What you want to do is ask for a financial review. Keep in mind that Havard’s endowment is way bigger than Stanford as they can afford to be more generous.
What is the basis of your review; do you think that Stanford may have missed something?
Frankly, to only have to oay 9k while your family has equity in a second home is amazing.
If the money is a deal breaker, go to Harvard , which is what Stanford may recommend that you do
@sybbie719 I’m not sure if Stanford missed anything. Because Yale is requiring me to essentially pay the same thing as Stanford, although they clearly state on their website “Families whose total gross income is less than $65,000 (with typical assets) are not expected to make any financial contribution towards their child’s Yale education. 100% of the student’s total cost of attendance will be financed with a Yale Financial Aid Award.”. My family’s total gross income is less than $65,000 however and that has not turned out to be the case. So at this point in time, I have no idea what kind of formula Y and S use.
Go4…yes…with “typical assets” too. Having a second home is not “typical assets”.
^^ only your primary hone us a typical asset. Second homes are not considered typical assets. Again, consider yourself vet fortunate considering the fact that:
Stanford is not beed blind to international students so your ability to pay is a factor in the admission decision
You had great need, Stanford accepted you when they are not at a loss for international students who need $$ to attend their school.
They accepted you and gave you a very generous package.
Keep in mind that you apply for aid every year. While they may meet Harvard’s package this year, there is no guarantee you will have will go totally free next year (there is no guarantee that you will go totally free at Harvard all 4 years).
You have an abundance of riches with3 excellent schools There is no wrong choice. You can ask any school for anything you want (if you don’t you have a 100% chance of not getting it). If stangitdsays no, are you willing to walk away
There had to be something sopealing about Harvard since you chose Harvard over the other 2 for SCEA
@thumper1 and @sybbie719 Thank you for all your help and advice so far. I realize that a mistake I was making was that I was comparing the situation in my country to the one in America but that would be like comparing apples to oranges and thus is a moot cause (for e.g. owning a 2nd home isn’t that abnormal for middle income individuals in my country [I’m not talking about 2 mansions, the second is usually a humble abode in a rural area or some similar arrangement of the sort], however a middle income individual in the US would probably have a better quality of life than one here).
I do realize that I have been exceedingly fortunate and I am extremely grateful for the acceptances and financial aid packages that have been offered to me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that having a sticker price of $70,000 reduced to $10,000 is exceedingly generous indeed. It’s just that even so, finding $10,000 in cash every year for 4 years may not be so easy, especially when the family’s gross income is below $60,000 and there are several expenses to be paid. Regardless, as stated before, I am remarkably thankful for what has been offered to me thus far and realize that I have been shown great favor.
Your parents can sell the second home - won’t that bring the $40k you need? Really, you are asking Harvard or Stanford to pay towards a second home for your family and give you a free college education. Wow.
@Madison85 There’s no need to be disrespectful, I showed no negative attitude towards you nor anyone else in this thread. Also, you don’t know the full details of the circumstances. Without going into details, I will state that the house is not just some sort of luxury asset like a vacation home that could easily be discarded. And no, I am not asking for that, I was merely asking for an offer that is affordable (I have not mentioned a single time in this thread that I am asking for Stanford to go down to $0).
Contact Stanford and ask. But have a plan B in case they say no…which they might do.
Which is your most affordable option now? If cost is the driving factor, go there.