goldtx

Dear Cornellians:

Below is a list of universities that meet 100% of need, each with a pair of figures that show the average of first year loan amount and the average of yearly loan for all undergrads, respectively. If you look closely, Cornell's figures are significantly higher than those of any other school in the list ($10,400/$8,157 compared with Harvard's $2,489/$2,377, for example).

I have two questions:
1. Do you think those figures are correct?
2. Why do you think they are much higher?

By the way, I copied the list from a message posted by calmom in the "Parents Forum".

Harvard University (MA) ($2489 $2,377)
Princeton University (NJ) ($0 $0)
Yale University (CT) ($1,447 $2,410)
University of Pennsylvania ($3,143 $4,049)
Duke University (NC) ($3,700 $5,009)
Stanford University (CA) ($2,675 $2,860)
California Tech ($1,798 $1,318)
Mass Inst. of Technology ($3,321 $3,897)
Columbia (NY) ($3,465 $4930)
Dartmouth College (NH) ($3,168 $4,318)
Northwestern University (IL) ($2,424 $4,148)
Cornell University (NY) ($10,400 $8,157)
U. of Chicago (IL) ($4,474 $5,484)
Rice University (TX) ($2,532 $3,069)
Univ of Notre Dame (IN) ($3,603 $5,278)
Emory University (GA) ($3,129 $4,890)
Georgetown University (DC) ($2,010 $3,634)
University of Virginia* ($3,771 $4,395)
Tufts University (MA) ($2,911 $4,219)
Boston College (MA) ($3,707 $4,721)

AJKates

Probably because Cornell gives less grants, and must make up the difference by offering more in loans.

bongoboy

... That fails to answer the question completely. Of course Cornell gives out less grant money, that's essentially what the OP is pointing out by showing us how high the loan requirements are.

I'm not sure why Cornell gives out so many loans. Cornell's endowment exceeds those of a number of the schools on the list and I'm sure its per capita endowment exceeds those of at least some of the schools on that list.

goldtx

Here is another question: "Does your own financial aid conform to the figures above?" In other words, "Is the amount of your yearly Cornell loan within the $8K-$10K range?"

Figgy

I'd just like to throw out the fact that 20,000 students go off to Cornell every year for their education...so thats just a bit more than those other schools - and the endowment is nothing compared to Harvards, just like with any other schools. Using Harvard as the example is almost ignorant. They have the second largest endowment of any "non profit organization" [or something like that] in the world, only behind the church.

bongoboy

Figgy, that's true, but schools with endowments that are way smaller than Harvard's nonetheless come pretty close to matching Harvard's generosity--far closer than Cornell.

StPlayrXtreme

I'm really surprised. I think there was a $5000 loan included in my package last year, but I had outside aid to take care of it...so no loan at least for the first 2 years.