<p>How good is Duke with financial aid?</p>
<p>My parents make ~ 90k before taxes</p>
<p>Duke financial aid is very good overall. However, it is the best for families who make under 40k a year (they get full rides, or some extremely large amount of aid) and often people who are in the 40-100k income bracket find it very difficult to cope with Duke’s tuition even with the decent financial aid it gives.</p>
<p>I mean…it’s impossible to know and depends on a variety of factors other than annual income, but I would guess, as a student on financial aid–if you are the only kid in college, and your parents dont have a whole lot of other assets–you’d get around 65-80% of your expenses paid. Other opinions? Also realize that within “financial aid” is included around $2000 in work study and $5000 in federal student loans per year. So even if you got 100% covered in “financial aid”, you would still leave Duke with $20,000 in student loans (assuming you accepted them and didnt pay them off). You don’t have to accept loans, though, if you can afford to turn them down then you might be able to get away without any. Just know that they’re included in finaid.</p>
<p>Also, DUKE WILL NOT BARGAIN!!! Once you get a number, unless your financial situation dramatically changes (that does not mean if it has the <em>potential</em> to change…it has to have dramatically changed ALREADY from the time you submitted your initial documents), then your financial aid will stay the same. You can’t just ask for more money or give them a sob story (even if it’s a legit one)…the numbers must have changed.</p>
<p>Since I’ll assume you are a rising senior, and considering the fact that Duke will probably cost around 57K for your freshman year, I would guess you’d have to pay 10-20K for the first year, plus 5K student loans and 2K work study.</p>
<p>Note…THIS IS A TOTAL GUESS! Don’t hold me to anything…just apply and see.</p>
<p>There aren’t many options then if you decide to go ED…</p>
<p>Most of the advice on this website might be a bit late in the OP’s case but it’s very sound in terms of what assets to wind down and stuff for maximizing FA. </p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Financial Aid Applications | Maximizing Your Aid Eligibility](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Maximizing Your Aid Eligibility - Finaid)</p>
<p>Duke’s financial aid (though not up to par with the Ivies because ALL of their aid is need based, as opposed to Duke’s) is pretty good. Duke is one of few universities with the “100% full need met” policy in that, they will make sure that you and your family can afford to pay for Duke. That being said, I haven’t heard of anyone who has said that they have received mediocre financial aid from Duke, so I think you should be fine and will be able to afford it.</p>
<p>BallerDuke…you aren’t even at Duke…lol, your class has known about their financial aid for what…a few weeks? I have mediocre/not so great financial aid. I can afford Duke in that I can take out student loans to afford it. There are many people who choose not to come to Duke because of finances, so I wouldn’t downplay the possibility that it’s going to cost quite a bit…to the point of considering not going.</p>
<p>It’s good if you family makes less than 40-60k
It’s bad if your family makes six figures plus
They cap their student loans at 5k, which is a good think, but if you need more than 5k, you are outta luck.</p>
<p>Overall in comparison with peers like Standford, for example, which gives full ride to families that make less then 100k…then Duke is pretty bad…</p>
<p>Student loans do not make up the bulk of the FA packages that Duke offers. Additionally, no one likes to be saddled with something like 100K of debt coming out of college. Student loans, unlike many other types of debt, are practically impossible to discharge, even through bankruptcy. Capping the amount of loans offered is Duke’s way of discouraging students from taking on unmanageable debt loads. </p>
<p>Also, from a financial standpoint, Stanford is not a peer school to Duke. It’s endowment is easily twice if not more than three times as large as Duke’s. At the present time, Duke can only waive family contributions for those whose income is below 60K, to raise that to 100K would be unsustainable.</p>
<p>Sigh, the Middle Class is always left in the dust</p>
