so, how exactly does financial aid work at Cornell?

CayugaRed2005
Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:31:54 +0000

Unless your parents are disabled and are unable to work (in which case even then they would have income in the form of SSI), the University assumes that they should be able to work.

And if there are no jobs in the area where your family lives, I would actually just recommend you stay on campus and try to find a job in Ithaca. You would be amazed at the amount of temps that certain places on campus, like the library and the admissions office, hire.

The other option would be to see if you can declare financial independence from your parents. This isn’t the easiest thing to do, and not necessarily recommended in all instances, but in the case where your parents are providing you with no support (e.g. no food or shelter), that would be the route to go.

But even then the student would have a summer self-help component and work study contributions.

It sounds like your family is in a tough situation. I wish you the best of luck in pursuing your education.