New Financial Aid Program

DukeEgr93 · 12-08-2007, 02:04 PM

I received an e-mail from President Brodhead (sent to all faculty) today that I thought I would share:

Quote:

Originally Posted by President Brodhead

Dear Member of the Faculty,

I write to share some exciting news. The Board of Trustees today
approved a new undergraduate financial aid program that will benefit
Duke undergraduates from lower- and middle-income families beginning
next fall. The changes will apply to incoming students and to current
students as well.

Duke is eliminating parent contributions for families who earn less
than $60,000 a year. Undergraduates from families with total incomes
below $40,000 will have no loan packaged into their financial aid. The
loan component of aid will be reduced for families with incomes from
$40,000 up to $100,000 on a graduated basis. Going forward, Duke
plans to freeze the loan component for all four years of attendance at
the current freshman level, eliminating the practice of annual
increases.

The university will substitute grant support to cover these new
benefits to students and their families. In all, Duke will be
increasing its investment in need-based undergraduate aid by nearly $7
million a year.

Duke’s mission is to educate students of promise without regard to
their parents’ ability to pay. This new initiative will make Duke’s
first-rate education more affordable for students from all
backgrounds, today and far into the future. Our Financial Aid
Initiative has already raised $240 million toward its $300 million
goal and will continue through 2008. But we don’t want students to
wait to have the benefits of this effort.

You can learn about our new financial aid program in more detail by
visiting the website at New Financial Aid Support

Best wishes for a happy holiday season.

Sincerely yours,

Richard H. Brodhead
President

So that's pretty cool

FreshElephant · 12-08-2007, 02:43 PM

So people whose families earn less than $40,000/year attend for free? If so, awesome.

I'm currently a freshman and my parents make less than $40,000 a year. So from now on, I won't take out loans either (my parents don't contribute anything.)?

DukeEgr93 · 12-08-2007, 03:42 PM

That's my take on things - see
New Financial Aid Support - who benefits
for details. Looks pretty decent overall.

Kowloon · 12-08-2007, 05:08 PM

Nice!
My parents make an income of a bit less than 80k.
Does Duke calculate Net income (~52k), or just raw income?

SirGecko · 12-09-2007, 01:47 AM

I believe it is raw income.

annalovesbananas · 12-09-2007, 11:51 AM

so if my parents have an income of about $76k, but two kids in college would that like them having an income of $38k for financial aid purposes? Or no?

dukebball23 · 12-09-2007, 12:01 PM

kowloon, i don't think this program applies to internationals (and i think you said you are in international in another one of your threads)... but i could be wrong

DukeEgr93 · 12-09-2007, 02:06 PM

The policy is not in place for international students:

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAQ

Q. Whom do these changes affect?

A. They apply to prospective U.S. undergraduate students enrolled in Fall 2008 who qualify for need-based aid. The policy does not apply to graduate students, professional students or international students.

Not sure how siblings enter the equations

CNI · 12-09-2007, 02:45 PM

wow I really wish I applied ED now

leetxy · 12-16-2007, 08:15 PM

will one still get this if they applied ED?

Sheed30 · 12-16-2007, 08:26 PM

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 That definitely brings them higher up on my list.

DukeEgr93 · 12-16-2007, 10:04 PM

leetxy - financial aid is entirely independent of when you apply or are accepted

That would be a particularly cruel policy... "You can apply early, but if you do...No FinAid For You!"

Predator · 12-22-2007, 05:54 PM

This really isn't helping make Duke any more attractive than Harvard or Yale who have targeted more middle class families (as in incomes 110k-160k ish)

loveduke22 · 12-22-2007, 06:41 PM

I agree completely. Albeit, those schools generally have more substantial endowments. But it is an income bracket which I think Duke needs to consider including in some of these changes they're making. It seems like middle to upper middle class never benefits, and although 110k-160k is a lot of money, it's not so much when you're footing a 45k (and ever-increasing) tuition bill in its entirety.

Dukes changes to financial aid are great, but I think in light of what Harvard has done we still have some big steps to take ourselves.

DukeEgr93 · 12-22-2007, 07:02 PM

With their endowments (Harvard: $35B and Yale: $22B vs. Duke: $6B), they can kinda afford what they're doing

As more money gets put into the financial aid initiative, Duke will be able to afford to do better. I would imagine that, just as Harvard did this year, Duke will increase the boundaries for different kinds of aid and increase the benefits in each category. Considering where our endowment is, actually, the fact that we are able to compete at all in that rarefied air is fairly impressive.