My daughter was accepted to Stanford during the early admissions round last week. The estimated financial aid award was very generous in comparison to the full-pay cost and we are very happy for her. Stanford is her top choice.
However, she is also planning to apply to a few Ivy league schools that are closer to home. The reason I mention this is because the Net Price Calculators for these other schools return a net price/parent contribution of approximately 25% less per year than we would pay with the estimated award we received from Stanford.
We realize there is a very small probability of her also gaining acceptance to one of the Ivy league schools she is considering. So, my question is understandably a bit presumptuous. But if she does, and the Net Price Calculators are accurate, then finances will likely be a consideration.
Any other Stanford parents encounter a similar issue in which an assumed “peer institution” (if there is such a thing) offered a significantly better financial aid package?
I noted the QA below from Stanford’s financial aid website.
Will Stanford match another university’s award if I receive a significantly better award from another school?
Stanford does not match merit-based awards from other universities. However, if you receive a need-based award significantly better than Stanford’s, the other university may have new information about your circumstances. In this case, you may consider submitting a Request for Revision to our office.
Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance! My son got into Harvard, Yale (early), Princeton, Stanford, and one other top school last year. In our experience, the awards from HYPS all ended up being in the same ballpark (after we appealed Yale’s initial very good but lower offer), so money was not a factor in our decision. For what it’s worth, Harvard’s award was the best (though by just a few hundred dollars—which I’m sure we would have spent on winter clothes and travel costs to the East Coast), and Stanford’s was next best. But they were all great, and none was really in line with what the Net Price Calculator had shown (except for the one from the other top school). So I’m guessing that if your daughter gets into Harvard, Yale, and/or Princeton, the awards will be similar to the one from Stanford (unless these schools tend to offer less money initially to applicants admitted in the early round—that’s possible, but I don’t know). Good luck!
Thank you both very much for the insight. I think the fact that one of you indicated “same ball park” and the other found Stanford to be “way higher” just goes to show there are a lot of variables at play.
We’ll cross that bridge with our daughter IF it comes up and be happy and thankful for the Stanford admit in the meantime. Happy Holidays.
For my child, Stanford’s package was about 10K/year more than Harvard even after appealing to both schools. They didn’t so much as try to “match” offers as looked the packages over to see why there were differences. Both schools gave a little more after we submitted more detailed financial information (still stayed 10k apart), so in our case Stanford was WAY higher.
Seems like there’s no way to know how the offers will compare until they all come in—some of the relative differences are surprising. As I said, for us the Net Price Calculators weren’t of much use, except in one case. Stanford is very generous, though—good luck!
Personally for me, Stanford seemed to be quite competitive with their financial aid in comparison to its peer schools. But I agree with a post above - I think Stanford’s cost is justified, if it does turn out being (reasonably) higher.
^ It’s hard to say. You don’t know the truth until you have all the offers.
Each school has as its own formula. Some schools take into consideration of home equity, some don’t. Some schools give higher asset protection amount. Some schools make it easy for business deduction,…
A kid I know pays nothing for Stanford.
Unless you totally cannot afford, it’s not worth to torture yourself and let your daughter enjoy her acceptance.
@RandRDad : Note that you will spend a chunk of that 8K on cross-country air fare. As the California parent of a Dartmouth '13, I can attest that it added up.
