DD got accepted to Yale along with Cornell. Yale gave us a better package than Cornell by about $13K with our estimated contribution being $52K. It would be very difficult for us to pay that amount. She did get into other great schools like BU, Emory, Bowdoin and Middlebury with some scholarships and the out of pocket contribution being between 25k-35k. We have some 529 savings and can comfortably pay about $25K/year without breaking our back.
Anyway, we appealed the package since I moved to a new job that pays about $10K less and now have to support my elderly parents as well. We provided the paystubs to show the difference of income. What is the chances of getting more aid from Yale? Is there anything else we should do to convince them to give us more aid?
If youâre trying to get to $25k/year and Yaleâs offer is at $52k, that seems highly unlikely to happen. A 10k reduction in income is unlikely to change their offer very much. It doesnât hurt to ask though.
Prior to applying, did you use the Net Price Calculators at these schools and what were the results? If you took screen shots of the expected amounts, that may help your case.
The good news is your daughter has several other wonderful schools that appear to be more affordable. Congratulations to her on the acceptances!
Did you tell them about newly supporting your parents? I believe that is one of the things that they can use when re-evaluating your situation.
Also, Yale does not include student loans as part of their aid package, but you can still request them if you want and that will help to close the gap. There is an upper limit of 5.5k freshman year, 6.5k sophomore year, and 7.5k for each of junior and senior years. Hopefully she will be granted the full amount each year, if you request it.
Also, some of the items included in the cost of attendance are not direct costs and can be economized onâsuch as the allowance for books, travel, and personal items. That can also be a âsavingsâ of a couple of thousand dollars usually. And your student can likely earn more if she works during the school year and the summers than the allocated amount for student work, which can also help bridge the gap.
ButâŠcolleges also require that students have comprehensive health insurance and will charge you for that if the family plan isnât sufficient. But some schools (likely Yale) will also provide a grant to cover that additional cost, so itâs important to ask about that ahead of time.
Worth mentioning but many colleges view that as a choice, unless there is some extenuating circumstance that requires these parents to support their parents.
I agree with the general consensus here, but it is interesting that Bowdoin and Middleburyâs financial aid offers in particular are much more generous, since neither of those schools have any merit-based aid. It may be possible that they took something into account that Yale did not, and that is probably worth digging into. Sharing those offers and the details behind them with Yale, who may view them as competitors, may be valuable.
Good luck!
I also thought that many colleges considered financially caring for a parent as a choice, unless the parents were certified as in home support for the parents.
I would also like to know what the NPC numbers showed. There is a finite set of dollars at each school and it has to be divided to provide for the numbers of students needing financial aid.
If they do adjust more aid, it will probably be ~$5000.
I agree this is the âgeneralâ case at the meet full need schools. With that said, I have seen Bowdoin several times upon review give more aid because a family is supporting other family members, whether here or abroad. So, one has to ask. The worst that can happen is the school says no.
I do agree with momofthree24 that if OP is trying to get Yale to increase their offer by $25K that is highly unlikely to happen.
Yes. We included that as a reason for appeal in the personal statement submitted
Thank you. Very helpful information. Appreciate it.
Youâre welcome.
Also, when we made our calculations re: affordability we took into account the fact that we would not be incurring food costs for our student for about 9 months a year, which âfreed upâ some additional money in our budget which we could allocate to college costs. And if your family has been spending significant money on ECs, as many do, that can also âfree upâ money as many college activities are free or low cost.
Any luck on the appeal? Yale financial aid has actually been pretty good to us so far. They increased our aid when we made too much in year 2 to qualify for external funding and also gave us a bump this year when the strength of the US dollar ratcheted up our payments.
A $25,000 difference each year is nothing to sneeze at. But Yale is also very generous with summer funding (it is not difficult to get $5000 in funding for the summer) and if your kid is willing to be a froco ( aka resident advisor in the dorms), they can make $20,000 as a senior. There are also just random opportunities for students to earn $. For example, if you are willing to stay on campus for 3 weeks after classes end in May, they will cover your food and housing and you can work commencement and reunions and make another $1000+, depending on how much you want to work. Also plenty of cushy campus jobs if they have time to make pocket money.
None of this adds up to $100,000, but it could reduce that amount to some figure that your child could pay off after graduation if they are willing to take a job that pays well for a few years. We have friends whose kid did this â took out $100,000 in loans to major in English at Yale, paid it back from her own salary from age 22-25, then quit stressful high paying job.
Anyhow, good luck!!
This is super helpful information! Truly appreciate it. The appeal did reduce our parental share by $5k so thatâs a positive news for us. We are also thinking of taking subsidized federal loan (hopefully she qualifies) and have dd work in the campus to support her share. It would be tough for us to bridge the gap but we are hopeful one way or the other, we will manage it. Especially, after bulldog day, we are even more confident this is the best place for her and itâs a worth an investment. Thank you all for your kind advise.
Are you eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit? If so, thatâs worth up to $2500. See pub 970:
Some states have good tax benefits for tuition payments or allow same year 529 contributions and distributions, allowing one to capture the state tax benefit.
In addition, itâs reasonable to expect $5k of summer earnings. With the sorts of internships available available to Yale undergrads that could climb much higher in some fields. Finance, CS, consulting summer intern earnings of >$20k are reasonably common. Even in other fields, 10k is a reasonable expectation.
School year earnings of $5k isnât unreasonable but might be tough in the first year to hit the ground running.
As mentioned above, look at the line items that youâre actually required to pay. The official COA number that is used for aid can often contain expenses that you wonât actually incur.
Hopefully with all that and the loans, the gap wonât be so large.
Thank you!
To determine eligibility for a federal subsidized loan: Cost of Attendance (as determined by school) - FAFSA SAI (the one from your FAFSA, not the Profile or school-determined contribution) - all grants and scholarships (institutional and external) - federal work study award (if any) = Eligibility for subsidized loan (up to $3,500 freshman year).