miserable aid anyone? (Cornell)

<p>After visiting and looking over pros and cons, I was set on going to Cornell for transfer, that was in assumption that I would get some cents out of Cornell..a few thousands in grants would have been better than nothing. However, I got my aid back recently (yeah i'm kind of late, they gave me a 2 weeks extension on my declaration date) I saw that i got NOTHING..just work study and loans for what ever was left that I needed to pay (5k). I am beyond mad..even 5k they can't cover with their own pockets!</p>

<p>How is everyone's financial package from Cornell? I'm DEFINITELY planning to go to med school, and my situation in my current college (CUNY Honors College - free tuition, free dorms, study abroad/education stipend, ibook laptop, smaller community) is not that bad. I'm so disappointed at Cornell..and I don't know if it's worth to go there anymore. It's just the ethnics of paying FULL (loans are nothing) for college that's disturbing. What do you guys think? :[</p>

<p>buddy....ur goin from CUNY to an ivy league</p>

<p>ru on drugs</p>

<p>i dont care if cornell is giving u nothing, u would be a fool to not go</p>

<p>Cornell costs more than 5K. Where is the other whatever coming from?</p>

<p>bball87, that's kind of hasty. If he's going to med school eventually, then where he went for undergrad is going to matter a lot less. Also, med school will be expensive enough and there's no sense racking up a huge amount of debt before even getting there (although deliciouswaffles, could you clarify your financial aid situation?). I'm not really familiar with med school admissions and how much prestige of the undergrad school is considered (as opposed to GPA, MCAT, all the virtually-required ECs, etc.), so I can't give you an informed opinion there, but it definitely doesn't seem totally clear-cut.</p>

<p>well basically the family contribution is 25k...so the 5k that I would have left in need, according to cornell, will be given to me in 2k in study work and 3k in federal loans. My parents can afford the 30k..but heck when private universities SAY you CAN afford this, so you have to pay that much..that means you gotta take out mortgages on your house or something to still keep the lifestyle (which might not be close to luxurious at all) you have. To pay close to 100k for 3 years...plus medical school fees, it will honestly put my parents into struggle. The situation now is that is will Cornell for UNDERGRAD, not saying graduate, be worth the struggle for a pre-med transfer student?</p>

<p>CUNY is CUNY, CUNY Honors College is CUNY Honors College. Just to give you a glimpse, yes it is immersed in the CUNY system so you'll be exposed to a generally unmotivated/not stimulating student body and not great facilities, but it's a separate college. You take a good amount of your classes with the Honors students. Is it like CUNY? no..not if my class's average SAT was close to 1400 and 94 average..the Intel science research winner rejected all ivys to go to CUNY Honors College for my year. But..Cornell is Cornell.</p>

<p>bball doesn't know what he's talking about.. probably cuz his parents pay for all of his tuition or most.</p>

<p>as for me, my efc is around 16k and of course my parents won't be able to contribute anything. i got zero aid (except for loans and work study, which i don't think counts) from every single school i got accepted into and i will most likely have to settle for my public state school, and i'll still end up with over 60k in loans when i graduate (this being my CHEAPEST option)</p>

<p>so yeah, it's up to you if you think a cornell degree will be worth it. i would definitely love to go there and you will carry the cornell name for the rest of your life, so it's your decision. </p>

<p><a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=elitecollege%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=elitecollege&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>this is an interesting article explaining if attending an elite college will really pay off. they're saying that they really don't, it's just that the people who get accepted into these colleges are more likely to succeed later in life. and of course you got into cornell, and i'm quite sure you will succeed even if you graduate from a cuny. good luck!</p>

<p>I will pay no matter what. Sad to say, I agree with bball, especially if you CAN afford it, and you're just *****ing about the 5k for fun.</p>

<p>I would talk it over with your parents some more. How unhappy are you at CUNY Hunter? Is your only reason for transferring to go to a better school with more prestige, or are there things that you really don't like about CUNY Hunter?</p>

