Yale advertises they meet the full need of ALL accepted applicants, waitlist or not.
@CU123: Everyone’s financial situation is different, but when my son was at Yale (Class of 2015), my wife and I were making between $150K and $170K and the cost of attendance for my son was about $17K per year. As the OP’s family is earning less per year and Yale is Need-Blind and Full-Need for International Students (https://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/), something is off. So, the OP needs to find out how Yale calculated his or her financial aid and go from there.
The catch in the guarantee to have 100% of need met, is the definition of need. I do urge you to call Yale and ask for a Fin Aid Officer to go over your package in case there has been a mistake. However, often, the way a college defines need does not mesh with the students. If your family owns property or a business, if you have finances unusual here in the US, or a Non Custodial Parent, you can get hit with expectations to tap any of these items when it is not a viable option for your family.
I know families who own farms and properties that have been in the family for generations, and though the land or whatever generates little income, there is an asset value that the schools use. The same if a family lives in a paid for home, and can not afford to pay any mortgage on it. Doesn’t matter. Some schools insist that the value be included in the assets.
If the family income is from self-employment, investment, real estate, or any form of a family owned or partially owned business (corporation, partnership, limited company, etc.) the number that a family thinks is their “income” may have absolutely no relation to what an educational institution thinks their income is when calculating financial aid.
Here is one example: let’s say a family owns all (or a portion) of a building through a trust and a limited partnership in which a family member is the general partner. The property generates income in excess of expenses so that it is cash flow positive, but depreciation makes it a net loss for tax purposes, and the family trust refinanced the mortgage in excess of the previous mortgage and pocketed the extra cash, which isn’t income, because taking out a loan isn’t income, and then they deduct the interest paid on the loan turning that profitable building that put a ton of non-taxable cash in their pockets into a tax deductible “loss.” That is one way to put big bucks in the family pockets, but show no or “low” income.
Should they get fin aid because the tax return shows moderate income? Or will the fin aid office drill down through the numbers and decide the family is loaded and there is no “need” to be met?
I’m not saying that is the case here, but there are dozens of ways the numbers can work out so that a family showing moderate taxable “income” on a return could have vastly more money available.
Hi everyone, thanks for all your help and advice. I’m rather embarassed to admit that my family made some mistakes when modeling our finances. Yale’s offer is actually perfectly reasonable and all is right with the world. Mods, feel free to take down this post.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I’m glad it all worked out, but per forum rules, we do not delete posts on request.