking generally, those who pay for their own schooling get a great deal more out of it, have far less sense of entitlement going through, and get a lot more out of the experience because they realize paying tens of thousands of dollars to party doesn’t make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>I can tell you, coming from a family that makes about 30,000, it’s not that easy to pay “a couple hundred a month.”
and let’s not pretend that the people who need money to go through college are going there solely to party and have a sense of entitlement.
on the contrary, they know more than most what a difference a few hundred makes.</p>
<p>Good Lord. We’re not talking about raising a family on $30,000. We’re talking about a single young professional entering the workforce who will, more than likely, be making more than that. I did it. Other people can do it. </p>
<p>Regarding my statement that people who pay for their own education through loans and/or work value it more, you need to develop your reading comprehension skills or not try to manipulate my statements. I actually said the complete opposite of what you assert that I said.</p>
<p>On this forum we haved advised students not to take out rediculous amount of money to go to college, but that’s not what we are talking about here. Every time when a students asks if they should borrow 20k+ a year to go to their dream school, most parents would jump in to warn people against it, especially for students who still need to fund their graduate schools.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what a family financial situation is like, it is a big financial sacrifice for every family to fund a student’s college education. For many families it’s many years of savings in order to afford college, very few people can do it as “pay as you go.”</p>
<p>This post is ridiculous. Regardless of your family’s situation, even if your parents can’t pay anything, take out a $3.5k loan each year. You’ll graduate with 14k in debt, which is more than reasonable for an Ivy League education. The sense of entitlement some people have.</p>
<p>Essentially this is how the conversation went:</p>
<p>Applejack: 3,500 may be a lot for a financially struggling family but if the student invests in his/her education and takes out a loan each year, by the time of graduation the financial responsibility will be the student’s, and the student, as a single, Cornell graduate should be able to pay it off without too much trouble. </p>
<p>Drinksuited: Even if the finances become the student’s responsibility, he/she might have trouble paying it off because it is hard to get a halfway decent job these days.</p>
<p>Applejack: That may be true, but it won’t be because the student’s family is poor. It’ll be because the student, for whatever reason, couldn’t find a job. The student’s (in)ability to pay off his/her loans by this time will have NOTHING to do with the family’s income or having come from a poor family. </p>
<p>Drinksuited: I don’t care for logic. A poor family can’t pay off loans. </p>
<p>I’m not even a Cornell student but why can’t Drinksuited understand what applejack is saying? It’s completely logical. FTR, my parents earn 70,000 and I’m paying 8,000 to a peer institution. I also have 2 siblings in college.</p>
<p>No one takes into account the fact that paying a “couple hundred a month” leads to debt for years as interest constantly accrues. You end up paying back like closer to like 30-35K.</p>
<p>Just get loans.</p>
<p>A $10/hour full time job for ten weeks nets you $4000. I would think that it’s safe to say that most internships that are paid are definitely above that level. And of course it’s not guaranteed that everyone is going to get summer job experience but if you do well at school and use the available resources many people are matched up with internships. And even working a part-time job just for the summer will get you part of the way there.</p>
<p>Don’t know about everyone else here, but all the money I make over my summers goes straight to my tuition, rent, food for the next year. The money I make at school is mine to use for living expenses and whatever else I want to splurge on.</p>
<p>
Everybody takes that into account. No one would ever buy a home or get any other sort of loan without that understanding. The reality remains that one must decide whether the ability to spread the payment out over years and, consequently, pay more over that extended earning period is worth having a college degree from a top school in the modern economy where the necessity to stand-out from a surge of college educated young adults has never been more important. I would answer yes, personally.</p>
<p>Darkice and Drinksuited stop using brute force to get your argument across because it’s not making sense. You’re just repeating the same irrelevant things over and over. </p>
