<p>From what I understand, Tulane itself offers need-based aid from the school in addition to federal need-based aid? How exactly does this work? Basically even with the very generous scholarship I've received, attending Tulane is going to come down to money for me so I'm curious as to how much I might be able to expect in need-based aid. What's different about how Tulane decides need-based aid via the CSS vs. how the government decides need-based aid via the FAFSA?</p>
<p>I can’t answer the last part of your question, but yes, Tulane sometimes offers grants within their need based packages in addition to loans. These grants, as you might expect from the name, do not need to be paid back. On the other hand, they are year-to-year, unlike the merit scholarships that are guaranteed for 4 years. That said, unless your family’s financial circumstances change for the better, you will usually get a similar package every year. It does depend on academic performance. I have seen them increase the grant amount, therefore reducing the loan amount, for students that perform extremely well. I have also seen it go the other way with students that are barely hanging on academically.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any way to know or predict what the final package will look like. You just have to submit all the paperwork and wait to see the FA package in March.</p>
<p>So it is quite possible that on top of a good sized amount of merit aid, you can also get a need-based grant as well? How common is it to recieve these need based grants?</p>
<p>I really don’t know. It is all tied up in so many personal circumstances, as well as what Tulane is able to offer.</p>
<p>Let me be clear about one thing: The merit scholarship already received is considered an asset and therefore adds to the Expected Financial Contribution (EFC). So let’s say that without any scholarship your family would be expected to pay $15,000 a year towards college. If the scholarship is for $30,000 that is the same as saying your family’s EFC is now $45,000, leaving about $20,000 to be financed some other way. Of course you could look at it as the scholarship being a $30K discount on tuition, making the total cost of attending $35K instead of $65K (I am rounding to the nearest 0 or 5 for convenience). You still have an EFC of $15K, still leaving $20K to be paid for through grants, loans, and/or work-study. How Tulane decides who gets grants and how much I have zero insight into.</p>
<p>My son is class of 2018. He received a 24,000 merit based award. He is my second full time undergrad, my daughter attends a Northeastern private school. My husband lost his job in 2013 and due to some exceptional personal issues I don’t want to explain, has been unemployed since. I have decent income but it is still just me for now supporting 4 of us. I have spoken to our financial aid counselor at length and we took very minor loans. although my daughters school found us qualified for need based aid, Tulane did not. We got a $1000 grant from the school thats it. He is there and he loves it, and he couldn’t be there without his merit award. But I found them to be very tough. my daughter, with the same fafsa and Css profile gets 10,000 a year in need based aid. Her school increased it now that we have two in school. </p>
<p>Very sorry about the employment situation. I know how rough that is. Just one question if you don’t mind, for clarification.</p>
<p>I am assuming the “sticker price” cost of attending the NE private school is similar to the same cost for Tulane. So if I understand correctly, are you saying that the total aid, need and merit based, for your daughter at this school is $10K, or that it was $10K and now is more? If the latter, how much more? I guess that is potentially two questions.</p>
<p>Thanks @fallenchemist it has been very difficult. She received a 10,000 merit award and 5000 in need based aid her first two years. Her school doubled her need based aid based on my husbands job situation and the fact that my son was going to be a freshman so I have two in school. Her financial aid counselor told that that for their determination of need based aid, more than one child in school weighs very heavily. More than the fact that my husband isn’t working because they too felt my income was enough. I didn’t mention her merit aid because I was comparing her need based award to his at Tulane. But I don’t mind sharing the info at all If there is anyone out there hoping to get a large sum of need based aid from Tulane I don’t want them to get their hopes up. I really thought we would’ve received more. But all and all, since he did well with his Merit award I am very satisfied with my bill. They took a good risk on him, he has a 3.8 for Fall 2014 I could not be prouder Good Luck to all in the class of 2019!!</p>
<p>Understood. I just want to point out for everyone that schools look at the totality of aid being received relative to income, not really differentiating need based and merit based aid in that regard. It makes a difference to the family, obviously, since merit aid never has to be paid back and need based packages usually contain loans. Another way to state all that is that schools determine EFC (Expected Financial Contribution), the amount they think a family can afford to pay based on income. It just happens to turn out in your case that Tulane gave you more in merit aid than your EFC would have dictated in any need based calculation. That is why there was no adjustment in the FA package. Your D’s school actually came to the same conclusion, since they did not raise their package to a level that brought the cost of attending her school below that of your son attending Tulane, if my assumption of their sticker prices being equal is correct.</p>
