<p>What I don't understand is why you have to "deplete your parents savings" in the first place. Where is it written that your parents have to pay for you to go to college? What ever happened to personal responsibility?</p>
<p>I have to agree with just about everyone else; you're coming off really bad, Valdez. Whining and claiming your a victim and boo hoo your rights are violated, I'm sorry, that's just crap. You KNEW when you applied that Princeton is expensive. You KNEW that it's binding. If money were an issue, you should have applied RD. And in any case, the situation isn't Princeton's fault. It's yours.</p>
<p>Also remember that this is only your package for one year. It could very well be much better next year, so even if you take out a loan, it might not be as much as you expect now. </p>
<p>prettyfish, I have become so frustrated with people in my school, probably because I am jealous of them...but their parents are paying for college and grad school. My parents are paying for most of my college tuition probably, but grad school loans are all my own. And I'm fine with that because at some point you have to learn those things, but the people I know are just so sheltered...</p>
<p>It was always accepted and understood in my family that if I'm going to a 'fancy' school, I'll be shouldering part of the weight. And that has always been fine with me. My dad paid his way through college; my mom had hers paid for by her parents, so they come from opposite spectrums. AND they always told me that if I were to get into Princeton, we'd find a way to make it work. And we are. They're paying 10k, I'm taking out 15k in loans, and I'm not complaining about that at ALL. I'd take out all 40 in loans if I had to.</p>
<p>Oh you're making me feel a lot better about the future princetonians now. I hope there aren't too many people like Valdez...which also means, I hope most people are happy with their fin aid packages.</p>
<p>Haha. Well, I can sympathize with Valdez simply because my family isn't willing to pay the Princeton fee. No tuition, no room & board, only the misc. expenses, simply because that's all they can afford to take on on top of all their other expenses at this point. And I totally don't blame them. However, they made it very clear to me that I'd better be as close to 100 percent certain as possible that I would be taken care of financially if I applied ED to Princeton. I did, and luckily for me, it worked out. If it hadn't (and I would have had some serious questions as to why if it hadn't), I probably would have been in Valdez's situation: you're in, but you're unsure as to how to pay for it. Nevertheless, I agree with those who have said that they'd take out loans or do whatever necessary to be able to go. There are thousands of scholarships out there you can apply for (I ice-cream-cone FastWeb...with a dot com after that ;)), and if all else fails (which I hope for anyone's sake it doesn't) you can always take out a loan.</p>
<p>I wouldn't necessarily be so quick to judge Valdez. He's in a bind, and he's scared. I would be too. But now's the time when you kind of gather your wits, focus, and start thinking of "how the hell am I going to pay for this? ahh, well there's...and..." and start naming things off. You can do it, man. Just start setting your mind on it and starting working toward it. Like I said, I'd like to see you on campus next year (more Texans=happy for me, haha).</p>
<p>You people that got rejected/deferred should try to think of this situation from a disinterested position. Firstly, you dont' have a spot... so he's not taking a spot from any of you. </p>
<p>Secondly, going to an ivy-league school is expensive. I'm in a similar situation with Yale. It's easy to say that one shoudl just take out everything in a student loan, but let's think logically. Who wants to graduate undergrad with 260k in debt. What about graduate school? Going to an ivy-league school does not guarantee a high paying job, so you're walking a tight-rope. </p>
<p>It's also a huge burden for parents. I know that my parents will have trouble paying for it. And even the 4000 difference between the predictor and the actual IS a big deal. That's a lot of money. </p>
<p>I feel sorry for all those who got deferred/rejected. But that doesn't give y'all the right to be bitter.</p>
<p>Oh, and for my actual opinion on the situation. Valdez, I think that you should try to talk to the Princeton financial aid office and explain the situation to them. If all fails, you can always back out of the agreement. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>A Princeton education does not guarantee success in life. And although, it is a great thing. You can do well without it.</p>
