So my family makes about 245k after taxes, so I’m not counting on any aid from Cornell. But can I appeal their decision? My cousin recently became pregnant and she’s from Cameroon, which has a terrible health care system and a high IMF, so our extended family decided that she would stay with us, meaning we have to cover ALL of the baby’s costs, something we were financially unprepared for since I’m about to go to college. My older sister is also in college, which costs us about 20k a year, and she’s diabetic, so we have to pay for her medical costs as well. On top of that, my parents have 3 other kids to provide for and are currently paying off two cars (our family vehicle broke down unexpectedly and the repairs would cost as much as the car itself) and our house, not to mention utilities. so don’t really have much disposable income. When I applied for financial aid, I didn’t know we’d be paying for a baby, so could I appeal their decision?
No.
Cornell will not be funding your family’s newest addition and they aren’t supposed to fund your family’s expenditures. Everyone has financial issues. At $245K, you’d be lucky to get any loans.
You do understand that each school has limited funds? You do understand that many people have a lot less than $245K?
Financial aid is supposed to fund the student, not the healthcare system of another country nor any extended family members: cousin, grandma, relatives in faraway places. This extra person is a family choice; paying off two cars is a family choice.
Cornell won’t care that your family has decided to take in an extended family member.
If this is a poor citizen or GC holder, then she and baby qualify for Medicaid, food stamps, WIC, etc, anyway…so your family does NOT need to pay for them.
No school is going to give you more money just because relatives decided that your family should be burdened with this pregnant relative. Otherwise, the school would feel like the school is now supporting this relative and baby!!
Your sister’s diabetes needs are likely covered by your family’s health insurance, isn’t it? I pay OOP for diabetic supplies for my dog who is on human insulin and the cost is about $35-50 a month…not huge…includes human insulin, syringes, test strips.
Your family’s income is too high for modest health costs to be considered. They would need to rise above about $40k per year uncovered by insurance for a school to consider even slightly tweaking aid.
[QUOTE=""]
245k after taxes
[/QUOTE]
Lol…I missed the “after taxes” part. That means income is easily over $300k per year. Sorry, but your family could have $100k+ of “extra expenses” and still not qualify for aid.
And…really…with that income, your parents must have sizeable assets.
Seriously, do you realize that 99% of the rest of the country is living on less than $100k after taxes???
They’d love to have an additional $150k to spend on cars, medical bills, and relatives.
If your family says that they can’t/won’t pay for Cornell…then where else is affordable?
Like, more than 350k. Puts one in the 1% bracket.
It’s nice your family cares about a relative, truly. But from the college’s perspective, this is about your own parents’ ability to pay for their own child’s education, out of 350k.
Their generosity may need some adjustments to the budget. (It’s what we all have to do, many on far less income.)
How much are they sending the relatives?
Cornell won’t give two hoots about what your parents are choosing to send to extended family. That’s a choice. They could choose to use that money to fund your college costs.
Re: your diabetic sister…only the unreimbursed medical,expenses would matter…and they would need to be large. Are you saying your sister is not covered with health insurance? And good health insurance that covers much of her costs?
Your family income is in the top 1% of income earners in this country. Do you really think you should be getting NEED based aid?
If you wanted to ease the burden, you should have applied to colleges where you could have received merit aid…which doesn’t consider income.
Wait…you could take a gap year and do just that!
I realize that my original post came off as slightly (very) privileged, but my family only recently entered that income bracket. Before that we could barely afford a two-bedroom apartment, we were living paycheck to paycheck, and at one point my parents had $11 to their name (they’re first generation immigrants), so we haven’t exactly had time to save up and I’m guessing they took in our family member because they didn’t want her to have to struggle as much as they did.
They went from having NO expendable income to earning $350,000 a year income? Really?
The income your parents used for the 2017-2018 fafsa and Profile was from 2015. So they have been at this income level for a few years now anyway.
?
What do your parents do for a living? Going from nothing to $350k per year doesn’t happen overnight. And it doesn’t sound like this all just happened within the last 24 months.
Your parents will have that income now for future DECADES…
Is this relative a US citizen or green card holder? If so, she can be put on medicaid for prenatal care, her baby will be covered, she’ll get food stamps, etc. There’s no reason for this to cost your family much at all.
Well, it could jump, if, eg, they were working on (or waiting for) professional certification to work here. Eg, to practice medicine. But since 2015, they built up expenses so 350 doesn’t leave college funds? 350 is roughly 30k/month in income. Net 245 is about 20k, per * month. *
The colleges are rightly more concerned about families living on next to nothing. Those take in relatives, too, on barely enough. And even so, that’s not considered in their aid.
Like I said, my parents were first-generation immigrants. My father graduated at the top of his medical school class in Cameroon, but to be licensed in the US he had to work for 7-8 years on a resident’s salary, during this, my mom went to school part time and worked as a nurse. Once my dad became a licensed physician, considering his stats, it didn’t take long for job offers to come in, so he accepted one in Texas. We borrowed money and took out loans to buy our house and a second car (his new job was an hour away and my parents were barely able to survive when they had 3 kids and just one car). Of course, his salary wasn’t that much to start and we used that money to pay back our loans and the money borrowed. My dad worked his way up the company ladder pretty quickly by working an ungodly amount of hours (he received his latest promotion, the one that pushed us to this income bracket about 3 years ago), and even now I barely see him. The point is, it’s nearly impossible to make such a large income jump, but not completely impossible. My parents fought tooth and nail for everything they have but it seems like no matter how much they work, they can’t seem to catch a break. I’m not asking for a handout, I’m planning on working in college and I started saving up in high school by working a minimum wage job, but that won’t be enough, so I’ll need some loans. I don’t want to see my parents struggle like they did in the past, especially not because of me, but I also want to be able to provide for them in the future.
