<p>I've heard from many people I know the financial aid is horrible. Obviously its nothing compared to HYPS's generous aid to families w/ higher incomes, but how is WUSTL's? My parents are worried that we make to much $ to qualify for aid through FAFSA (my bro got none so i wont either) and not rich enough to be able to afford the $40-50,000 schools that I love so much. If we're in the 120,000-160,000 range, would we get any grants like we would at HYPS? Anyone know of any schools w/ good finaid grants and scholarships that I could get?</p>
<p>I've never heard that before. In fact, I've heard quite the opposite. Wash U was generally known as one of the more generous private schools. I think something like 60 percent of the students receive some form of aid, whether it is from need based aid or scholarships?</p>
<p>My family was in that range and sorry to break it to you but they probably won't give you any. I don't qualify for anything and we were in that range. However, if your parents don't have many assets you will probably get some. By assets I mean 401K and college savings and such.</p>
<p>If your brother is in college now, that might actually get you a little aid. Since WashU uses the profile, I'm pretty sure they take into consideration the number of siblings attending college. I could be wrong. But, WashU also offers a number of merit scholarships that are not need-based. I think they range in amount, but some of them are substantial (half-full tuition).</p>
<p>My parents make about 100k and I got a 40k scholarship that considered both my parent's incomes and my academics. The finaid admin is a really nice guy, Brodt I think. If you get money from HYPS, he might match what they give you.</p>
<p>Their financial aid office kicks ass. After my financial aid being raised for one year when it was needed, and then going back to my base aid after that cleared, they cut all of my grants for the upcoming year due to an increase in income (cyclical, very variable business). Spoke with their office, and they were able to re-crunch some numbers and work things out so that I was able to get over 80% of my previous year's grant back. That was a huge help to my family, and I'm surprised how hard they worked to get most of that money back to me, even going into my last year here.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies! Any other experiences w/ finaid?</p>
<p>I'm an incoming freshman... The finaid people seemed awesome to me: my original offer left me with less to pay than my original EFC, and after I explained some special circumstances, I ended up with three times the original aid package, so in my case they went above and beyond... for background, my family has a lot of assets but a very low income...</p>
<p>It's pretty good,excellent really! they offered me a generous amount of money</p>
<p>My d got a nice package. We were pleasantly surprised. It wasn't huge, but we're at a high enough income that realistically we did not expect much.</p>
<p>I know a guy whos parents made around 200,000 and they offered him nearly a full ride....he only had to pay for books room and board</p>
<p>zfox001: that has to be merit aid. Either that or his parents are really crafty and know how to manipulate their tax records.</p>
<p>My parents make about 200,000, and I'm getting a decent but not amazing amount.</p>
<p>Wow lollybo, they gave you aid? My parents make about the same amount, so I didnt even bother to apply. Is the money they gave you all loans, or did you get grants and stuff too?</p>
<p>ooops....sorry....i was thinking merit not financial aid sorry</p>
<p>I'd say that most colleges in WU's peer group all strive to make the education as affordable as possible, and not have money being an issue when accepting an offer of admission. This year, they gave away $64 million in scholarship support and have goals of increasing that each year. Loans are eliminated for families who earn less than $50k per year, and loans make up a very small portion of financial aid packages for everyone else. I believe that HYP, on average, gives away about $80 million in total support... but Harvard's enrollment is also much larger than WU.</p>
<p>WUSTL might not have standardized policies as HYP...who seem to look mainly at an income level in determining a financial aid award (ie, all families who earn less than $xxx,xxx grand go per free, and it's decreased by a standard percentage in various income brackets above that). Some argue that this is just a draw to get more applications and entice people to come. However, income is only one aspect of a family's financial picture. WU, as well as most colleges, look at how many kids you have in college, savings, home value, and many other variables.</p>
<p>I believe that WU might not have these standardized policies is because WU is known for doing things very individually and working with families more one-on-one than most schools. Furthermore, the cost of living is extremely low in the midwest (especially st louis), so if a family makes $150 grand per year... that is going to stretch so much further in ST Louis than it will in Boston/Connecticut/NYC. Metrics like these income-level policies are not very good in comparing colleges' financial assistance programs.</p>
<p>Below is a link from US news regarding financial aid facts from 2006... WUSTL and it's peer groups are relatively similar in terms of percentage of students receiving need-based aid and average amount of aid. WU tends not to release data like this on its own, again because it publicizes so much that it works with familes on a one-on-one basis to meet their individual needs. I think WU has gotten much better since 2006 (as have other schools), so these numbers should be more of a general reference than anything else.</p>
<p>Actually my WU fin aid package was better than what Stanford offered. My family makes between $50k-$60k, and we are not expected no pay anything- no loans either. Stanford wanted me to pay 2k per year based on my earnings in my part-time job. So, yeah I guess you could predict my opinion of the fin aid office at WU :)</p>
<p>FA is not a "uniform" thing...even comparing 2 families that have the same AGI-(adjusted gross income).... the FA offers might be quite different.
There are a lot of factors that come in play.</p>
<p>WashU did not offer my D a good scholarship/FA package. Therefore she is not attending (this after they paid all expenses for her to visit the university on THREE different occasions!).</p>
<p>I was accepted as a transfer and received a nice amount in scholarships and grants. However, it still isn't a feasible amount for my family to pay. I just talked with my financial services counselor about adjusting the aid and he sounded hopeful. So I am hoping for the best.</p>
<p>Overall, WashU has done a better job than the other schools where I have received aid packages. Exactly how good in the end? I will just have to wait and see...</p>
<p>I'm sad because they decreases my aid by $10000, after we turned in income returns. the problem is our returns don't reflect the money we make NOW. my parent's businesses are not doing well at all and we almost had our house foreclosed. We've even had almost return our car for a cheaper one. I don't know what to do. i don't think that my parents could be able to afford WashU without anymore aid and i'd hate to have to put that kind of burden on them. </p>
<p>But what do i say when I call the finaid office tomorrow? I don't want to sound like i'm whining :(</p>
<p>Iirokotree: You aren't whining, your family's financial circumstances have changed significantly and there's a good chance that if you explain this to them and send in documentation they can help you out. It's always worth a shot and the people in that office always seem helpful. I'm betting they can re-do your package with the new information, seeing that there is a legitimate reason. Best of luck : )</p>