<p>Yes, its true. Yale sent me a informational booklet (i.e. recruiting material), and it detailed that a family making $90,000 with regular assets (I think a bit low) would be expected to pay only $3000 a year, and that as a general principle, families making up to $120,000 would be expected to contribute only 1-10% of their annual income.</p>
<p>Of the Ivies, the only three that seem to fit are Brown, Yale, and to a slightly lesser degree, Princeton. However, Brown’s financial aid isn’t nearly as good as Yale’s. I’m not sure it would necessarily be affordable. Princeton’s should be near Yale’s level.</p>
<p>You definitely should apply to at least Yale, both because its a fit, and because the financial aid is really worth it. Getting in is difficult, but if you do, it is a wonderful opportunity to have.</p>
<p>um wow, $90,000 only have to pay $3,000/yr? This is like a dream come true! I was under the impression I would be lucky to pay $25k/yr for any school. Haha now I just have to get in. Easier said then done, though. I will need lots of backups. But Yale (though and uber-reach) sounds pretty near perfect (except for the size, maybe).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be worried about the pot smoking reputation of Reed. I’m not going to debate the merits of weed…lol, but you should get over that stigma. It is rampant at any university, and at least all they are doing is weed. It could be worse, a lot worse. You’ll find that whether or not you chose to partake in such recreation, potheads are some of the nicer people you’ll meet. If they got into Reed, they’re probably at least somewhat intelligent, too.</p>
<p>"Of the Ivies, the only three that seem to fit are Brown, Yale, and to a slightly lesser degree, Princeton. However, Brown’s financial aid isn’t nearly as good as Yale’s. I’m not sure it would necessarily be affordable. Princeton’s should be near Yale’s level.</p>
<p>You definitely should apply to at least Yale, both because its a fit, and because the financial aid is really worth it. Getting in is difficult, but if you do, it is a wonderful opportunity to have."</p>
<p>Written by someone that is biased against Harvard…jk. But at least I would think Harvard would be the best liberal arts environment out of all of the Ivies and I have heard that Harvard is completely free for families that make less than $70,000.</p>
<p>^ yeah, but I want to avoid that culture as much as possible. Reed has a location to drool over though (Portland) so I might apply anyways. Are there any good colleges in Washington and Oregon that I should know about?</p>
<p>I’m a bit intimidated by the Ivy’s though, and most of all Harvard. But if their finaid is a miracle, I probably will apply. It’ll be like winning the lottery in Academics AND FA, lol.</p>
<p>for me drugs, alcohol, parties= no go.
I mean, an exciting evening for me is going out to the movies…most nights I just want to curl up with a good book…so that kind of scene will clash with every fibre of my being.</p>
<p>I realize most colleges will have that, but I want to avoid it as much as possible.</p>
<p>You’ll definitely be paying less than that. Not necessarily $3000, but definitely under $25000. </p>
<p>Regarding size, Yale’s hsd only 5300 undergraduates, so it is larger than an LAC, but significantly smaller than a state university such as UM or UCSD.</p>
<p>^the size for me is doable (under 10,000 is good) but I’m kind of concerned about graduate schools, I don’t want to have to fight with them over resources, professor’s attention, and definitely don’t want any TA taught classes.
But then again, good FA beats almost any downside for me.</p>
<p>Yale is known for its undergraduate focus. You won’t have to compete with grad students for attention and resources. With this considered, you should not apply to Harvard or Stanford, or if you do, only for the possibility of aid. Both of them are more focused on research, and you will encounter these problems (Harvard worse than Stanford.) I would likewise recommend applying to Princeton, since it is as well known for its undergraduate focus (perhaps even moreso than Yale.)</p>
<p>^ that’s good to hear. I find myself slowly being drawn to Yale (you’re very convincing)…but am kind of scared to peg it as my dream school, because acceptance is so unlikely. But after hearing these tales of extraordinary FA, I probably will apply to YP, possibly HS (just for aid purposes). And the rest of dream college list will be LACs like Pomona, or Bryn Mawr (I think it might be Hogwarts in disguise!).</p>
<p>"for me drugs, alcohol, parties= no go.
I mean, an exciting evening for me is going out to the movies…most nights I just want to curl up with a good book…so that kind of scene will clash with every fibre of my being.</p>
<p>I realize most colleges will have that, but I want to avoid it as much as possible. "</p>
<p>I found just the school for you. It is called Abilene Christian College. No drugs, alcohol, or parties allowed…nor found. (my point is just that every school has that aspect, which is why home-schooling children up until they’re off to college is such an incredibly bad idea)</p>
<p>Yale’s and Princeton’s undergrad academics are as good as any top LAC’s. By all means apply, but don’t plan on acceptance! I guess that’s obvious.</p>
<p>In the PNW, you might consider Whitman, Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark and Willamette; all give merit aid.</p>
<p>Good to hear more specifics on the aid situation. With regard to merit aid, the following schools will not offer you enough (<20k) to be worthwhile vs. need-based schools: Whitman, Puget Sound, Macalester, Skidmore. Although you may think Mac is worth the need-based stretch.</p>
<p>So what LACs would offer the best finaid for my financial situation? Would any of them match how much an an Ivy like Yale would give me, or will the finaid not be up to par?</p>
<p>@ osucowboys lol, I don’t think I want to enter a school that’s like a convent or anything, I just want a less-dominant party scene. What I meant was that I would rather go to a college that has less parties and drugs and alcohol vs. a Greek-dominated, party crazy school (such as SDSU). And I do go to public high school, but I am one of those kids that never goes to parties, does drugs, etc by choice, not because my parents are extremely strict.</p>
<p>No schools in the country can match HYP in FA generosity. So you should expect to pay 20-30k at the best LACs and lower-tier Ivies; another “drop” down, that will be 20-30k + 5k+ student loans per year. That’s for the full-need schools; lower again, some schools may gap you.</p>
<p>so basically, the better of a school I get into, the more FA I get? That is extremely motivating, now I really want to go somewhere where they will only charge me ~$10-15k. The acceptances rates are unbelievably low, though :(</p>
so basically, the better of a school I get into, the more FA I get?
[/quote]
For top students, essentially yes. Of course, the reverse applies once you fall below the full-need schools; then schools will gap the lower part of their applicant pool, and one will generally get the best FA at safeties.</p>
<p>“the better of a school I get into, the more FA I get?”</p>
<p>There’s merit aid and need aid.</p>
<p>For merit aid, you’ll generally get the most where your stats are in the highest percentile, i.e., the lower the school’s SAT/ACT/GPA averages, the higher the aid; they try to attract students at the high end of their scale.</p>
<p>For need aid, you’ll generally get the most at schools that meet 100% of need, but each school calculates need in its own way, mostly unpredictably. All require FAFSA, some require Profile.</p>
<p>Don’t peg it as your dream school, although you can note it is your first choice. As long as you accept that you might need to attend one of your alternatives, you’ll be fine should a rejection come. If you are truly concerned, apply to all four, as considering the highly subjective nature of selection at these universities, shotgunning maximizes your chances of having one of the admissions officers and committees like you.</p>
<p>Regarding your financial aid question, in the top 25 universities, yes. Financial aid is roughly correlated with the rankings (their validity can be debated elsewhere). Beneath that, merit aid becomes a consideration, and merit aid is more easily won when there is less able competition, which is at lower ranked schools.</p>
<p>If you have your SAT scores, and tell us your ethnicity, we can better assess your chances for acceptance into the universities offering the best financial aid programs, as well as your chances for merit aid at lower ranked institutions.</p>