<p>i got my stuff with the mail too. im paying about 6000</p>
<p>malan: i think you should give about 3 business days. if it still doesn’t come, give them a call.</p>
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<p>No, it does not. As someone who works with Financial Aid very carefully on campus, let me try and make this as clear as possible:</p>
<p>Cornell (or any other institution for that matter that makes this promise) will tell you that if your combined parental income is less than $60,000 a year, your PARENTAL CONTRIBUTION will be $0, NOT that you will be getting a full, free ride. This means that they find it feasible that without taking out a loan, you should be able to pay whatever costs are incurred. </p>
<p>Further, this is the next topic to examine: what is the minimum amount any student can pay, completely regardless and independent of their parents’ financial situation. To Cornell, they believe that any student should be able to make $2,350/year while NOT at school. This takes into account have a minimum wage job working part time during the summer and winter breaks. They also assume that all students, if granted Federal Work Study, should be able to make a minimum of $1,800/year working on campus while at school and still maintaining the levels of academic excellence required to attend a university. </p>
<p>Basically, the CHEAPEST you could be paying is the $2,350 + $1,800. This will be the case at almost ANY school. That initial number could change (expected student contribution varies by school, and Cornell’s is pretty much the average, with very little deviation for other schools), but Federal Work Study is, like the name implies, a federally calculated number. </p>
<p>If you wish, there are many ways to lessen this cost. The cost has in it the assumption you will have a double room and a standard meal plan; if you wish you can opt to have either a smaller meal plan, or request a triple (which is cheaper than a double). </p>
<p>Hope this helped anyone who had questions.</p>
<p>The cost of attendance for Fall 2009 included $2280 for books and personal expenses. So I’m only actually paying the bursar (for tuition, room, and board) the $1800 from a part time FWS job on campus (Roneald, are we expected to pay that $1800 at the end of the semester, end of the year, or upfront? Like, I’m not going to have to come up with $1800 now to “make back” over the course of the year, am I?) plus about $70, assuming the cost of attendance doesn’t change. That’s pretty nice (even if it’s not technically a “full ride” in that it doesn’t pay for books) and it’s cheaper than any other school I could have gone to, I just want to make sure that’s what I’m actually getting. Let’s hope the letter comes on Monday.</p>
<p>You’re actually expected to come up with that $1,800 upfront, and then whatever you make over the course of the year goes directly to your pocket. </p>
<p>You don’t actually NEED all of that in a bursar payment per say; the estimated cost of attendance includes things such as books, travel expenses, clothes, normal spending fees, etc. </p>
<p>I had the same financial aid package as the one we are discussing, and even though I got a single (which is more expensive than a double), I only ended up paying around $900 to the bursar at the beginning of the semester. Most the rest of the expenses came in the form of books I had to buy ($340 for me), winter clothes (boots, scarves, and jackets can be expensive for a Californian who owned mostly flip flops and t-shirts; roughly $600 here, mostly on one North Face Jacket and one pair of snow boats), and air fare (going back and forth from Cornell to home over winter break itself is costing me over $250). In the end you can easily see how all of these expenses total up to roughly $2,000 a year, which is about what they expected me to pay ($2350 + $1800 = $4,150/year = $2,075/semester). </p>
<p>If needed, you can sign up for a payment plan, which splits the payments you have to make onto a monthly interval. I didn’t need it because I personally had a lot of savings and (so far) have been able to cover my costs without my parents, but I know many, many people who use this plan and find it very comfortable. Once you get your info packet from Cornell, you’ll be given a direct link to these options.</p>