My son was accepted into Comp. Sci. in the College of Arts and Sciences. He received financial aid letter that offers tuition waiver for freshman year (around $43K). How likely is it that he will get similar fin aid for the remaining 3 years at Cornell, assuming my financial situation does not change much.
I am concerned about “bait and switch” - meaning Cornell offers aid for freshman, but none or very little for remaining 3 years. If that happens that would be the end of his academic career at Cornell. I simply cannot afford(or even get loans) for the full Cost of Attendance at Cornell.
I called FinAid office but as expected, they cannot guarantee aid for all 4 years. Any ideas how certain finaid is for ALL 4 years at Cornell??
@cheesefrom1999 Speaking from experience, our FA has been roughly the same for the past two years. Cornell is generous, and it is true, the FA depends on your financial situation. It it has changed by a significant amount up or down, your FA will be affected. I don’t see any evidence of them baiting and switching. However, I am expecting that our award will be lower for '17-'18 year because I have one less student in college.
Thanks for your reply. That’s what one would generally accept from Cornell Fin aid office, however it worries me whenever I call the Finaid office and speak with someone, they give very general/vague answers since they cannot commit to anything for future aid (understandably). But his is scary for me since the $28K COA can go up to the full COA of $75K. I don’t expect any changes in my financial status, but the fact that Cornell FInaid can say “sorry no aid for you this year” would be disastrous!
Are there any stats/data on how often Cornell would do that?
Cornell gave me ~$24,000 in grants my freshman year. My family’s gross income was about $130k.
The following year, I only got $2,000 in grants after my family’s gross income went up to $155k. Everything else (asset wise) stayed pretty much the same.
They won’t bait and switch you, but be careful of approaching the $150k familial income line. Cornell states that it doesn’t have a hard “cut-off” line for grants, but you’ll definitely start getting a lot less help the closer you get to $150k.
@cheesefrom1999 well this is the risk you take I guess. But I don’t know of a school that will guarantee aid. It’s not in their interest. My older D (at another very highly selective school, not an Ivy) received a hefty merit scholarship that was guaranteed for 4 years. Actually, this award went up each year because her GPA was perfect. This is a parent’s dream! lol But Ivies give need based aid only, so my suggestion is to go online to their net price calculator, and plug in different financial scenarios, including how many of your kids will be in college at the same time. This affect the amount of aid also. Generally it will be really close. When I did this, I got a number that was quite close to what we actually received.
I think the way to look at it is, 1) highly selective schools like Cornell do not need to do bait and switch in order to get students to attend (they have more students who want to attend than they have spots for), 2) they have great incentive to ensure their students could graduate in 4 years, whether it’s financial or academic reason.
Finaid probably won’t decrease. In fact, my finaid package this year increased from last year, probably to cover for rising tuition costs. Cornell is quite generous with financial aid.
@helloworld4 Did your income or assets change? When I called the FA office they said COA is expected to go up every year even if income stays the same.
No, I don’t think so, my COA remained the same, I believe. Also, living off campus really helps the wallet as well! (Many students live off campus especially by their junior year)
Me and my S are going to Cornell Days this Friday, I plan to of course visit FinAid office.They have walk in hours from 9am-3pm. Do y’all recommend any specific person/office we should go talk to or ask for about FinAid? I need to be assured that S will get aid for remaining 3 years as well and not just freshman year.
@cheesefrom1999, the FA office will not be able to tell you definitively how much aid will come in the next three years. It depends on your personal financial situation year to year. Each year, you need to fill out FAFSA and CSS and submit taxes thru IDOC and then you will be reviewed again. If your S is getting aid now, then more than likely he will continue to get aid if your situation stays the same. My daughter’s aid has remained the same for these past two years.
COA does go up because Cornell, like most schools, raises tuition each year. And as an aside, living off campus is also expensive. Housing isn’t cheap in Collegetown. You may save a little money, but not that much IMO.
We received generous aid this year (son’s first year). Most of it a grant but a good chunk of it was a named scholarship from a CU donor. Cornell has several endowment scholarships as long as your student qualifies and the FA office should help in matching qualified students. One of the scholarships was from the founders of Burger King, awarding $$ if a student or their parents ever worked for a Burger King.
@jfx246 You are onto something, I was accepted and offered $2000 aid family income of $180,000.00. Also offered a small loan. But no named scholarships. We are working to see if my family can come up with $53k a year. They saved a total of $80k for my education which would cover my 2 other top schools for 4 years combined with the merit aid they awarded. Debt free or not? That’s my dilemma! Cornell has unique educational opportunities in Astronomy not found anywhere else.
Yeah, I really hate how this system works. It really disincentives working more. I mean what’s the point of making $150k over $130k if you’re just going to pay the difference anyways. The grant dropoff should not be that steep.
This^^^. Bait and switch only applies to for-profit schools or low-ranked schools. A school like Cornell wants your child to graduate, not drop out due to costs.
IF your financial situation is similar – including assets, income, and number in college – your aid will be similar. The good news is that you can figure it out right now. The aid you were offered is based on 2015 income and current assets. The aid for the 2018-2019 school year will be based on 2016 income and your assets at the time you fill out Fafsa/CSS.
–Has your income changed between tax year 2015 and 2016?
–Do you expect to have more assets in the fall of 2017, when you fill out fin aid forms? Any inheritance? Gifts? Selling a house? Equities? What about your child?
–Will you have fewer children in college in the 2018-2019 school year?
@brantly - My financial situation will not change much except for maybe 3% raises every year. I spoke to FinAid Counselor at Cornell today and they assured me that there was not sudden drop-off in AF based on income, like when @jfx246 said his/her aid dropped off when income went from 130K to 150k.
My family spent countless hours talking to financial aid. Their only explanation was that since our income went up, so did our expected family contribution. The only significant changes besides income were a +$3k in savings and +$1k in my checking. They didn’t explain why the dropoff was that steep.
