<p>Regardless of what anyone is told officially, Yale will do what it has to do based on who the student is and what the competition is. I have interesting anecdotes, but I'll leave it at that. Everybody has ways of fudging. Harvard and Princeton are a bit more flexible. Harvard has a unique and interesting way of fudging.</p>
<p>Perhaps I should chime in. Nothing you've said, Mr. Williamson, says anything that we don't already know. Yes, Yale tends to cost more and give less aid than other schools, that said, personal situations can be appealed and they are usually well received.</p>
<p>Clearly, your surprise at Yale at maching offers and then calling it essentially a plot to stave off reform clearly shows the bias you are coming into this issue with.</p>
<p>Furthermore, realistically, Yale is also a business. It claims non-profit status, but in reality, they want to haggle with an individual student to try to get the best perceived deal with the student while trying not to take as much of the cost.</p>
<p>You've said nothing that hasn't been said before, and quite frankly, trying to sound mysterious makes you sound like a malicious person.</p>
<p>You've said your peace. I've said mine. I challenge you to a duel on old campus!</p>
<p>Actually, I think I've said several things that most people don't know:</p>
<p>1) Yale is a member of a group that has a "temporary exemption from antitrust prosecution" from the federal government that allows it and 27 other schools to discuss how they set financial aid prices.</p>
<p>2) Harvard, Princeton and Stanford are not members of this group. Harvard and Princeton have irrefutably better financial aid than Yale, and Stanford seems to be giving Yale a run for its money. It doesn't take an intro econ class to connect the dots...</p>
<p>3) I am not at all surprised to find out that Yale matches aid with other schools. If you'd read my posts carefully, you would have understood that. I am, however, surprised when the dean of admissions ardently (and I might even say, defensively) insists that Yale doesn't match other schools' offers. It raises questions in my mind about why Yale matches aid in the first place, and why it denies it so ardently.</p>
<p>And now I've said my piece.</p>
<p>My child was accepted at Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Dartmouth. Yale's financial aid offer was slightly higher than Princeton's, quite a bit higher than Dartmouth's, and significantly less than Columbia's (which included a name scholarship as part of the grant funds). When we approached the Yale office to discuss the amount of financial aid, our file was pulled and reviewed, a few questions were asked, and it turned out there was a question that needed clarification. We were asked to send in a statement clarifying the financial issue as well as a copy of the financial aid letter from Columbia, which we had referenced in our discussion. Thereafter, our aid offer was increased by about 15%, with solid rationale, not matching the Columbia offer, but exceeding the Princeton offer. Because our child was also interested in Princeton, we initiated the same process with them, but they were unresponsive, didn't return our call in a timely manner, and our child decided on Yale in the interim. Yale's office was very accessible and prompt in providing us with a new offer. -</p>
<p>As a slight counterpoint to the bad experience referenced in passing by ccob:</p>
<p>My kid is a junior at Princeton, and we have been luckier with the fin. aid office. I have found them to be very responsive and helpful. Sorry that was not true for ccob.</p>
<p>Wow, it is not rocket science. Yale takes like 30% out of the student's investments and parents. Princeton on the other hand takes like 5-10%. Read their damn website people. So of course Princeton is better for middle class people.</p>
<p>I think there is more information to interpret than investments, isn't there? Since our initial aid package was higher from Yale than from Princeton - and I'm guessing our case is not unique - then it seems your claim that P is better for middle class people is probably overstated.</p>
<p>well ccobserver, did you have a lot of investments?</p>
<p>We had a small amount of "investments" which are defined to include only investment real estate and non-retirement securities, excluding cash in savings/checking accounts, retirement assets, and family home. However, if they had been taken into account in the way cited above, then our aid offer from P should have been several thousand higher than Yale's and it wasn't - pointing out that there are other distinctions made in the determination of aid, potentially distinctions that favor an applicant to Yale relative to Princeton.</p>
<p>Talk to a Yale financial aid officer. Now!</p>
<p>My son's FA pkg from Yale was very generous - better than Brown and Duke.</p>
<p>Interesting, thank you Andrew Williamson for your information. After submitting a financial aid review to Princeton, I am now receiving 20,000 dollars from Princeton. I'm still waiting to hear back from Yale.</p>
<p>Yale alumni may graduate with more debt on average, but that's probably because they aren't as rich or as pampered as their counterparts at Harvard and Princeton. Regardless of how you spin the stats (and there are many out there), Yale is much more socioeconomically diverse than any other Ivy except Columbia.</p>
<p>Andrew, Yale's financial aid offers, generally speaking, are just as generous as those at any of the other top Ivy League universities, and significantly more generous than offers at any of the rest of the top 30. Many people who go there get full rides. There may be a few exceptions where the math didn't get counted the same at every school, but students should ask the FA office for reevaluations when that happens.</p>
<p>posterX: I'm not doubting you at all because it's not an area I've explored, but I'd like to pointed to the stats showing socioeconomic diversity at the schools you speak of.</p>
<p>I would like to add my story to the mix. I was admitted EA this year, and Yale gave me no FA. After applying to Princeton RD, and getting accepted, I received approx. $10000 in aid from them. I took P-ton's letter to the FA office at Yale (after I had already appealed before), and I still got absolutely nothing. I don't want anyone to get the impression that Yale will ALWAYS match comparable schools' offers. </p>
<p>P.S. Both me and my parents also found Princeton's financial aid office to be much more friendly and willing to help us out than Yale's or any other one. We applied well after the deadline, and we had a decision within a week.</p>
<p>Yale says that it doens't match financial aid with other colleges because it is illegal to do so. But behind the curtain, it happens: after all, it IS a competition for the colleges to get the best students for themselves. Past few weeks, I heard people telling me to negotiate with the Financial Aid office at least three times (once by an alumna and other times by current students).
In my case, I went in to the fin aid office during the Bulldog Days and talked to one of the assistant directors there. Then I came home and sent a detailed email, explaining my family's financial situations and subtly comparing my reward letter from Brown to the one from Yale. I especially emphasized how Yale is my definite first choice and the only reason I was hesitating still was the monetary burden issue. AND IT WORKED OUT!</p>
<p>oh just to add:
I've called the Fin Aid Office several times before Bulldog Days and the receptionists there are utterly useless. They are not really friendly and they don't know how to help you. I would say, contact one of the Assistant Directors directly.</p>
<p>I did that too, and still got nothing. My dad and I also talked directly to Assistany Directors. I actually went the office in person to present my case as well, so I think I especially expressed how badly I wanted to go to Yale (although I'm over that now).</p>
<p>CC poster andrew williamson has an editorial in friday's yale daily news, sharply criticizing yale's financial aid policy relative to the more generous policies at rivals princeton and harvard:</p>
<p>heres my input. i received about 5k less fin aid from yale compared to a bunch of other schools. my dad sat down with the FA and they instantly matched the offer (from cornell).</p>