<p>My dad made a thread on this but it got deleted b/c I accidentally commented. Anyways, so I’m middle class and Stanford offered me no need based aid, while Washington University in St. Louis offered me full tuition. Is it worth contacting Stanford financial aid? My dad has polycystic kidney disease and his medicines and healthcare are expensive. It would be a great financial burden to pay 60k a year. Any opinions? Thanks. I don’t mean to be annoying. Rice university also didn’t offer me enough aid so I had to emotionally detach myself from the school and move on.</p>
<p>Yes, poor people all over the world are saying, “Thank heaven I’m not middle class!”</p>
<p>Seriously, congratulations on your admission to Washington University. My opinion is that it’s a fantastic university, and you should go there.</p>
<p>If you think there’s an error in your aid calculation, (i.e. they didn’t take into account your unique circumstance) and you are interested in attending Stanford, you should call.</p>
<p>You probably got merit aid from WUSL because they want Stanford calibre students like you to go there. Most likely, your family is not middle class because Stanford offers very generous need based aid. Is Stanford worth 40k/yr, only your family could answer that. One of D1’s friends was offered a full ride to Duke. He turned it down to go to Yale as a full pay student because his family could well afford it.</p>
<p>First I’m not trying to sound spoiled or bratty. We live within our means, drive old honda/toyotas, and buy a lot of things on sale. Stanford wants my family to pay 60k per year, which is a a lot of money. Stanford is my first choice, however. Again, my dad’s medicine costs and bills are also expensive and my family would go into debt. I also have a younger sister. I really want to attend Stanford because it has such a strong Chen department, has more diversity, and other reasons. This bind is pretty bad. Any other advice ?</p>
<p>Purpender would an email work? I can always call if my email actually gets looked at</p>
<p>mysticalheavens</p>
<p>Call the financial aid office. An e-mail should be fine, but it is best if you call first and at least alert them to your situation, so your e-mail doesn’t get lost among the hundreds of others they’re receiving right now. Stanford is, again, EXTREMELY generous with financial aid. However, your federal forms don’t always tell the whole story, and if you don’t advocate for yourself they’re going to assume that the package you were offered is what you were expecting. My brother is a junior and I’ll be a freshman in the fall; my mom had to call a few times, but she eventually got everything down to my brother’s laptop covered fully by aid, since we couldn’t afford to purchase one. They are very good about helping out when they see how passionate you are about attending.</p>
<p>I’m sure WUSL is a good school, but DO NOT TURN DOWN STANFORD because your first aid package wasn’t enough. It’s meant to be negotiated, that’s why they have staff members there to do it. Good luck!</p>
<p>Call the admissions office. Period.</p>
<p>Call the financial aid office, ask to speak to the person who is handling your case. Explain your situation. They will probably tell you to write down all the missing facts, send some supporting documentation in via email and then they will get back to you. I’m not sure you will get a full ride, but I would venture to say that they will do something for you. Also, if you need more than what they initially offer, call again. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. If the first person blows you off, then ask to go up the ladder. Be persistent. Nicely, don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. If its too complicated for you to discuss, and finances usually are for students, have your parents make the calls. Theres nothing wrong with that. But tell them the same thing. They need to push for the extra cash. Good luck and let us know how things go.</p>
<p>For students of Stanford calibre, there are other options, like WUSL.</p>
<p>Mysticalheavens - contact Stanford and see if they will ocfer aid. If not, enjoy WUSTL it is a great school. Go to Stanford for graduate school. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I think that students should be expected to pay their own way through college and given financial aid if there is sufficient proof that they are trying as hard as they can to come up with the tuition money. That seems to be the only fair way to do it to me.</p>
<p>^ almost all financial aid packages have 1) a work-study requirement during the school year and 2) a work expectation during the summer</p>
<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE:</p>
<p>I had to delete a bunch of political/bickering posts. Please contain your responses to helping the OP. Any more political or bickering posts will mean the closing of the thread.</p>