<p>GoodDaddy: SCU alum here, undergrad and law school; extensive legacy, too but not really proud of it. SCU does not give full rides and only gives full tuition very sparingly, as our experience with D1 and D2 attests. D3 waiting for Stanford admission decision tomorrow; didn’t even apply to SCU. No contest: Stanford over SCU, $ notwithstanding.</p>
<p>Ok…just had to add something here. We have quite a few SCU Engineers where I work…and a few managers as well. SCU Engineers (at least the ones who have worked hard) have no trouble finding jobs. Not discussing choosing Stanford over SCU but just saying that SCU will get you jobs as well. Again, it is a family decision.</p>
<p>Since Stanford claims to meet 100% financial need, theoretically one shouldn’t have to take out a 200k loan, right?</p>
<p>^as I indicated before, the OP is still in High school and guess he is asking this, if the situation happens.
Also he was talking about merit scholarship from SCU, Stanford only meets need-based FA. They even take into account your home equity. So EFC is very high for people who dont qualify.</p>
<p>^ most financial aid takes into account your home equity, but Stanford is very generous with that and caps the consideration of home equity at 1.2x family income.</p>
<p>[FAQ</a> : Stanford University](<a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University)</p>
<p>Even though Stanford’s financial aid is need-based, what constitutes “need-based” or “merit-based” is different for each college. Since Stanford’s aid is so generous (giving aid to families making up to $200k/year), most of its “need-based” awards would be considered merit-based by other colleges. That’s why in general its need-based awards are better than merit-based awards elsewhere.</p>
<p>Harvard, Princeton, Yale don’t take into account home equity, so if you plan ahead, you could put all your money into a house and sell after your kid graduates from college.</p>
<p>Definitely turn down Stanford! The Stanford name isn’t worth $55K+ a year in loans. You can get the same opportunities (might be a little harder to find) at SCU than you can at Stanford. Unless you absolutely hated SCU, I wouldn’t come here. There are poor professors here at Stanford and at SCU; there are outstanding faculty in both. You will struggle at Stanford and SCU. You will find jobs at Stanford and SCU. </p>
<p>Beyond the “prestige”, Stanford doesn’t offer anything special that you couldn’t find at any other university.</p>
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Bummer you feel this way, mate.</p>
<p>I can’t say I would have the willpower to turn down Stanford, but speaking as a student who probably couldn’t merit an acceptance out of high school, SCU has been really good to me. If you want resources here, I think you’ll find they’re available to you, especially in the way of the limited research we conduct. I’d seriously consider getting acquainted with the department you’re interested in before matriculating at both universities, in the case that you do end up with a scenario like this. There are actually a number of students I know in the honors program here who had to make exactly the same choice.</p>
<p>Can’t lie though, four years of running/biking on the Stanford campus may be worth $200k…fortunately, the Caltrain from Santa Clara costs less ;)</p>
<p>As accurately posted below, Stanford considers home equity as an asset. A well educated parent who invested wisely in a home in many areas of California and had no income would not qualify for aid at Stanford because of the home asset. This is not true at Yale, Harvard and other Ivy’s</p>
<p>"Definitely turn down Stanford! The Stanford name isn’t worth $55K+ a year in loans. You can get the same opportunities (might be a little harder to find) at SCU than you can at Stanford. Unless you absolutely hated SCU, I wouldn’t come here. There are poor professors here at Stanford and at SCU; there are outstanding faculty in both. You will struggle at Stanford and SCU. You will find jobs at Stanford and SCU. </p>
<p>Beyond the “prestige”, Stanford doesn’t offer anything special that you couldn’t find at any other university."</p>
<p>The quote above from a Stanford student is refreshing. There seem to be trolls whose self-appointed mission is to defend any suggestion Stanford is not just below the pearly gates (possibly in them). This detracts from the sense of critical thinking which Stanford would seem to want to instill and interferes with the free exchange of ideas.</p>
<p>If the prestige factor is important to you, choose Stanford. Otherwise spend a lot of time at both schools and examine carefully the campus environment and the departments you think you will focus on. Excellence is in you, all a college education does is allow you to develop your abilities. That will most readily occur in the environment where you feel most comfortable and enthused. That could be Stanford or Santa Clara. Only you know. Seeking information from students who are open and unbiased, as well as parents of recent grads can be helpful. By all means, avoid those comments from the cheerleaders for either school.</p>
<p>docfreedaddy, a student on the verge of transferring out of a school (which FrenchSilk’s posts indicate is the case) is unlikely to be any less unbiased than any other student, and possibly considerably more biased, depending on the circumstances surrounding the wish to transfer.
