<p>After reading articles about undergraduates going into debt at $50,000/yr. colleges, my parents decided that they would not sign for any loans for them/me until I get to graduate school. They will give me 10-12,000/year, but they call that living expenses for things like road trips, groceries, school needs, clothes, etc. Our EFC is about $30,000/year, and I won't be getting it from my parents, so my question is what is the largest financial aid package that you've heard of at Tufts? </p>
<p>There are many reasons I want to go to Tufts, and only one that will stop me.</p>
<p>I've got a 33 (34 superscored) on the ACT and I will be a National Merit Finalist. I have a 4.33 GPA (4.0 unweighted). I am a Governor's School Scholar, a STARTALK Scholar, a Lott Institute Scholar, and I've been to Honduras twice on missions with my church youth group. I work with Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club, and a local soup kitchen. I am in National Honor Society, SADD, and Student Council (and I am an officer in all). I have been a cheerleader and gymnast (only level 4) for three years although I am quitting that my senior year to devote my time to my artistic side. Since I was seven, I've been involved off and on in our community theater. I've been a dancer for fifteen years and I've been involved in the community youth chorus for three years. </p>
<p>I want to work for an international non-profit humanitarian organization when I graduate, and obviously I won't need a huge debt load because I don't expect to make a lot of money. Still, everything I've heard about Tufts tells me that I'd fit in really well. One of my counselors at STARTALK told me I should just go to a state school and wait to apply to Tufts for graduate school. </p>
<p>KAlee94, I was in a similar situation. My EFC was about $28-30,000. I don’t know the biggest financial aid package, but it would completely depend on someone’s need. I got ~27,500/yr. from Tufts, which is as much or higher than other schools gave me. Definitely apply, because if you do end up getting enough aid you’ll be glad you did. Also, about the graduate school loan situation: if you attend a top grad school and are a qualified applicant, most times you’ll receive a fellowship or assistantship, which basically means the school pays your tuition and you agree to work as a teaching assistant or help a professor with research while attending grad school. I’ve heard that you should never pay to attend grad school. That being said, you will need to pay for living expenses and housing/apartment rent, so that could add up pretty quickly. I would search the financial aid and graduate school forums on CC and talk with your parents about some options.</p>
<p>If your EFC is 30K, they won’t give you more than 20 or so in need-based aid. The rest would have to be merit; not sure if Tufts has merit scholarships or not.</p>
<p>You don’t have “major financial need”; that would be someone with a much lower EFC. And, in that case, if you are accepted a school like Tufts will give a very good aid package. Your issue is that, on paper, your parents can afford to pay for a good portion of your education but do not wish to do so. A school won’t give you extra money just because your family does not want to pay. You will either have to find merit scholarships or go to a less expensive school.</p>
<p>Keylyme, once one meets basic needs, all other need is relative. Some may feel that they need diamonds, others that they need new cars, and others that they need designer clothes. Personally, having gone to a rural Mississippi public school, I feel like I have a major need for an education. I feel like I have mentally received basic nourishment, and like a hungry child, I yearn for more, but I have been reared with certain values. </p>
<p>My parents work hard for what they have. My dad works two jobs, and my mother works one and takes care of us. Financial aid calculators are ridiculous, much like the mortgage calculators. It seems like only the very poor or the very wealthy can go to the great schools without having to incur huge amounts of debt. I don’t wish my parents to go into debt for the rest of their lives just as much as they don’t wish the same for me, especially when I can get everything free at a state school, and I don’t feel that I am owed anything or entitled to anything more from my parents. I earn what extra I get, or I don’t get it. I also believe I have a good sense of economic reality as it relates to my future career and what I will be able to afford, and I would like to see something other than debt in my future. </p>
<p>With that said, I had been told that Tufts offers decent merit scholarships. Without merit aid, I will definitely attend state school. My point is, without receiving any attitude from people, should I waste the admissions officers’ time by applying when I know that I won’t go without a decent offer? Obviously, I know keylyme’s answer.</p>
<p>KALee94, I know some interviewees who have gotten surprisingly good aid from Tufts and some for whom their aid meant that they could not attend. I confess, this is not a topic that I know a lot about.</p>
<p>But if you’re in a category in which you will depend on merit aid, you might want to check out the “schools that give good merit aid,” which is marked as important at the top of the Parents’ Forum. State schools can be great options, but it’s not just state schools that offer good merit aid. Good luck–you sound like someone who will do well.</p>
<p>I am interested in a major in Chinese and International Political Economics with a minor in cognitive science. After looking at other colleges in the areas of international studies, chinese, cognitive/neuro science, presence of language dorms, membership in APSIA, study abroad programs, national resource centers for asian/east asian studies, and choirs, I have decided that I can receive an equally (or nearly equally) equivalent education at my own state school in the honors college as at other state schools, and the only other schools I’d rather go to more are Tufts and Georgetown.</p>
<p>Sorry, KALee, I did not intend to offend you. Tufts is in the neighborhood of 50K/year. If your family EFC is 30, then I don’t think 20 is considered “huge” financial aid and if you are a qualified applicant I am sure you would receive the money you need. However, what I am hearing is that your parents are not able to or do not wish to pay the 30K they might be expected to. Remember the calculators only provide an estimate of your EFC and every school interprets the data differenly. Because most private schools use the CSSProfile, you will be free to explain any special circumstances which might make it particularly difficult for your family to pay their expected contribution. Paying the expected amount is often difficult and does require sacrifices on the part of many families. Your parents are wise to not want to incur too much debt. As another poster stated, Tufts does not offer merit aid. Indeed many of the top LAC’s do not (because everyone would qualify). Still, there are some very good schools that do. I think you should look at some of those schools, but continue to look at Tufts and some of the NESCAC’s which are need-blind and meet 100% of demonstrated need. It might end up that the numbers work in your favor.</p>
<p>APPLY! I would not have been able to attend without generous aid from Tufts, and they came through in the area of 40k need based. So you never know. But if, as was mention above, it’s the fact that your parents choose not to pay, rather than cannot pay, then you may need to apply for independent scholarships, etc. All I know is that Tufts will come through if you need it.</p>