<p>I’m not seeking pity, nor am I spoiled. choose to believe me or not but my family is very religious and we do not live in any type of rich giant house. my family is always donating money and they’ve never spoiled me at all, never had lots of toys as a child or private schools, I don’t have really nice clothes or cars (in fact for our entire family we have just 1 minivan) so in short we are NOT the stereotypical show off rich family, were anything but that. we live very humbly and naturally college will probably work that way too
after a long talk I’ve come to accept my family’s wishes not to spend all our money on a prestigious college when it could be going to a better cause.
thanks to those who helped explain the financial aid in college, I’m really ignorant on the subject so thanks for clearing things up. however I find it hurtful that I was called a spoiled brat just because I asked a question on here. I think I’ll just delete this account. sorry if I annoyed you all</p>
<p>we agreed if I do get into cornell ed (very unlikely) I’ll be expected to work and contribute to the tuition accordingly
once again though this is not a probable chance</p>
<p>It’s up to parents to figure out how much they can pay AND how much they want to pay. It’s up to kids to find colleges and universities that fit those parameters…at least in my house that’s how it went.</p>
<p>“I think I’ll just delete this account” … that doesn’t sound childish or spoiled…</p>
<p>cj, look at this from the perspective of someone who is not in the upper few% of income, like those who don’t qualify for FA at Ivies would be (and you are in the midwest even with a very low COL). You are saying that your family chooses to live humbly and give to charity so either A- they give a LOT to charity or B- they have a LOT of money saved up. If it’s the former, it is admirable but you in turn want others to fund your education when your parents have the means (where do you think the money comes from if not from your parents?) </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ok, so they are making a choice. There are PLENTY of schools that are prestigious and offer merit and aren’t as expensive as Ivies. </p>
<p>Have you talked to them about how much they ARE willing to pay?</p>
<p>um… you have to get into the school first… you probably won’t even get in, in which case you won’t have to pay at all</p>
<p>This student actually has a very good chance of being admitted. He/she is a URM with a 35 ACT score and has overcome some medical obstacles during the high school years…according to other posts.</p>
<p>He/she applied ED to Cornell, EA to Notre Dame, and is also considering UC Berkeley…all three mighty pricey with very little merit aid potential. I hope she submitted any financial aid application materials by the priority deadline dates (if there are priority dates) for ED and EA applicants. </p>
<p>And as stated before…hope this applicant has a couple of affordable schools, perhaps with guaranteed merit aid, ready to roll just in case the money isn’t forthcoming from these other expensive schools.</p>
<p>I find UC Berkeley the oddest choice of the three. It’s a large public U for which the OP can find a good approximation at her instate flagship U. Why in the world pay $60K for UCB when there is a comparable in-state option??</p>