<p>Hello I am a junior from Canada and I read from Cornell website that they give same opportunities for US, Canada and Mexico citizens to apply for the financial aid program.<br>
I am really unfamiliar with this "Need-based" does this mean that by applying for the financial aid that will hurt my chances? although I am a Canadian?</p>
<p>“need-based” means they award financial aid based off of financial need. they do not award merit aid (based off academics)</p>
<p>They are need blind, which means FA and admissions are totally separate. The AdComs will not have any idea how much your family makes (other than what you make apparent in your applications essays) and will not take any socioeconomic status against you. It actually seems to help if you can paint yourself as a poor kid who dealt with a lot of adversity.</p>
<p>As far as getting aid once you’re admitted, they basically look at your income for the prior year, assets, etc., and determine how much they think you can pay, and then they give you grants/loans/work study (idk if that applies for internationals though, since it’s a federal program) to cover the difference. Seems like they give out mostly grants though, as they have loan caps depending on your income range.</p>
<p>need based means they give you money based on how much money you make/have, not how smart or whatever you are</p>
<p>Whether you apply for FA or not does have some impact on admission. It’s never need blind. There is no school that could afford to admit 100% FA students. In today’s economic environment, every school is going favor full paying students. If you will be eligible for only a few thousand $$ FA, you need to carefully consider if you really want to apply for FA. At the same time, if you couldn’t afford a school without FA then you would have no choice but to apply. There is no point in trying to game the system by not applying for FA the first year then try to apply later on. Most schools will not give you FA later if your family financial situation remains unchanged.</p>
<p>OldFort, from the website “Cornell University makes admissions decisions without regard to the ability of students or parents to pay educational costs.” In addition, they will adjust aid if your financial situation changes. Cornell isn’t most schools. It’s a big name, with a big budget, and they’re really quite good about financial aid.
I don’t think I would have gotten in if they had looked at my finances when weighing the decision. </p>
<p>Best of luck, Brandon!</p>
<p>You are rather naive if you believe everything you read on each school’s web site. Cornell is no better or worse than any school. It is facing financial challenges right now. It is still making a very good effort in offering financial aid, but it needs to be a lot more cautious. Full pay students have an advantage over FA students now. Every school will make adjustment if your financial situation changes, but they will not give you aid if you did not apply as a freshman AND if your financial situation did not change.</p>
<p>hey thank you! well… in my situation… my parents are wllling to contrbute around 30,000 but no more… so would this help more ??? than just applying for full financial aid?? and also, are there different kinds of financial aid?? i am really confused =( help me!! i am applying fr ED…</p>
<p>When you apply for financial aid, you supply all of your parents’ financial information, based on that a school would determine how much aid you would need. Your aid would include grant, work study, or loan. I assume when you say 30,000, it is 30,000/year? If Cornell determines your EFC(Expected Family Contribution) is 30,000/yr, then they would give you 20,000 in FA, and you would be covered 100%. On the other hand, if Cornell determines your EFC is 40,000/yr, then you’ll only get 10,000 FA, and you would have 10,000/year short fall. At that point you would decide if you want to take out a private student loan to cover that.</p>
<p>What you should do is to fill out FAFSA to determine what’s your family’s EFC. If your family’s EFC is over 50,000/year, then you wouldn’t be eligible for any FA. Since your parents are only willing to pay 30000/year, then you need to decide if you are willing to take out 20,000/year student loans, or you would be better off going to a cheaper school or a school that offers merit aid. Cornell, and many top tier schools, do not offer merit aid, they are all need based. Rule of thumb is if you need FA, it is better not to apply ED. Not that Cornell would necessary short change you, but it takes away your ability to do comparison shopping.</p>
<p>Cornell enlarged its freshman class by about 100 students this year just to assist in balancing the budget deficit. You can be assured that these additional admits were full pays or close to it. A significant amount of demographic information can be inferred from just a zip code, type of high school (public or private), parental education level, etc…</p>