<p>I'm a domestic admitted student to Cornell and received 100% need-met financial aid with 0 parent contribution. I was super excited when I saw this but got a bit dismayed at airfare. I live on the other side of the country and the cheapest plane tickets to Cornell are about $800. With that, it is unlikely that I would be able to afford more than getting to Cornell and staying there the entire year.</p>
<p>With that being said does anyone know if Cornell does travel reimbursement? (for coming home during the winter/summer/spring breaks?)
How does it work? Is it already in the FA?</p>
<p>I'm considering asking Cornell about it but I wanted to check with you guys first.</p>
<p>If you are literally paying nothing for Cornell then why can’t you take out $1600/year to travel. You shouldn’t have any trouble paying that back after you graduate.a Many many kids have to take out a lot more than that.</p>
<p>i also got a full ride to cornell because of my family’s economic situation as well. when you look deeper into the financial aid package, you see that cornell gives you money for a doubles for dorming, money for the traditional meal plan, $800 for books, ~$1000 for personal expenses. if you really can’t afford to fly back home, you can save money in your living expenses, and cornell will give you a refund on whatever money is left in your account. say, apply for a triple instead of a double (a few hundred here), get a small meal plan (a few hundred here), get your books used (a hundred or two here), don’t sign up for a fitness membership and watch your spending (a few hundred here).</p>
<p>i am not sure if cornell reimburses for travel plans for breaks, but seeing how cornell’s residence halls close down during breaks, you might be able to get some sort of aid. call and speak to the financial aid office, and see what you can find out. calling and asking personally would be best because they can give you an answer based on your information and your own situation.</p>
<p>also, as said by NJMom23, you can always take out $5,000 subsideized loans each year. if you do well in cornell, you’ll be able to pay those back in a jiffy after you graduate and get a job. not a big deal.</p>
<p>doesn’t Cornell give a winter allowance? about $1600? I got a full ride too and mine came with a winter allowance. Maybe because i’m an international student.</p>
<p>^ im domestic and i have the allowance of 1600 for personal expenses. doesn’t everyone get it? its to cover extra stuff like the gym pass, laundry, etc</p>
<p>personally, if i were getting a free ride i wouldnt be asking to get even more money. the kicker with a free ride is that it covers your food and other expenses not just tuition and housing – which means that your family doesnt have to pay for those expenses anymore = instant saving.</p>
<p>i would take out a student loan to pay for additional expenses. hey, most students take out loans and graduate with thousands in debt upon graduation. if you take out 2-3k a year then you will graduate with a very small student debt.</p>
<p>I have to agree with reptil. How is it fair that some students have to take out large loans while others have no debt at all? We aren’t talking about a significant amount of money. I can’t believe that anyone who is getting a full ride would ever ask for another penny. Geez.</p>
<p>Straighten out the numbers yourself using their published COA number, the COA number they gave you, and the aid they gave you. See how much money they are giving you outside of billed costs (tuition, fees, room, board).</p>
<p>Cornell most likely includes travel expenses in cost of attendance, but I don’t know if they’ll pay for $800*4 trips per year=$3200. In my financial aid packages for distant schools, estimated travel expense only covered 1 round trip.</p>
<p>NJMom, I don’t agree with that. Some students have absolutely no way of supporting themselves if they took out loans. And they qualified for aid because their parents can not support them. you can’t compare them to another students who’s parents have an annual income of six figures. Sometimes the cost of a mere plane ticket can take a significant portion of a person’s ‘annual income’. So try to be more considerate when you’re making statements like that. :)</p>
<p>Sheroze I think you misunderstood. I think it is terrific that he got a free ride. I simply said that taking a small Stafford loan, one that wouldn’t have to be paid back until after graduation, would be a solution. The OP will have a degree from Cornell. How will it be any more difficult for him to pay it back than anyone else?</p>
<p>NJMom23, I basically agree with you. But… I knew when I graduated with two master’s degrees and $50K in debt that I would have my parents’ support in an emergency. If I hadn’t found a job soon enough for those first payments, they would have done all they could to help me (and I lived with them while I started my career). I do agree that a small debt is fair for a kid getting a full ride, but it may be harder to pay back depending on the job market. Kids have been struggling to get jobs. Who knows what the market will offer in 4 years? We got decent financial aid for our freshman son for the fall, but we will certainly feel the (significant) pinch. (also in NJ)</p>
<p>mlbrown yes life is uncertain. But why is OK for hundreds of kids who didn’t get any aid at all to take out thousands of dollars in loans to attend Cornell and not for someone who is getting a free ride? Their futures are uncertain too, but they are willing to take the calculated risk. I do understand what you are saying in that many of those kids would have their parents support. But the OP could possibly move back home if he/she needed to. We are talking about $1600/yr or about $6400 total to attend Cornell! He could pay that back by being a bartender or a waiter at night if need be. I am assuming that if he got into such a terrific school than he is smart enough to figure it out :-)</p>
<p>Plus, one more caveat is that OP’s family is saving the cost of providing OP with food – which is probably close to $1,600 a year. So the OP only has to take a loan for that spread, which is maybe $200 a year. Asking to have exactly everything paid for while other students take out massive loans is not OK.</p>
<p>OP, your issue is a real one. I’d suggest thinking outside the box … while it would take more time taking a train or a bus should be much cheaper than that $800 airfare. In addition, how much do flights to NYC cost from home (you could then bus to Cornell (its a long ride)). I assume your FA package includes work-study … if you work an extra 5 hours a week during school (which should be doable) and work over winter break maybe you can make a couple thousand extra over the course of the year.</p>
<p>We need Mini to jump in here. The #1 reasons low income families, even those on financial aid, drop out of school is money. Even if school is paid for it is more likely they are expected to contribute to pay for on-going family expenses and more likely their family is already in a difficult debt situations. The idea that a middle class student picking up student loans and a 0 EFC student picking up equivalent student loans are typically equivalent situations sounds good in a one sentence position statement but does not reflect the reality of students in these situations.</p>
<p>I know several upper-middle class kids who have to leave their private colleges because of money. I also think there is a difference between a low income kid taking out $6400 in loans total compared to middle-class kids who have to take out $50,000+ in loans to attend Cornell. I don’t think you are going to convince me that it will be easier for the kid who owes $50,000+!
You make great points about thinking outside the box.</p>
<p>Let’s not exaggerate. Maybe your definition and my definition of “middle class” is different. My parents made approx $120,000 a year and I took out approx $9k a year in loans for Cornell and this was before they instituted their FA policy. I see a lot of people on here talking about 250k salaries as “middle class” or forgetting that their 2nd beach home or 4th car counts on their assets.</p>