I just ran several NPC to look at aid, and Yale was a strange outlier–much higher than Brown, Dartmouth or Stanford (the other 3 competitor type schools I checked.) I ran it twice to make sure I didn’t accidentally enter something wrong. I thought Yale was usually more generous, not less. All the others schools gave approximately the same amount of aid, but Yale said we’d be full pay. Was the Yale NPC accurate for those who got offers? Because if so, I’m going to have to take Yale out of the mix.
We have very uncomplicated finances. Two married working parents who own a house and nothing else, no major assets. House is not super pricey (under 300K).
Income is pretty high–but like I said, “low enough” to garner some aid from Stanford, Dartmouth and Brown NPCs. Yes applying next year. 3 kids, 2 in college (1 younger). Retirement? Yes but they don’t ask much about that on NPC.
Our strategy is mostly merit focused, but we allow 1 “moonshot” application. Older D went for Columbia, didn’t get in. Don’t want DS to “waste” his shot if Yale merit is very different than other similar schools.
I’m a Yale grad and feel it served me well in many ways. But there are lots of good options for this kid that won’t cost us 250k.
I’m curious about Yale aid, because someone I corresponded with was accepted EA and is currently trying to have his FA looked at again. I have the sense that this year’s FA had some anomalies, but I expect that the final result will be okay. I think, in the end, FA from HYMPS will come out very similarly, even though they have structural differences in how they evaluate various assets.
We are full pay for our Yale junior, and the benefits of the school are being experienced already. As a Yale grad yourself, you know how difficult it is to evaluate the counterfactual (i.e., I’m sure you and DS would have done well at any quality school), but DS’s experience at Yale and his internships have been better than we ever hoped.
What DS did was to apply to Yale EA and Michigan EA. Michigan isn’t a safety, but it would have surprised us if he hadn’t gotten in. As an alum, you’d give your child a (slight) bump, so it might be a good choice for a “moonshot.”
Since you have some time, I’d wait until the FA crush is over, and then place a call to Yale. Circle back and let us know what you find out.
I’m guessing you have reasons for restricting the number of ‘moonshot’ applications, but I don’t see much harm in applying to more than 1 reach school. That way if you get into more than 1, you can negotiate financial aid offers between schools to get a better offer.
Three year old thread, but adding for anyone who happens upon it…
I can’t remember what the NPCs showed, but here are the actual financial aid offers for our family member (March, 2020):
15,000 – Yale
24,000 – Williams
28,000 – UT-Austin
32,000 – Brown
After asking for a review, the final offers were:
12,000 – Yale
22,000 – Williams
Family income is just above $100,000. We paid $100k for our house 30 years ago; Zillow now estimates it at $600k. One sibling in college.
Due to COVID and only spending the Fall semester on campus, our total bill from Yale for the first year will apparently be about $2k to $3k.