<p>I will be attending Penn(Wharton) in the fall as a freshman but to my disappointment, the cost of attending is just too much to handle. How is Columbia with aid? I know the Ivies don't give merit-based aid so I was also thinking NYU Stern, but supposedly NYU is notorious for terrible financial aid. Any advice?</p>
<p>About the same.</p>
<p>Your only hopes at better financial aid awards are Stanford, MIT, or Yale.</p>
<p>All of which have tremendously low transfer acceptance rates… Haha.</p>
<p>Eh, never hurts to try. You’re at Wharton, so you’ve played the “low acceptance rate” game before.</p>
<p>Move to CA, TX, or VA and go to a state school?</p>
<p>You can’t just move to a state and expect to establish residency for in-state tuition purposes. Consider your own state university.</p>
<p>The ROI of a place like Wharton is massive, and easily exceeds the loans you’ll have to take to get through there.</p>
<p>And that’s not just in expected salary upon graduation. It’s factored into your future business relationships and career pathways that are open to you, rewarding you in incalculable ways.</p>
<p>But as far as Columbia aid goes, it’s mostly need-based. But if your family makes under 60k you should expect massive aid.</p>
<p>Columbia’s finaid is better than wharton’s, but not by much. I would say that HYP’s financial aid packages are all much better. I know Princeton doesn’t accept transfer students, but Yale accepts a few.</p>
<p>I don’t imagine the FinAid at Columbia to be significantly better, and the discrepancy between what you can pay and what you need must be pretty significant if you are considering giving up perhaps the finest business school in the world. I’m sure this is obvious, but talk to the financial aid office at UPenn about your options for financing if you haven’t already. Surely, there are loans you can take out.</p>
<p>And honestly, if you go into say, finance, with a Wharton degree, you will compensate that debt in a very, very short period of time. My brother’s in finance, and I say this on very good information. I agree with Denzera. There are financing options available to you to get through Wharton. You should take them.</p>
<p>i realize that by going to wharton i am arguably going to the best place possible for a career in business, but sometimes i just dont know if its worth the investment. especially with the current economic recession, i worry about job prospects coming out of college and would feel terribly guilty for using so much of my parent’s money if i couldn’t find a decent job. ill try trasnferring to yale, columbia, and nyu but i’ll probably onlly attend if they give me a good financial aid package. and getting into these schools as a transfer is tremendously difficult…</p>
<p>Job prospects are certainly very difficult now, especially for one going into business. My brother has more unemployed friends than he does employed friends, due to the recession. However, a degree from Wharton will move you to the front of the line in terms of jobs. There is always a need for intelligent, talented young individuals such as yourself, even in this economic climate. Furthermore, in four years, I don’t doubt that the economic situation will look very different than it does now. In summary: you will find a job, and any debt that you accumulate in college will be gone after 2, maybe 3 if you really had a lot of debt, years in the workforce. Perhaps less depending on how much you are really short.</p>
<p>that’s a bit reassuring. thanks!</p>
<p>ya dude
stay at wharton
it will pay off in the end
dont worry about the economy, it’ll be a completely different scene once you reach graduation day and companies and employers basically live on that campus and recruit wharton students. youll be working at the most prestigious places as an intern in your summers, dont worry about the jobs, theyll come to you</p>
<p>if it hurts, but is possible your freshman year, wouldn’t your assets dry up and then you are eligible for more aid the next year?</p>
<p>what do you mean by assets drying up?</p>
<p>you spend the money that you have.</p>
<p>the assets i have arent very liquid. even if they were, i dont think my parents would want to just liquidate them like that.</p>
<p>Can’t you contact Penn and tell them about your situation?
If you can’t squeeze any more aid out of them, Wharton is a pretty good investment in your future! I think getting into Columbia as a transfer is not something you can count on at all, so if you decide to go through with it, try some colleges that are a lot less selective.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>i wish stern would accept spring transfers.</p>
<p>The economy will be better by the time you graduate. Just stick it out with Wharton. It’s not as if you’re miserable, and you’re pretty much guaranteed a decent job.</p>