<p>ummm my really close family friend attends pton and gets financial aid (i dont know how much) but they are a family of 4 and her father makes 250k-300k a year i dunno how financial aid works</p>
<p>my good friend goes to yale, family of 4 and i know he gets 11k a year and his mom makes 160k a year alone, his dad probably makes something similar</p>
<p>it depends on assets, savings, other financial junk. You can't just have a cutoff income where you won't get contributions</p>
<p>For all those who got their finaid packages already - did Yale ask that your parents contribute more than what was stated in the forms? If so, was it a lot more?</p>
<p>Yale didn't give me a dime either. I never even thought about withdrawing my HP apps, though. I know Yale's the stingiest of the three. Besides, I like to have options.</p>
<p>Maybe someone can answer my question about whether you can haggle with the admissions office for more financial aid and what are the terms?</p>
<p>I think you can... I know a friend who got into both Princeton and Yale. Princeton gave him more aid, and yale matched the aid.</p>
<p>OK - I'm confused - didn't you people fill out the FAFSA and CSS Profile? I know the FAFSA gives you an EFC. I don't remember what the profile does but I know it counts more assets so if you have home equity or other large assets not counted on the FAFSA so you can expect to pay more than the FAFSA EFC. Was there that much difference that you are shocked? Amypianist - maybe you could help answer - was your EFC about half of Yale's tuition?</p>
<p>That's weird.... When my family originally filled out fafsa, it reported that we weren't eligible for any need based fin.aid, however, yale ended up giving my a very helpful package all the same :)</p>
<p>to amypianist:</p>
<p>you can 'haggle' to a degree.... when I visited yale for bulldog days, i paid a visit to the student financial services office and told them that I really liked yale, but i had a number of better offers from other schools etc etc... the guy pulled out my finaid package and worked it over with me and managed to increase it by a couple of k's. </p>
<p>best of luck!</p>
<p>Is this all a follow-up package to the one we got in December, or a brand new revised package?</p>
<p>I havent gotten anything since Dec.</p>
<p>Chyln: that's nice to hear! Is it too late to talk to the financial services office once the new school year starts?<br>
Teefore: Sorry, I'm not quite sure what my EFC was.</p>
<p>I don't think someone who is really upper middle class would get a 1/2 tuition scholarship at a need-based school. And someone with 160k (x2?) getting 11,000 Grants or loans? Grants wouldn't make sense in that case. And then someone ordinary middle class getting nothing. . . I think either perceptions of class are off or yale's awards are, well, interesting.</p>
<p>amypianist thanks for the private message.</p>
<p>If you are in the middle to upper middle class, you probably aren't going to get that much better aid at Harvard or Princeton. Most of their well-publicized financial aid initiatives only benefit those who already stood to recieve fairly ample amounts of aid. The dirty little secret of need-blind financial aid is that middle class students who barely miss the financial aid barrier are screwed because it really isn't all that feasible for them to apply. The upper and lower class students are fine because either they can afford it or the college makes it much easier for them to afford it.</p>
<p>amypianist:</p>
<p>it would probably be too late to discuss at least the first year's finaid if you wait until after the school year starts because you will have alread started paying for it if you're on the payment plan. </p>
<p>also, when filling out the fafsa, my 'rents and I said that we didn't want any loans and just wanted grants. I don't know if this is important or not, but it may contribute to the fact that many people are gettings loans rather than grants</p>
<p>I was thinking of applying to Yale for next year, but my parents are avidly against it because of cost. My parents went through this whole big thing with my sister about not being able to afford her first choice, and I think it really hurt them that they couldn't send her there. So now they are trying to steer me away from expensive schools, even though the only ones I am really looking at are very expensive, like Yale, Wellesley, Cornell, etc. I do have safety schools that are much less. I don't know too much about how generous Yale will be, and obivously if I don't get a hugh financial said package I can't go. I could be over thinking this, because it is a long shot to even get in, but I just wanted to know if I should even get my hopes up and apply. Also how much aid do you think I could get? My parents make about 70,000-75,000 a year together, and they are willing to pay about 18,000 a year.
Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>denisejane</p>
<p>my famiy's income is about the same as yours and I ended up with close to 20k in aid. By all means, at least apply and then see if it even comes down to the finaid. </p>
<p>best!</p>
<p>Thank you very much</p>
<p>Denisejane,
If your parents are willing to share financial info with you, I suggest you get a copy of the FAFSA worksheets, and the paper FAFSA, since you are not actually completing it you don't want the online version. Armed with this and the EFC formula (google this or see my link on the financial aid forum) you can get a good idea on what you EFC will be. That may ease your parents concerns. Unless you have substantial other assets, I think your chances are excellent for a good aid package.</p>
<p>Im still confused--have you guys received new financial aid deals since december?</p>