<p>My child will be applying to Ivy League schools next year and should be accepted at most He has the grades, the scores, and the "other" credentials that these schools seek. In addition, he is African American. My wife and I currently make around 250,000, but such income level was only attained 5 months ago. For the prior 7 years, there were bouts of unemployment where we had to empty all our savings accounts, deplete our retirement accounts and even declare bankruptcy. What is the likelihood of financial assistance from Princeton?</p>
<p>With $250K income, even with minimal assets, you’re probably looking at little or no FA.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Congrats on the turnaround though!</p>
<p>So, after doing a financial review of the parents, regardless of income, if the school’s Financial Aid group sees: no equity in home, monthly mortgage higher than value of home, no savings, no retirement to draw from, no other outside income they will not consider these elements? How does any family overcome this situation? The economic playing field has changed for so many people. Does a parent have to lose a job or become independently wealthy to get a deserving child into the Ivies? What are the options for the ’ new challenged middle-class.’ I would be a shame if salary is all the Ivies look at to determine ability to pay.</p>
<p>You make 250 grand a year.</p>
<p>Nuff said.</p>
<p>But seriously, they will take that into account, so maybe if you made 200 000 you would get 10k or so (whereas you would normally get nothing) but 250 grand man…</p>
<p>Seems like a lot of money, and we feel silly putting this post up. However, in the North East this is not a ton of money. Additionally, when you have recently started from rock-bottom and have lost everything you have worked to attain and were weeks away from being homeless, it puts our situation in perspective. We are building back our lives and have no credit and nothing to speak of except great kids, and a house that is upside down becasue we had to use it to survive. We are luckier than most and have a lot to be thankful for. However, we still live on the edge becsaue if one check is missed we would have to scramble the same way that someone making a lot less would scramble. There are no fancy cars, boats or expensive trappings in our lives. If we had 5 years to save on our current salaries we would have no business posting on this forum, however, our reality is that we are like so many other middle to upper middle class people caught up in a bad economy. Now that we have been given a second chance we want to make sure our kids get the opportunities that their hard work merits.</p>
<p>I understand your position, I have just given my opinion and explanation as to why you will not get any/much finaid.</p>
<p>You make too much money per year to be considered for financial aid, IMO. All IMO… Just apply and see. </p>
<p>Perhaps a better idea is to go to the Princeton (not one for Yale, but Princeton will be similar) website and use their financial aid calculator. See what comes up.</p>
<p>You make a lot of money, sir. Why not pay 22-25% of your income to ensure that your son gets the best education this planet has to offer? Not to mention the doors Princeton and its peers would open for him. If anything, it’s a wonderful investment.</p>
<p>I posted on another thread, but he is likely to get an AWFUL lot of merit money at a few VERY good schools! I think your son is in VERY good shape.</p>
<p>Also be aware that this board does not take kindly to folks making more than 100k “complaining” about money!</p>
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<p>You ARE joking, right? I live in the northeast and somehow we managed to be almost full pays at our kids expensive private universities on HALF of your salary.</p>
<p>With a $250K annual income, you will not qualify for need based aid. </p>
<p>And I’ve posted this on a couple of your other threads as well.</p>
<p>Kudos to you. However, stay away for the judging though it is far from helpful when trying to seek serious advice. Each person’s financial stress, debt and circumstance is different. if you factor in medical debt, etc into a person gross income you will see that a seemingly large salary is not much after paying these types of bills. Ask anyone who has had to struggle with big doctors’ bills out of network.</p>
<p>Let’s see, if I had $50,000 to give out in financial aid, would I give it to the family who “have recently started from rock-bottom and have lost everything you have worked to attain and were weeks away from being homeless,… are building back our lives and have no credit and nothing to speak of except great kids, and a house that is upside down becasue we had to use it to survive… luckier than most and have a lot to be thankful for. … still live on the edge becsaue if one check is missed we would have to scramble the same way that someone making a lot less would scramble” and makes 250k a year,</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>the family who has all of these problems and STILL has these problems because they DON’T make 250k a year?</p>
<p>Sounds to me like you got one hell of a lucky break to get back on your feet. Stop trying to milk the system for every last penny and understand how lucky you are.</p>
<p>NEWEST NEWB, I’m not sure why your responses are so vitriolic. You don’t know me or my values. You sit behind your cloak of anonymity and spew anger in the midst of legitimate discussions on a Poster’s child’s future and his concern regarding how to get there. Milking the system is far from what we are trying to do. We are looking at options for getting a bright hard working child into the best school he can get into. If you have nothing constructive to add to the conversation beyond your pseudo moral-finger pointing, please refrain from responding. We are looking for merit-based programs. If you know of no such program in the Ivies, then please move on to another thread.</p>
<p>hammerman - What do you expect?</p>