Congratulations to your family for their achievements.
You have an acceptance to UT. Is that affordable for your family? If so, go there…first class flagship research university.
The fact is…Cornell is not going to consider you for need based aid. Your family income is WAYYYY too high. You have no special circumstances that would warrant a review. Unless your family is willing to pay the full cost…go elsewhere to a college that is more affordable.
<<<
We borrowed money and took out loans to buy our house and a second car (his new job was an hour away and my parents were barely able to survive when they had 3 kids and just one car). Of course, his salary wasn’t that much to start and we used that money to pay back our loans and the money borrowed. My dad worked his way up the company ladder pretty quickly by working an ungodly amount of hours (he received his latest promo
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Congrats on their achievements!
were you born here in the US or elsewhere?
Once your dad was past the 7 years of residency/fellowship, let’s not pretend that his income “wasn’t much”.
everyone takes out loans to buy their first/second/third homes. No sympathy there…
Seriously, your parents have made a million dollars over the last 3 years. During the 4 years while you’re in college, your dad will make 1.4Million…No one is going to sympathize. NO ONE.
I think people are just trying to help you keep it in perspective if you are going to appeal. Cars wont matter (many families have 1 or 2 car loans on FAR less income). Family members you take in wont matter. Your sister’s being in college would have already been factored in. The other kids were already factored in. Medical expenses shouldn’t matter unless they are not covered by your insurance and are a large % of income. Houses wont matter (many people have utility bills on far less income).
A successful appeal would most likely focus on 1. something not taken into account by fafsa/css or 2. an unavoidable change in status (like a job loss) since the info provided for fafsa/css
Unless you live in a crazy high COL area, you’re going to have a hard time convincing Cornell you can’t afford 70k on 300k+ a year. My kids 2 combined EFCs were about 50k and we earn less than half what your family does.
The bottom line seems to be that the PARENTS are likely saying, “no,” we won’t pay $70k per year for Cornell. Your sibling’s education only costs us $20k per year. We’re not paying 3x that for your education. If we say, Yes, to you, then we’ll have to say, “Yes,” to your younger siblings with similar demands…and heck, older sibling may then demand that we pay for grad school or something because we spent so much on you."
So…how much WILL your parents pay EACH year for YOUR college? What are they SAYING???
Let’s cut to the chase…if they will only pay $20k to $40k per year for you, then we need to know that.
@flatKansas thanks for the advice, I’ll definitely consider those ideas. @mom2collegekids Don’t patronize me for answering your question, you asked me how my parents made that jump in income and I told you. I’m not asking for sympathy, I’m asking for advice on the best way to file an appeal because my parents told me that they can’t afford Cornell. Rather than sitting around until May 1st demanding that they show me their secret stash of cash that they must have because their income looks big on paper, I’m going to do something about that while I still can, and for the record, I was born in France. @thumper1 I want to go into global medicine, and being in New York would open the door to far more international connections than being at UT
Absolutely not true. When you apply to med school, your undergrad will really not matter. Cornell is upstate in Ithaca. If you want to go in to global medicine, then you will want to do a stint with the World Health Organization/Doctors Without Borders, etc or perhaps a stint in the Peace corps after undergrad and before med school. You do not need to attend Cornell, nor will attending Cornell give you an advantage in doing any of those things.
Since you have med school in your future, you should take the most affordable option for undergrad. Your parents income and assets will still be required for you to get any type of need based aid for med school (otherwise, you will be borrowing approx $400k).
I think that you have a lot of wishful thinking going on. You sound like Gretchen, trying to make fetch happen. The possibility of you getting any kind of need based aid based on your family’s income is pretty much nil.
It is highly unlikely that you are getting any kind of financial aid with income of $350k from Cornell. You would be ineligible for aid at Harvard, which has a $32Billion endowment and provides aid for family with normal assets up to 200K. I know that if Cornell is your dream that it could be hard to give it up. Unfortunately, there are a lot of kids who give up the Ivies every year because it is not a financially feasible option for their family. Go where it is affordable, and do well.
@sybbie719 http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/470770-decisions-pre-med-at-cornell-p1.html I recommend you read that thread, and at UT 54% of undergrads get into med school, at Cornell it’s 71% and jumps to 85% for those with a GPA of at least 3.4, so yes, it does matter where I go for undergrad. And, all the people I know who went to UT ended up staying in Texas for med school, which means they’ll most likely end up practicing medicine in Texas, as they’ll have already established those connections. Cornell is extremely diverse, so I can get all kinds of connections. I’m not asking for need-based aid like grants or scholarships, I’m literally just asking how to get more loans, that’s why I need advice on the best way to file an appeal
The problem
Okay, the best way to file an appeal is to give them new, compelling information that usually has to do with missing information. Who was hospitalized, long term, in your immediate family? Where are those insurance receipts? What information was missing from your parents’ tax forms? What financial errors were made on the school’s part?
Your parents said they can’t afford the school. They CANT AFFORD the school.
Are you asking for a full ride?