<p>Ok.....my parents made 106k this year, and 75k the last two years. There is no way this can be right. This is almost 4x our FAFSA estimate!
And the student contirbution? I don't even have a job!</p>
<p>I don't think this is much of a mistake, since it almost hasn't changed between my preliminary/estimated finaid package and this final figure.
I think we might be able to negotiate, but even if they halve it we won't get any aid. Has anybody had any luck negotiating?</p>
<p>All I can think is hello, University of Washington</p>
<p>I don't think Stanford follows the FAFSA very closely. Our estimate is about 10k more than our FAFSA EFC. So I wouldn't hold out much hope for negotiating... Sorry</p>
<p>Well we only have to pay the 47k for tuition/room/board, but they still give you how much they think you are able to pay, even if that's higher than tuition.</p>
<p>Something seems fishy here. First off, you don't have a job, and yet your expected contribution is 27K. Did your parents put on the fafsa/profile that you would have a job next year? Do you have a college savings account in your name? If not, this looks like a mistake to me. Second, your parents' contribution is pretty much their entire income after tax, which is clearly wrong unless they have other assets that Stanford is expecting them to tap into.</p>
<p>Normally, I would say that maybe there are other factors (like a savings account, like I mentioned) influencing the decision. But then you say it's four times the amount estimated by fafsa. That makes me think a mistake was made.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would first call and ask if a mistake has been made. If this is not the case, I don't think you have nothing to lose by trying to negotiate, if you're willing (and your parents are) to put the effort into it.</p>
<p>w t h? you cant contribute 27k if you dont earn anything. you have to call. financial aid being really stupid everywhere. and the whole leverage thing, thats wont do much. trust me i tried. i hate to talk about another school onthe stanford forum but i got into cornell and am considering going there but finanical aid came in the form of mostly loans which sucked. but JHU was much better and i told them the whole "well i want cornell more than anything but fin aid is stopping me blah blah blah..." and it didnt do anything.</p>
<p>i even faxed over my stataement from JHU to cornell to maybe persuade them to give a little more but...nope. nothing.</p>