<p>Tufts got nailed in the Bernie Madoff investment scandal and lost a bunch of their endowment + the value of their assets in general has probably gone down as has everyone else’s this year + Tufts is one of the schools that takes into account things like your siblings assets and your parents’ home equity and your parents’ 401k contributions as possible sources of income that could be used to send you to Tufts + Tufts is notoriously stingy with aid (no merit aid and typically only meets the mandated need and little else). But an appeal can’t hurt and, as stated above, next year it will be recalculated. However, if you expect to get more aid base on “my parents have lost money in the stock market”, well, I believe the line forms to the left.</p>
<p>One idea that has been poking around here on CC over the past few months is that schools like Tufts – elite colleges who attract a high caliber of students – may likely see their yields, and the caliber of their incoming 2013 class, both decline this year due to the fact that they cost a lot, and are not in a position (or choose not) to provide financial aid to the middle class students who have been accepted this year. We may expect a big shake-up in how schools award aid starting next year, once they realize that a large percentage of those they have admitted will end up declining in favor of more generous (less onerous) offers. The fact that students are applying to 15 or 20 schools this year only makes this situation worse for the colleges. It’s the perfect storm…</p>
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