What's the financial aid like?

<p>Is it good? Is it mostly loans (gulp)? Are there grants?</p>

<p>bump, i would really like to know too. </p>

<p>esp. for ppl who turned in their paperwork late....</p>

<p>hmm in my opinion financial aid is pretty good. The max amount of loans is 3500$ this year (next year I think it might drop to 2000$) and they expect you to earn another 2000$. The difference between your EFC and the total cost (tuition+room and board+ expenses etc) are given to you (minus the loans and the work pay) as scholarships. Hope that wasn't too confusing! (bad wording but its 4 am here)</p>

<p>thanks superwiz.. that wasnt confusing for me :)</p>

<p>Wow, thats really good.</p>

<p>is it too late to send in financial aid forms? and if it is, I can apply next year, right?</p>

<p>^No i don't think it is too late to apply. I think I did that last year...</p>

<p>would stanford match princeton's financial aid?
i can reasonably see that yale would be willing to, but does stanford even care?</p>

<p>this question is probably unnecessarily esoteric, but has anyone fell under Harvard's $60000 range but above Stanford's $45000? If so, how did the Stanford package compare?</p>

<p>nevermind.</p>

<p>Princeton has undisputably the best financial aid program in the country. They are very generous aid, so it is hard to compare their aid to other selective schools. However, Stanford aid, in my opinion, has a lot of unwritten rules and regulations. I turned in my things in November for regular decision and while princeton is only making me pay for books and travel expenses, stanford is making me pay about $14,000 a year. My parents make less than $50,000 a year and I qualify for a pell grant. On top of that, my sis is starting next year. How they were able to get such a bogus figure, I will never know. Stanford takes into consideration if you own a house, car, or dog(just kidding about the dog). But their new initiative for moddle and low income families really only affects students whose parents make less than $60,000 and have absolutely no assests. I know I sound pretty cynical, but I feel like Stanford isn't telling the whole story about their so-called initiative.</p>

<p>How is financial aid for those with EFC 0?</p>

<p>It just depends. If your EFC is $0, but if your CSS Profile says something different, then it might not be that good.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure it's 0. Family income for 4 is <20k</p>

<p>Congratulations to you! I knew you'd be able to reach high and grab the prize!</p>

<p>(Just for grins, I went back and took a peek at some of my past posts to you, going back as far as last summer. It's gratifying to me to know that you've fulfilled your greatest hopes!)</p>

<p>Thanks NorCalDad! I didn't think I would be able to do it, but I did! I still remember your encouraging posts. :)</p>