<p>I am trying to not apply to a bazilion universities. So, I just wanted to know on average which of the following universities usually give a good financial aid package to upper middle class students:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt
Emory
Cornell
WashU
Rice</p>
<p>I know their average aid given amount is always much higher than what a middle class person would ever get. Also, is the aid higher as the endowment of the school is higher or is this just a general trend.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>HYPS are the only schools that give generously to the upper middle class, depending of course on how you define it. At $100K income with average assets, you’ll probably get something. Go much past there and it gets dicey.</p>
<p>Schools have different priorities, so endowment does not directly correlate with package.</p>
<p>Remember, colleges expect families to fund college through savings and borrowing as well as income and assets.</p>
<p>titanium, are you confusing financial aid with merit aid? Vanderbilt, Emory, Wash U and Rice have a variety of merit aid awards for top candidates that are independent of financial need. In that sense, they are better than some for offering money to (some) upper middle class students.</p>
<p>For those who are eligible for need-based financial aid, of those schools you list, Vanderbilt has gone ‘no loan’.</p>
<p>yes, I know all these schools offer various merit based scholarships and aid. Yet, these are always just a few people. I will try my luck at it but I just wanted to know more about how much they give out for need based aid.</p>
<p>Thanks for the coming responses</p>
<p>Much depends on how you define middle class (since some on this board consider $250k middle class & others not so much). However, I can tell you from personal experience that Vandy’s need based aid is excellent. Obviously, the next person may not have the same experience. And I never expected to pay nothing, so the amount I pay may not be “good” to someone who doesn’t want to pay what I consider to be my fair share. So much depends on the little details of the parents’ finances, the family, etc. In addition, it is possible that a school like Vandy may take other factors into consideration (such as strength of applicant, geographic area, etc). I am not saying that they DO take such factors into consideration … just that they “might.” Profile schools are harder to figure out that straight FAFSA schools. Bottom line … for us … is that Vandy has good need based aid. I have heard the same about the other schools on your list.</p>
<p>Rice gives good needbased aid. We make over 100K and receive about $20,000 a year in F.A. from Rice. YMMV. Rice has a student loan cap of $10,000 (total for the whole 4 years) for all students receiving FA. For students whose parents earn less than $80,000 a year, there is no loan component at all. They also offer lots of merit aid.</p>
<p>Our income was over $100K & Vanderbilt gave my daugter a package of $32K without loans. Of course we were still $20K short for full ride so UF it was…</p>
<p>It seems that people around the 100k to 140k range seem to be stuck with around a 20k sticker price for most of these universities. That would probably be a stretch for me. Do appeals usually make a huge difference?</p>
<p>Usually appeals will only make a difference if there’s something major that wasn’t reported at the time you submitted FA forms (medical, loss of a job, etc.) or if you have a peer school with a better FA offer, which some schools will match.</p>
<p>Also, don’t forget assets. While income is the first thing they consider, if you have larger than what they consider ‘normal’ assets, that will cut into the FA that you are offered.</p>
<p>what do you mean by normal assets? sorry im kind of new to the financial aid stuff.</p>
<p>Yes, someone who earns $140k/year with one child in college would probably be expected to pay $20k/year at these schools (at least). It is possible that one might not have to pay quite that much … no guarantees, though. You need to have financial safeties on your list for this very reason.</p>
<p>What is considered typical assets varies by school. Here is Stanford:</p>
<p>[FAQ</a> : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/index.html#faq_1]FAQ”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/index.html#faq_1)</p>
<p>"1. What do you mean by “typical assets”?</p>
<p>For applicants who report total annual parent income up to $100,000, we generally consider typical assets to be an adjusted total net worth of less than $250,000. Adjusted total net worth usually reflects the sum of the following amounts:</p>
<pre><code>* Cash, savings, checking
<p>We do not include formal retirement assets (401k, 403b, IRA, Keogh) in our analysis. The Financial Aid Office reserves the right to make the final determination of the expected family contribution, in consideration of all factors affecting a familys overall financial situation and ability to pay."</p>
<p>Schools will vary in what they count and if they cap things like home equity. This type of information is not that easy to find for many schools, thus making it much harder to determine how much FA Profile schools will give.</p>