<p>Point is, if I have 60k in loans that I have to pay off on my own after college, and you have 20k, it doesn’t matter that your family is poorer, as that is irrelevant to us personally paying off our own debts with the same educations that we acquired in the same academic institution. What ultimately will factor into our abilities to pay off our debts is how well we take advantage of the opportunities that Cornell offers us.</p>
<p>I understand where you’re coming from. My dad makes almost literally $100,001 in a year, so we’re put in the $100,000+ category which qualifies me for no aid at all. It sucks, because in reality, we’re not part of that income bracket, and paying half of my dad’s salary for my college education isn’t doable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you take a look at the Cornell Financial Aid office’s hypothetical profile of a student, named Ding Park, whose parents make 117,000 dollars annually, then you will find that your statement above is inaccurate.</p>
<p>In the example (about half-way down the page) [Ding</a> Park’s parents](<a href=“http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/types-aid/financial-aid-examples]Ding”>Types of Aid | Financial Aid) make 117,000/yr and have some moderate assets. Since they are under the 120,000/yr annual income, the student loan is set at 3,000 dollars, plus a work-study of 2,000 dollars, plus a parent contribution of 29,035 dollars. This means that the Cornell FA grant in this scenario equals 34,035 dollars.</p>
<p>So, your statement – that Cornell does not offer aid to people in your parent’s situation – is misinformed.</p>
<p>Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. THe statement “I don’t want to take a plane back and forth” and “I’m also upset that my counterparts, who are not as academically talented, got into Cornell on full rides” makes me cringe and “I really want to go to Cornell, but I don’t want to go into debt” sounds like arrogance and ingratitude. Does anyone want to go into debt? Do some people deserve more debt than others? The most accurate statement sounds to me like it was “this is truly unfair”, but not for the reason OP said it. “Truly unfair”… that just turns my stomach and I think of how many students would work for years to pay off way more than that for the priviledge. I wish the adcom could see that sentiment. Please don’t pick Cornell if they are so unfair.</p>
<p>the reason I replied originally was because I saw the OP posting a legitimate financial concern, and not getting the usual amount of CC help and suggestions in return. instead, she was bombarded with angry people waving their own loan amounts, to the effect of saying childlishly, “oh yeah? well I have a 50,000 loan! take that!”
is that helpful to her?
let’s put this simply: what may work for you, may not work for the OP. </p>
<p>alright, I’m done with this. que se vayan al infierno.</p>
<p>^ Why you are up on your high and mighty about the OP’s indefensible grousing is beyond me. She’s been offered a great financial deal, plain and simple. Complaints are best reserved for warranted grievances. It is in her, and her family’s, interest to realize that the offer that she has described is far better than fair.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here are corrected figures for the above financial aid scenario. It changes nothing with respect to the fact that a family making between 100,000 - 120,000/yr receives substantial FA at Cornell:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In fact the parents are asked to cotribute less in the above adjusted figures. …just wanted the figures to be precise.</p>
<p>Why doesn’t anyone seem to understand this: darksuited and I, as well as the few others who have chimed in to support the OP, are doing so because of the level of childish, rude, and unhelpful responses that she received. If you believe that taking out loans for Cornell is worth it (which I do), then you can respond like this:</p>
<p>“I’m sorry it seems like a lot, but in the long run it will be worth it, so just step back and decide if around 20K in debt is worth a Cornell degree.”</p>
<p>But for some reason, everyone on this website has a stick so far up their a$$ that all they can do is respond like an angry mob to a valid question. That’s why this thread got heated, because we pushed back against statements such as “barely scraped into Cornell” and “this post *<strong><em>es me the </em></strong> off” and other insensitive, unhelpful comments. Why the hell people think they need to post just to bring other people down is beyond me - its pathetic.</p>
<p>DarkIce - I am sorry that you are feel people are not supportive of OP, I beg to differ. You are the one who is being insulting and disrespectful on all of your postings. You are not offering anything constructive by your last post. Everyone here is trying to explain to OP and other students that it is manageable and it is a VERY generous FA from Cornell. It would probably be cheaper to go to Cornell than to OP’s IS school.</p>