<p>I could give you a big sympathy statement followed by a lie about how Princeton will treat you differently because you live in the expensive northeast and because they will feel bad about your past financial and medical problems, and that as a super well qualified AA, your son will get into every Ivy and they will all compete for him by showering him with generous “outside the regular formula” aid offers.</p>
<p>But I live in the real world.</p>
<p>No one ont this thread can respond properly, because they don’t have a child like yours and they have never been through a heavy recruitment process.</p>
<p>My oldest son was an Ivy grad in the 90s and was mostly covered by FA. He was in crew and what sealed the deal was that he participated in and won a few international competitions before the Olympic games and was highly recruited by the Ivies because of it. if your son is as good as you say, then high profile domestic and international competition could help seal it for him also. The Ivies will do just about anything for kids who can shine their light outside of the US for these schools. It’s free marketing. </p>
<p>Speak with the coaches and FA people. Research minority kids who are on the roster and use Facebook or whatever to reach out to them. These things are not black and white. Not all kids are equal and this is why rich legacy Ivy parents with not very bright kids get into these great schools and why poor brilliant kids get in and is why kids with special financial cirumstances who have special gifts and can shine for the schools are also given access.</p>
<p>Like all transactions, college is about what can you do for me, on both sides of the table. No one on this thread can answer your questions. No one has a brilliant kid who is a star at his sport at his level. You have to take it directly to the schools and make your case about what he brings to the table beyond great academics. Something tells me, that they probably already know and will do what it takes to get a child like yours in. Best of luck to you. </p>
<p>By the way, we were in a similar situation and had the ability to pay in the 90s but the schools were fighting over our son. So, he went to an Ivy school for almost nothing, he is now a practicing doctor and one of the largest contributors to his college. paying back can come in many forms, and these schools know it.</p>
<p>I had to jump in on this post as my youngest child is also a junior and is a top US swimmer and my son shared this post with me. Again, we find ourselves with a heavily recruited child by the Ivies. We are older parents now and are smarter about the process. The worst thing you can do is listen to these posters and think their words are gospel. If that was the case then there would be no diversity of any kind at these schools. You would have the rich, the poor and they all would be brilliant. Get in touch with the schools he wants to go to and plead your case, it works.</p>
<p>I’m sure he’s just looking for answers.</p>
<p>You could always contemplate the same trade off many of us have to … Ivies with NO merit or athletic scholarships … or Non-Ivies who will generously give both. With $250K a year, I can’t see how you can expect to have it any other fair way.</p>
<p>@CrewMommaNPoppa: Athletes are not given preferential treatment by the financial aid office.</p>
<p>@CrewMommaNPoppa: Athletes are not given preferential treatment by the financial aid office. </p>
<p>You are partially right, not all athletes, but you need to understand the real process, not the one they feed you in their brochures and online. No Ivy league school is going to pass up a 6’2" part Hispanic-Native American world ranked athlete with top scores, Westinghouse prize honoree who started a foundation that raised 10s of thousdands of dollars for needy kids. They will never call these grants athletic scholarships. However, since he had similar credentials as a lot of the kids going into his Freshman class and the only differentiating factor was his stellar athletic gifts and top world ranking, then what would you call the grant? </p>
<p>There are so many examples of preferential treatment that the whole admissions process is compromised and impure across the board. In our current economy, the ability to pay gets you extra points and preferntial treatment at most schools. There have been numerous reports of schools (Ivies as well) with dwindling endowments diluting their acceptance pools to get monied parents kids in. These institutions are business and the yield to the same pressures as any business. Let’s get real. If a school wants you badly enough and you meet all other criteria, they will find a way to get you in.</p>
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<p>ummm… Need-based aid? You need to understand that they will not offer a penny more than the amount they deem necessary for the student to be able to attend. You also need to understand that a student admitted with a 1900 SAT and a 3.5 GPA will not be at any disadvantage to a Hispanic-Native American version of Michael Phelps with a 2400 SAT and 6.5 weighted GPA, regarding financial aid. It doesn’t work that way. If they really want the latter to attend Princeton, they will do whatever they can to ATTRACT said student to Princeton; they will not, however, offer him more money than he needs.</p>
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<p>You seem to have a short attention-span. I never said anything about preferential treatment in admissions. But I’ll indulge you anyway. Any school that claims to be need-blind will not put full-pay students at an advantage. Going by your flawed logic, these schools attract poor students only to accept the rich folk whom they made no effort to attract? Why not just flat-out tell the rich kids that they’re at an advantage? The preferential treatment in admissions only happens in developmental cases, whereby a supremely rich student is admitted because his/her parents have contributed enough to the school that it would be an insult not to offer something in return.</p>
<p>Please, think before you type.</p>