<p>So Tulane is still providing more financial aid to your family than the other school, in actuality. Not a lot more when we are talking these kinds of numbers, but still it is $4,000/year more. Well, actually $5,000 since they did come up with another $1,000 as a grant. But I don’t think it is quite fair to say
based on your particular situation, which one school said didn’t require a package beyond $20,000 and Tulane went to $25,000, whatever the components of that package. I am not trying to be argumentative, I am just not in agreement with that particular statement. I just don’t think it is fair to criticize Tulane for not increasing the package more when it was so much larger to start with and is still larger than the other school’s package.</p>
<p>Great first semester for him, and so glad he is happy at Tulane. There is nothing like getting off to a great start. That puts him in magna cum laude territory, if he keeps it going. That’s very strong.</p>
I have found Tulane to be pretty good with grant money, on top of merit aid. Remember that for incomes under $75,000, there are no loans after EFC, which is quite generous for middle class families. Although our income is over that cutoff, between my Tulane 2018 son’s $25,000 scholarship and grant money on top of that, the debt load is manageable, particularly because there is currently another sibling in college (that will end in spring of 2015). I just wish they were as generous as his sister’s school, Vanderbilt, which offers no loans after EFC, regardless of family income. My daughter will graduate with half the debt load of many of her friends who attended State universities,and we are all incredibly grateful for that. Another thing I found with my oldest son at Tulane (2011 BA), was that his departmental grants and scholarships increased as he successfully continued on. In other words, if you succeed, you will be rewarded with more opportunities. I also have no complaints about Tulane, given my youngest son’s success his first semester, with a 3.89 GPA and a social life he loves.
Believe me, so do I @Moonmaid. Because that would mean that Tulane’s endowment was about as large as Vandy’s. Compared to all universities nationally Tulane’s endowment is very large at just over $1 billion, but compared to the schools it often competes against for students, like WUSTL, Vandy, Duke, USC, etc. its endowment is smaller, even significantly so. There are any number of reasons for this, which would be another thread perhaps. But it is something the new President, Mike Fitts, seems to be homing in on. In fact, in his statements about it, he specifically mentions the ability to have aid programs such as what you mention if Tulane could increase the endowment significantly. Given the smaller endowment compared to these schools, Tulane definitely is very generous with aid.
Don’t know any billionaires wondering where to donate that kind of money, do you?
I don’t post much but I wanted to chime in. I also have an older child that went to Vanderbilt. It’s hard to compare financial aid at Vanderbilt to financial aid at Tulane. Vanderbilt meets 100% of demonstrated need, they are open with parents and students about the EFC calculation, and all need is met with grants. For my older child, this meant graduating debt free. I have a freshman at Tulane that will have $7,000 debt after freshman year. Tulane considers the EFC calculation proprietary information and does not share it with parents or students, so it is difficult to understand the calculation or the financial aid award. Perhaps I feel this was because my first experience with financial aid was with Vanderbilt and I was not prepared for how differently financial aid can be calculated between two schools. That said, my child is very happy at Tulane, but I still wonder if graduating with all this debt will really be worth it.
Appreciate the post @vandygirl16. It is tough to compete with the schools like Vandy, as I mentioned above. Still, it is important to point out that Tulane on the whole is more generous than most schools, when one looks at the whole landscape of colleges.
But to get to your last point: JMHO of course, but I have always (6+ years now) maintained that if a person can graduate with debt of $30K or less, that is acceptable. Now “acceptable” is just my judgement, obviously others can differ. I don’t mean differ as to whether the number is $5,000 less or more, that is quibbling when we are talking college type numbers. But to me, once we start talking $50K+, that is way too much. I think taking on a manageable debt payment in exchange for the experience of a school like Tulane (or Vandy or Miami or Duke or WUSTL, etc.) instead of Big State U can be a good trade off for many students. For others, they would be equally happy at a large school of average academics, and so the debt is rather silly to take on, even if it is in the smaller range.
But when I hear about these students that took on $75,000 or $100,000 or even $150,000+ to attend NYU and other schools that are terrible with FA, I just can’t understand it at all. They are crushed before they even get started.
If there is anyone out there hoping to get a large sum of need based aid from Tulane I don’t want them to get their hopes up. I really thought we would’ve received more. But all and all, since he did well with his Merit award I am very satisfied with my bill. They took a good risk on him, he has a 3.8 for Fall 2014 I could not be prouder 
Good Luck to all in the class of 2019!!</p>