<p>Okay, while I'm not a deferree/rejectee (we don't have any of the latter, btw), I'll respond by saying that there is a major flaw in your argument, davidrune. You applied E*A* to Yale. You have other choices. Valdez applied E*D* to Princeton. He doesn't. Therefore the situations aren't even comparable. There's a much different thought process that goes behind ED versus EA.</p>
<p>A Princeton education doesn't guarantee success in life, but it'll help a heckuva lot more than it'll hurt.</p>
<p>It's one thing when you say "OMG I got in and now I don't know what to do." It's another thing when you come on here with a "they can't make me they're violating my rights" attitude. I think it's the tone of all the posts by Valdez which is upsetting me.</p>
<p>Also, how would you ever accumulate 260k in debt? That's 65k a year.</p>
<p>"There's absolutely nothing wrong with that."</p>
<p>I disagree. There's something wrong with backing out of a binding contract. When he applied ED, they didn't say we'll guarantee to give you a package that makes you happy/comfortable. They said they'll meet your need. A lot of the time people can afford a certain amount but they don't want to pay it. Now maybe they misunderstood what your real need is (like if you didn't explain specific situations) but otherwise, they should have given you what you deserved.</p>
<p>Are you applying to other schools RD, davidrune?</p>
<p>But Valdez has other choices as well... his state school. I'm saying that an ivy league education in general is expensive. I mean, realistically the difference between attending Yale/Princeton/Harvard will be very small. </p>
<p>The 260k thing is the maximum amount if the person is really extravagant and buys a lot of stuff. But 40k a year is about 160k. And that's a lot of debt for undergrad.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to Princeton and you do not want to deplete your parents' savings, then take out some loans and apply for scholarships. Look at it as an investment. There is no public college out there that would provide the same benefits as going to Princeton.</p>
<p>Davidrune, the difference between you and Valdez is that you chose to apply to EA while Valdez chose to apply to a binding ED. He should have considered the expense before, especially since Princeton provided an estimator.</p>
<p>But seriously does anybody deserve to hear things like this:</p>
<p>Not for nothing, but my daughter applied ED and didn't get in. She was deferred. She would give her eye teeth to attend. You took up a spot that could have gone to her.</p>
<p>Please, do us a favor. Don't go. Makes room for one more that really wants to go no matter what the cost.</p>
<p>He technically isn't even supposed to apply to his state school. ED policy (when you adhere to its rules as you should) states that you apply to that school and that school only (unless to a school that has rolling admissions), and if you get in, you withdraw all other applications. Simple as that.</p>
<p>Again, I agree with those who say the situation is fixable. Valdez is fully capable of getting a hefty amount of scholarships to help compensate for the lack of aid on Princeton's part. I mean, c'mon...Princeton accepted him, and with that on top of the intelligence that has come through in many of his posts here on CC, I'd say he's a pretty smart fellow. It's totally possible to get things rolling in his favor.</p>
<p>I agree, though. The insults are unnecessary. He may not have come across as he wanted to in his posts (he even said as much earlier); it's just an emotionally tense situation, I think.</p>
<p>That's a little extreme, because I don't think he's really taking anyone else's spot, but I honestly think that in November, he would have been saying things like "I would give anything to go!" I think people need to remember that after they've been accepted.</p>
<p>Don't worry, I'm not bitter [honestly]. I think the deferrees are also well aware that "spots" don't mean much, since they don't mark off a an exact number of acceptances while they're evaluating candidates.
Note that it was Schwaby and gianievve, 2 acceptees, who leveled the most criticism.</p>
<p>Edit: Whoa, I didn't refresh that for a while. The insults were extreme and unfortunate, I agree, but I think several of the comments made rubbed people the wrong way.</p>
<p>Based on the tones of his post, I wouldn't say those comments were 100% uncalled for.</p>
<p>Also, I agree that 160k is a lot of debt, but what is the likelihood that you'll be paying that much? I'd say the average is probably about 20k in loans a year, so that's 80k - yes it's a lot, but it's not entirely unmanagable, and esp. with scholarships, etc., it can be done, and it is done by tons of people.</p>