Yale Financial Aid Significantly Less Than Advertised

<p>I was accepted to Yale recently and I was really happy! But then I took a look at the financial aid offer they gave me, which was basically nothing. I contacted Yale's financial aid office and wrote a lengthy email about various costs and other offers.</p>

<p>I have a full-ride from UCSD, and a package from UChicago which is 20k more than Yale is offering me. However, when I contacted the aid adviser, she told me that Yale only considers need based requirements, and that my other offers were merit based. Is there still any way to get Yale to match UChicago's offer?</p>

<p>Also, based on FAFSA, my EFC is 10k less than what Yale is asking my family to pay. I heard somewhere that Yale guarantees that it will match the FAFSA numbers. What's up with this?</p>

<p>Based off Yale's website, for my family's income range, we are being asked to pay 40k more than what they listed. The only unusual asset we have is a second home, which we still owe money on.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any extra advice on how I can get Yale to match my other offers?</p>

<p>Yale definitely doesn’t match FAFSA estimates. The Financial Aid Office makes its own decisions based on every student’s individual needs. </p>

<p>It is also true that Yale doesn’t give out merit based scholarships, as these are violations of the Ivy League agreement. </p>

<p>I do not think there is much you can do, other than ask for a reconsideration.</p>

<p>So they don’t consider any merit offers you receive? I’m not asking for a merit scholarship from Yale, just more financial aid since I have a better offer.</p>

<p>“Based off Yale’s website, for my family’s income range, we are being asked to pay 40k more than what they listed. The only unusual asset we have is a second home, which we still owe money on.”</p>

<p>$40K is a HUGE difference. I would suggest you call the Yale Financial Aid Officer again and go over why there is such a difference between their calculator and the aid the FA Office calculated. Something is really off – either from your inputs or their calculations. There should NOT be that much of a difference.</p>

<p>BTW: the equity in your family’s 2nd home may be the issue. Did you input that figure in their calculator?</p>

<p>Sorry, the 40k isn’t a difference between their calculator and the FA office calculations–it’s the difference between the average aid received for families in my income bracket.</p>

<p>^^ Then, you did not do a specific financial calculation for YOUR family before you applied to Yale. If you had, you probably would not now be surprised. Try inputting your financial aid data into the calculator and see what you get: <a href=“https://yale.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx[/url]”>Yale University - Net Price Calculator;

<p>I just ran it through, and it only differed by a few thousand…=(</p>

<p>I’m guessing this is because my parents recently bought a second house. Is there anything I can do at all? Does this mean my other offers are worthless as a negotiating tool?</p>

<p>Thank you for your help.</p>

<p>Your other offers are worthless as a negotiating tool BECAUSE they include MERIT AID. Try this: If you had not received merit aid from UChicago, would the total cost of attendance now equal Yale’s? If so, then theere really isn’t anything you can do. You are either bound for UChicago or UCSD.</p>

<p>BTW: When your parents bought their 2nd house, they probably placed a 20% down-payment in cash to qualify for a mortgage. Yale looks upon 2nd houses as a luxury item, as your parents could sell the house and use that down-payment money towards the cost of your college tuition. Consequently, your need is not as great as another family who does not have a 2nd home, or of someone who does not have a cash down-payment at the ready.</p>

<p>For us the actual cost from parents is about 4K more than the calculator one. BUT we have two rental properties (we still owe lots of money on them), which I guess plays differently in calculated aid. HOWEVER, for our family Yale is still good 10K less than U Chicago or Duke (have not heard a final number from Dartmouth yet).</p>

<p>For YOU, Yale’s package is less, but as you, yourself and others have noted, Yale does not give merit money and the other schools did. If you take out the merit awards, the financial aid part might not be as generous as Yale’s. Yes, you could get full rides at a number of school given stats that could get you into Yale, as there are schools hot to buy students like you, whereas Yale as many of them, and does not feel anyone should get a scholarship from them. They don’t have to buy their students as they have them standing in line to get in. They meet need through financial aid to provide a level field for those from families that cannot afford to pay. But no merit money.</p>

<p>We have used our exact #s in the calculator and it is still different from the aid our k1 gets from Y…even using the exact CSS #s.
There is some behind closed doors shenanigans…</p>

<p>Read through your offer carefully. It can only get worse the next 3 yrs…</p>

<p>@fogfog - how much worst, assuming income does not change and cost of tuition goes up ?</p>

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<p>The NPC is an estimate, it asks many fewer questions and therefore calculates with less detail than the Profile. Any time there are things like second homes, small business, etc., the NPC is going to be less reliable. The NPC should only be taken as a best case and should only be expected to be close to accurate if your financial situation is very straightforward.</p>

<p>That said, mistakes can be made, so if there is a significant difference between the NPC and the FA package offered, the parent or child should call the FA office and ask for clarification and a review if necessary.</p>

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<p>This has not been my experience. In the 3 years that D1 attended (soph year transfer), as my income decreased over the 3 years, FA increased accordingly. Each subsequent year showed more need, and the need was met.</p>

<p>Our income stayed pretty constant over the last two years and the only increase we had was the student contribution which was expected going from freshman year to sophomore year. I haven’t received next years estimate but I am hoping it stays about the same. ;)</p>

<p>Is that second home a vacation home, or a rental property? If it’s a vacation home, it’s a luxury that most families don’t have - any equity in that home would be considered an asset (and if the main home is paid off, that may be a consideration too).</p>

<p>If it’s a rental, your family’s adjusted gross income is somewhat meaningless in terms of estimating an aid package. Unless that rental property has been owned a long time, part of the deductions used to determine whether they made money or lost money is deprceciation (calculated as using up the value of the home over approximately 27 years). Yale most likely adds the Depreciation (and possibly some other expenses) back in to the family income before calculating their ability to pay based on income. </p>

<p>If you thin Yale doesn’t offer enough aid, turn them down, and attend one of the other schools. Another family with similar income but without that second house will get the better aid package, because they don’t have the same resources.</p>

<p>Kdog044 - by what percentage has the student contribution incresed?</p>

<p>Kelowna, overall it’s about 20%. From what I recall, for freshman the “term job” portion was about $1500 and the summer contribution was $3000. For subsequent years the summer contribution stays the same but the “term job” portion increases to around $2600. You can confirm the info on the financial aid website but I think the servers are down still because of the power failure.</p>

<p>admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid</p>

<p>Here is the link that outlines the self-help and student income contribution amounts for freshman and sophomores, juniors and seniors.</p>

<p>[Yale</a> University Financial Aid > The Financial Aid Package](<a href=“Welcome | Student Financial and Administrative Services”>Welcome | Student Financial and Administrative Services)</p>

<p>Also OP<br>
IF you are Self Employed…you have fewer breaks than those who are employees.</p>

<p>For example, Yale will add back in SEP deductions though doesn’t do that to any retirement an employer puts into a fund for en employee. So even if those SEP contributions are far less than an employer match, you lose that.</p>

<p>Same with business paid health care costs etc…
CPAs shake their heads when they hear about the add-backs etc</p>

<p>We just met with our fin planner and we are literally digging a deeper hole every year paying tuition-- so if the music stops, we have no chair. Gotta keep on dancing :rolleyes:</p>

<p>A family here on CC–their student got 9x the award at Princeton than Yale…using the same #s/tax returns. Guess where the kid attends…</p>