<p>Okay, so Brandeis has given me an amazing financial aid package. Easily the best I’ve gotten (Brandeis, U of I, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, William & Mary). For most schools, money comes from endowment, I think. I don’t know what Brandeis’s endowment is, but I kind of assumed Carnegie Mellon had a larger endowment, yet Carnegie Mellon is giving me 36k (27k in grants, 9k in loans), while Brandeis is giving me 52.5k (45k in grants, 5k loans, 2.5k workstudy). That’s a pretty huge discrepancy. I’m still amazed Brandeis is giving me so much money, haha. I’m assuming Brandeis meets the need of other similarly disadvantaged students; where do they get the money to do all this? O_O</p>
<p>Brandeis gets a lot of money from incredibly loyal and wealthy alums and other benefactors. It’s simply the case that they have one of the most generous sets of benefactors in the entire country. Honestly, it has a bit to do with their status as the (or one of the) only prominent Jewish college in the country so many wealthy Jewish individuals are very eager to support it. Also, it’s just manufactured some very successful alums - the alum network is superior and alums are always more than happy to give back to the university that gave them so much. Also I don’t mention the Jewish point as any kind of insult or diminutive - I am Jewish, but I’ve also been told basically just what I’m saying here… it’s just one of many realities of the situation. So glad you got your needs met so fully though!! :)</p>
<p>Older d is a Brandeis grad. Both d’s applied and were accepted to Carnegie-Mellon. Other than a handful of very specific scholarships, Carnegie-Mellon is not well known for being generous with merit money.</p>