But, once again, any individual student’s decision to attend a given school, or to transfer out of it, is an inherently subjective one. At any college, there will be a few students each year (<em>very</em> few, in Stanford’s case, as it turns out) for whom the fit just wasn’t right. That subjective determination of fit can’t be extrapolated into evidence that any given school is better (or worse, for that matter) than all the objective criteria (not just rankings!!) would indicate. That’s the only point I tried to make in the now-closed thread–the fact that a particular student thinks the fit is better at School A doesn’t <em>objectively</em> increase the quality of School A vs. School B (though thinking of it in those terms tends to make people feel better about their decisions). Claiming otherwise is just a logical fallacy. I’m primarily interested in promoting strong reasoning in public discourse, and secondarily available to describe to visitors to this forum why I chose Stanford. </p>
<p>I hope you are fully comfortable with your dd’s choice and that she will have the time of her life there! I also hope there will be no hostile rejoinders to my post, which would indicate a lack of understanding of it, and probably lead to this thread being closed also. Have a good night.</p>
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<p>This isn’t true. A quick search shows Yale considers home equity, as does every other Ivy except Harvard and Princeton. MIT also considers home equity for some income ranges.</p>
<p>Stanford caps consideration of home equity at 1.2x annual income (very generous, as most cap it much higher), so in theory if you had $0 in income and typical assets, it would be as if you didn’t have any home equity, and you’d get a full scholarship, which is the policy for those whose incomes fall below $60,000. By the way, USC caps it at 2x. </p>
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<p>[FAQ</a> : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/index.html#faq_2]FAQ”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/index.html#faq_2)</p>
<p>docfreedaddy, we Stanford people wouldn’t be “cheerleading” if people like you weren’t continually spreading misinformation about Stanford. ;)</p>
<p>Urtheman, I encourage you to pose the same question on Santa Clara’s page and compare responses. Also, I have found those posting about their personal experience to be most helpful. This usually involves one or two comments. Multiple posts by the same person, especially those that strongly espouse a particular position, tend to be less geared towards assisting you in achieving a balanced perspective and more like an infomercial promoting one viewpoint. You can also look at the posters history and if it is extensive and consistent in its bias, beware. Your goal is to identify what seems best for you, so try not to fall victim to others trying to convince you their choice is best for you</p>
<p>Yet again, no response when proven wrong? Unsurprising.</p>
<p>Subtlety is clearly not your strong point.</p>
<p>P. The people asking questions are real and asking for help. This vehicle is not about you or me or primarily a forum for you to express your views. My intent, along with most others, is to provided a bit of input for the person posing the question to consider, not to “convert” him or her to a particular viewpoint. </p>
<p>The point has been made by others that making under 200K and owning a home in middle and especially high SES areas does not automatically qualify one for financial aid. Stanford and other universities add back in home equity and investment equity. Many who work hard and are able to buy a home also invest assets which grow, receive inheritances–it is just not as simple as under 60K income, automatic aid and under 200K income, some aid. The ultimate authority is not you or I, but the institution’s decision after reviewing the financial aid application.</p>
<p>Stanford is enjoying a great ranking in the quirky, problematic world of rankings. It is a great school. There are other great schools. Stanford, like all other schools, has its unique personality, strengths and weaknesses. It is a stretch to assert it is best for everyone. The question for the poster is is it better for them than tuition paid at Santa Clara. That is a most reasonable question which has received a range of useful opinions, even though posted on the Stanford cite. Hopefully, the totality of responses along with other inquiries of students at both schools and in depth visits by the poster to both schools will help make the decision that fits who they are and which environment they will most blossom in intellectually and socially.</p>
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<p>Now you’re changing your argument. You said a home + no income = no aid. No one asserted that making under $200k + having a home = automatic aid. That’s not how Stanford’s financial aid works.</p>
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<p>It is if you have $0 in income and typical assets (which Stanford sets at $250k). If that’s the case, Stanford covers tuition, room, and board. It gets stickier when you make up to $200k - those who get aid at that level typically have other children in college, etc.</p>
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<p>It’s funny how you keep bringing up rankings when no one else is.</p>
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<p>No one has asserted that. ;)</p>
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<p>For the record, I told the OP that SCU would be the better option if he/she had a full ride at SCU and it was full pay at Stanford (unless it were easy to pay for).</p>
<p>This is about the poster and not about you or me. The poster is in HS. I am erring on the side of caution that (s)he and family are not as aware of the minutia of Stanford support as you are. Most with a home have other assets and cannot count on any level of aid, as someone else aptly wrote, it needs to be offered and confirmed by the university after reviewing tax returns. I also did not say the a 1040 short form is necessary for an under 60K award as that rules out the presence of most investment, as well as many other details that need to be worked through between each applicant and the respective financial aid offices. </p>
<p>Again, while you may see this as a debate or a need to uphold your sense of Stanford’s stature (which does very well on its own) I see this site and this post in particular focused exclusively on the needs of the poster to support their question. I try to have a sense of their beginning point and what they need, then provide a bit of guidance along with others in response to their question. </p>
<p>That is not to say that I would not enjoy a debate with you. There are many comments you have made in the now closed site that you aptly noted have gone unchallenged or not at all responded to. This is simply just not the time or place to indulge our interests and needs. It is about helping students and families make important decision, just as mine did a few days ago,</p>
<p>Sorry, but you aren’t helping the OP or anyone else by spreading erroneous facts (such as home+no income = no aid). I don’t see it as a debate - in order for that to be the case, some points would need to be contentious, and what I have presented are uncontested facts about Stanford’s financial aid, while you have presented lies. </p>
<p>By the way, the OP has not even applied to college yet and has absolutely no idea whether he/she will get into Stanford or SCU, or whether he/she will get a full ride at SCU and no financial aid at Stanford. It’s all hypothetical, so stop pretending that this is “about the poster.” It’s about you getting in the last word and sticking it to Stanford people, out of insecurity. If you’re so secure in your choice of USC, why haven’t you tried to engage the USC forum? I notice you still haven’t posted there, and every one of your last several posts is just railing on Stanford. Give it a rest already… if just for your own sake.</p>
<p>And just to pose a broader perspective in this discussion: if a student on his/her merit has the stuff to be accepted to Stanford, he/she will be as successful in their later life if they matriculate virtually anywhere else that is decent (as cream tends to rise to the top)- therefore if finances are an overarching consideration this needs to be acknowledged. If finances are not an issue, you’ll certainly impress more people at cocktail parties if you attend Stanford than Santa Clara (as the above poster appreciates ^).</p>