<p>Personally, if you're happy at CUNY Hunter, and you have medical school to think about... I'm not sure if I would transfer. But if there are other issues, then by all means go for it. Your parents CAN afford it, and if you apply for medical school saying you will be paying for it yourself, you will probably get some aid - and most people graduate from graduate/medical school with debt. And 3 thousand a year in loans isn't much, it's about what I'm doing now that i'm transferring. (I received free tuition at my former school; now i will be paying several thousand a year myself, doing work study, and taking out about 3-4 thousand in loans a year, minimum).</p>

<p>w.e., u can totally disregard my hastiness, but the reality of my comment is true. Try getting a job one day with a degree from cuny as compared to one from cornell, and you will notice a huge Difference. I am transfering out of Cornell, so i am not biased when I am telling you to go. I know that many ppl, if not all, are very impressed with a cornell degree.</p>

<p>wait a minute.. sorry about that bball, i didn't read it carefully.</p>

<p>anyways, STOP CRYING ABOUT 5K! WOW. i didn't know your parents were paying 25k and you're crying about 5? omg -_- just go to cornell. if you don't, they might as well let me go there instead of you.</p>

<p>sorry, but what a worthless thread. if your parents can pay 25, and they didn't give you a grant for 5, that is not considered 'miserable aid'. wow, what a waste of time -_-</p>

<p>i ain't ****ing the 5k for fun, I'm concerned about my parents contributing the 21k themselves every year. They'll be in a struggle to pay that amount for 3 years and I don't know if its worth it. There's still my younger sister in the future, so I'm not the only child they'll be worried about.</p>

<p>Nobody's crying over 5k, perhaps keeping your opinion about whether any thread is useless or not would be more appropriate for any case. A thread is a thread, where anyone who is posting has the intention of doing so to seek more openings to other opinions. AND no thread is useless unless it is not dealing with anything related to the site, because anyone who posts it creates it with an appropriate reason on mind. Quite frankly, it isn't right to bash it down in that manner. </p>

<p>thank you for all the rest of your opinions, it's much appreciated</p>

<p>Can We Say Entitlement Mentality.....</p>

<p>wow.... just wow</p>

<p>
[quote]
as for me, my efc is around 16k and of course my parents won't be able to contribute anything. i got zero aid (except for loans and work study, which i don't think counts) from every single school i got accepted into and i will most likely have to settle for my public state school, and i'll still end up with over 60k in loans when i graduate (this being my CHEAPEST option)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It this the FAFSA EFC that you are talking about? Why didn't Cornell mach your COST-EFC? Don't they promise they would?</p>

<p>My EFC was like 8K but Stanford said that it should be 3K and took care of the rest. I wanted to compare all my fin aid offers, but I didn't get my Cornell financial aid letter, since they wanted me to send some crazy things that would have required at least 2 weeks for me to acquire. I am convinced however, that it would have been sucky. There is no way that they would have given me over 35K in grants.</p>

<p>P.S. Don't worry too much about the loans. I have accumulated like 25K in two years and I don't care. I have a friend who graduated from a real TTT with 45K debt and he says he is happy that he had the chance to graduate and that the payments are bearable.</p>

<p>are you sure that the promise to match up the EFC applies to transfers as well? My EFC turned out to be 15k but my family contribution was way more than that..</p>

<p>deliciosuwaffles, I wish you luck with your future financial situations; however, in my opinion, Cornell gave you a great deal. Other comparative colleges could be more ridiculously stingy. I say take the offer.</p>

<p>At least you have an expected family contribution. My family's contribution? Lots of love, and I love them too :)</p>

<p>Loans can be nasty deals, especially when finances go wrong. I was 8 before my parents paid theirs off, and they had been graduated for 10 years when they had me.</p>

<p>I kinda expected that Cornell would stiff people and that's why I didn't even rejoice that much when I got in. When I withdrew last week I mentioned the great financial aid packages from other colleges. An Ivy League school not matching everything up to the EFC is messed up. Brown and Cornell should get the talk. Boo.</p>

<p>I think some people tend to equate financial aid with grants. They are NOT the same. Cornell did match 100% of your financial needs. 5000 in loans/WS is almost nothing and considering you're going from a CUNY to Cornell, it is MORE than worth it. You will have more research opportunities and a better scientific education at Cornell.</p>