<p>My financial aid from Duke was absolutely amazing! Georgetown only offered me about 6k in financial aid and calculated my EFC as 46k. FAFSA calculated my EFC as 27k. Duke calculated my EFC as 7k and offered me 48k in financial aid! And, I didn’t even complete my financial aid application until after I enrolled! I was very very pleasantly surprised with my financial aid from Duke, especially considering my parents make about 150k and have no other kids in school.</p>
<p>fwiw, there’s likely a calculation error with income of $150K and an EFC of 7K. suggest that you might consider they will catch this when you re-file next year and you would not get such good aid again next year.</p>
<p>rimtennis,
there definitely has to be a miscalculation. We’re practically in the same boat, and no where near the aid you are receiving. Three years of mediocre aid is our experience. Enjoy.</p>
<p>duke gives lots of merit scholarship, in full rides and in $10,000’s, at time of admission. You can also get more $10,000 scholarships after you become a student, ie, being in orchestra or something.</p>
<p>^There are actually only ~60 merit scholarships a year. The liklihood of getting one is VERY slim.</p>
<p>@nks123,</p>
<p>As someone who has just been through this miserable (heartbreaking) experience, my suggestion to you is … given your family’s financial info, forget Duke. Focus your efforts where your choice of college will not force your family to mortgage their future. Between family income of $75 and 150K, “financial aid” from Duke will require enormous sacrifice, much more than I was willing to ask of my family. IF your academic stats are “ivy caliber” and you want to try to get a full ride, then you might do that, but if you don’t get merit aid (you probably won’t), save yourself a lot of grief and just move on … oh, make sure you apply to state schools where the chance of LARGE merit aid is much greater.</p>
<p>
Fewer than that if you don’t meet certain criteria. </p>
<p>AB Duke ~15 a year (all students)
Robertson ~15 a year (all students)
University Scholars ~5-8 a year (all students)</p>
<p>Trinity ~3 a year (specific counties in NC only)
BN Duke ~12 a year (NC/SC only)
Reginald Howard ~5 a year (African-American only)</p>
<p>
I’m appalled at the amount of bitterness in this post. Chicago was my first choice in high school and offered me crumbs compared to my other financial aid packages, but you’d hardly see me discouraging other applicants from applying there. ([Here’s</a> the thread about it.](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/54179-u-chicago-worth-extra-money.html]Here’s”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/54179-u-chicago-worth-extra-money.html))</p>
<p>Every student’s situation is different. Income is not the only factor - it also depends on savings, other siblings in college, assets, and much more.</p>
<p>The only way for the OP to find out is to apply, hopefully be admitted, and check out the package for himself/herself. As with anyone requiring financial aid, I would discourage the OP from applying ED to Duke or any other university.</p>
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<p>Preposterous. My family income is 100K and I got 30K from Duke and the Ivies alike. It all depends on your family’s situation. I’d encourage you to apply and see, as warberlsrule suggested.</p>
<p>@warbler, Thanks for the link, that was a funny thread …</p>
<p>"I’m appalled at the amount of bitterness in this post. "</p>
<p>“Appalled”? Really? Bitter? Hardly, I’m being PAID to live and study at a top ranked university for the next four years. I couldn’t be happier. My advice was based on the current realities at Duke. Today, Duke is a school for “rich kids”, with a token amount of very low income students. Those are just the facts. The administration has expressed a desire to change this over time and I commend them for this. But this will take time. Someday middle income students will be able to attend Duke in numbers … someday …</p>
<p>I agree with your opinion about ED, it should be avoided.</p>
<p>@eats,</p>
<p>“My family income is 100K and I got 30K from Duke and the Ivies alike.”</p>
<p>Really? How much of that was “real” aid? I was offered a 21K grant plus loans and ws. Vanderbilt’s grant was about the same. WashU was about half that. So Duke is by no means the worst. Harvard expects you to contribute 10% of family income. (for you, about 10K) … </p>
<p>Students entering college are at an age (I just turned 16) where most are concerned about ME first, I suggest when it comes to college financing, try to consider what is best for your entire family, … beyond just ME …</p>
<p>“I’d encourage you to apply and see,”</p>
<p>As I suggested. You just might get lucky.</p>