The FAFSA/CSS-PROFILE trap

disconsolatte
Fri, 31 Mar 2006 03:40:16 +0000

As a former student at Rice who was essentially ejected by their financial aid determination after two years, all I have to say is this: make sure you are willing to pay the amount the sticker says. My father’s income increased from about $35k/yr to the low $70s with a family of four, and it was somehow decided that our ability to pay had increased by a very large fraction of his pay increase - never mind the additional tax burden, or the inability to save in our situation with that family size. Am I bitter? Yes.

Fortunately, it doesn’t matter. Rice doesn’t have the marquee name of some other schools, except regionally, and I went to a school with virtually no prestige at all for the rest of my undergrad. Now I’m going to one of the best graduate programs in the country, where they’ll be paying me. The irony, of course, is that a few of the people from my major I knew at Rice were there for some of the recruiting weekends I went to, also… the only difference is, they’re carrying tens of thousands of dollars in debt that I’m not.

Moral of the story?

Rice isn’t worth it unless you’re either very rich or intend to stop at the B.S./B.A. level. Rice students may be the best, but the Rice faculty isn’t - nor is their teaching.