<p>So, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to Brown last week, but with an odd FA offer. Brown is asking me to pay more than double my EFC. is this out of the ordinary? I plan on calling the FA office on Monday, but I am not sure if it seems likely they made a mistake. Can anyone shed any light (via personal experience or otherwise) on my situation? Thanks</p>
<p>Hi, I am in a similar situation and was wondering the same thing. Compared to my FAFSA EFC number, the Brown EFC is more than 7 times more…plus work study. I really didn’t expect to get into Brown after seeing the amazing applicants waitlisted/rejected from previous years, but after getting into such a great school for my major (premed) I feel absolutely crushed that I might not be able to go just because the cost is so high.</p>
<p>This seems common from what I have heard about Brown. A friend of ours, her daughter was accepted, her parents made less than $42,000 a year total, and they offered her nothing. This was a few years ago, but I hear this kind of thing about Brown all the time.</p>
<p>Brown changed its financial aid policy a few years ago, so families with income like howsefrau talks about with typical assets would get a very generous financial aid package now. </p>
<p>As for the OP and Kuro – your FAFSA EFC only reflects your eligibility for federal financial aid. For schools like Brown that use the profile info too, FAFSA numbers can be meaningless. Brown takes into account things like non custodial parent income and the value of your house. Did either of you fill out the financial aid estimate form on the Brown website? Did you get financial aid offers from other schools that are different from Brown’s? </p>
<p>Both of you need to call the financial aid office and discuss your packages with them, especially if you got better deals from other schools. I also strongly suggest you post your questions on the financial aid forum here on CC, because there are FA experts there who will help you better understand your packages and how the FA system works.</p>
<p>We also got a FA package from Brown that was far less generous than the other schools that my son is considering. The other schools have all offered $18k-20k/year in direct aid in the form of need-based scholarships. This is a fairly narrow range so they must all be using the same FA algorithm. Brown on the other hand is offering us only $9k/year–half as much. Brown is my son’s 1st choice, but this could be a deal breaker for us.</p>
<p>Does it really help if you approach the financial aid office and ask them (politely, of course) whether they’ll match the other schools?</p>
<p>Lynch112: from what I’ve heard, it can, depending on the other schools. If they’re similar to Brown in prestige, etc, then it could definitely help.</p>
<p>The other schools are Vanderbilt, Olin, and Johns Hopkins. They are not Ivies but would they be similar enough for a comparison?</p>
<p>Olin definitely won’t be comparable, since they give every accepted student a half-tuition scholarship. Maybe JHU.</p>
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<p>lynch: I’d definitely contact Brown financial aid with the packages from Vanderbilt and JHU. When comparing costs and financial aid, as BrownAlumParent points out, I would eliminate personal costs entirely (books, etc.) from the comparison, and just compare tuition, room & board, and fees. It certainly can’t hurt to try – I’ve heard many stories of kids whose packages were improved after discussing things with financial aid!</p>
<p>Odd, because I was offered a very generous FA package from Brown. I wasn’t even considering Brown at one point because I’ve heard negative things about their FA but I was genuinely surprised with their offer. Now, Brown is my top choice.</p>
<p>Our family was also given extremely generous financial aid. Better that the instate UC schools.</p>