<p>I don’t know how intense the Sienna program is but one of my son’s suitemates is going over for the German program (Yale/Berlin). The best way for him to get a real feel for it is to speak with someone who has gone (did he post on FB for input?)…maybe a parent of someone who went last year will see this…the good thing is that grades are Yale grades and go toward his GPA (or bad) … my son has decided on a Harvard program at the Univ of Trento and the grades won’t impact his GPA…but the credits will trf. My S is actually happy about that as it takes the pressure off for the summer but I did remind him that Grad Schools will see the grades…he just wants to take classes with the head of the Nuro Science Dept at Harvard…thinks it will be ‘cool’ …hope so…</p>
<p>mimk6</p>
<p>Sienna is amazing…as is just about anywhere in Italy.
I am sure there is time in the schedule for travel etc and I wouldn’t be surprised if its required to write papers about the art/architecture/culture etc.</p>
<p>We lived in Italy for awhile and your student will really enjoy it.</p>
<p>Don’t be surprised if your student comes home with a S.O. as our K1’s roommate has a S.O. - they met on the Sienna trip last year.</p>
<p>My son did the Introductory Italian class in Siena last year and absolutely loved it. His host family was wonderful, he loved the city and came home nearly fluent. They were expected to do classwork - if he wants to learn Italian, this is a great way to do it.</p>
<p>There were school-sponsored weekend trips to Florence and Rome. He also spent a weekend in Cinque Terre, which was amazing.</p>
<p>Hi I am new here and have a question for the Yalie expert parents:
My house was purchased at the price of $350k in 2006, which is at peak of the housing bubble and its current market value estimated by our County for 2012 is about $325k. I have no loan on it. This is a big depreciation and is not expected to rise in a few years. But Yale FA said my house will contribute $19k/year for my EFC. Do you think it is right?
Y-Dad.</p>
<p>It sounds like they want you to tap the equity since it is debt free right now–so even if you paid more at $350…and its worth $325k now…it sounds like they want you to take a HELOC etc for the $19k … as its an asset.</p>
<p>yikes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the commentsss…Is Harvard different from Yale policy? As H states clearly that primary residence is excluded from assets…Y-dad.</p>
<p>Daughter loves Yale so much she is taking a summer session in Cambridge because she “doesn’t want to miss asemester” at Yale—</p>
<p>YCdad67: Harvard does not include home equity when calculating financial aid, although it does include the value of 2nd homes. See: <a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/will-your-home-equity-hurt-financial-aid-chances-a-case-study/[/url]”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/will-your-home-equity-hurt-financial-aid-chances-a-case-study/</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback on the Italy experience! It’s very good to know he’ll really learn the language. He has a talent for languages and would like to pick up a couple of more while in college. A summer session will give him a language without impacting his ability to take other courses during the year.</p>
<p>@YCdad67: Are you getting the info. from the calculator or is that what Yale is asking you to pay? While one can’t be certain, it seems unlikely that $325K home alone (in the absence of other significant assets or a hefty salary) will lead to an EFC of $19K. That seems high, unless their policies have changed this year.</p>
<p>Taxi from Bradley to Yale - I assume it is possible to get a cab at Bradley here at the end of spring break. Any idea how much it may cost? Several kids are coming into Bradley at nearly the same time and want to save money getting back to campus by splitting a cab. Is this a good idea? If planes are late, etc., can CTlimo be used instead, even without a reservation?</p>
<p>Also - I used the financial aid calculator to try to estimate what our new EFC (for 2013/14) might be. We had a good year last year and earned $10K more than the year before, but the calculator suggests our new EFC will be $14K more than this year (2012/13). I really hope it is wrong…</p>
<p>Tamara6,
You can look into the cost of splitting a towncar. I’ve used these guys before.
Silver Star Limousine
112 Quince ST
Bridgeport, CT 06606
Ph: 203-275-8800 TF: 866-635-8873 Fax: </p>
<p>Some cab companies, you can type in the to and from locations and it comes up with a price calculation.</p>
<p>They told me on phone after we received the estimate letter from Yale FA and called them. Has anyone heard of similar thing?-Y-Dad.</p>
<p>my last message is for parent2015.</p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using CC</p>
<p>sigh</p>
<p>the last 2 years the aid was less than the calculator–felt like Wizard of Oz and what was going on behind closed doors etc…
the calculator said the aid should have been signifcantly higher…</p>
<p>According to our fin advisor who just analyzed our cash flow–we are in the red the last 2 yrs…and yet somehow Yale doesn’t see it</p>
<p>Tamara6: This info is a bit late, but for future, my daughter just traveled from Bradley back to Yale Phelps Gate with CTLimo. Here is their info:The shuttle pick-up location at Bradley Airport is outside of baggage claim area #1, Southwest Airline. When you arrive at Bradley, please pick-up your luggage and contact our Dispatch office at 800-332-3428 to let us know that you have arrived. They will place you on the next available shuttle. I pre-paid CTLimo and printed an e-ticket for her, and she didn’t have any trouble. She is a Freshman and her 3rd trip with CTLimo and so far so good. She also traveled by taxi once from Bradley to Yale shared with 3 other students. I believe the cost was around $40 per student.</p>
<p>Yes, suzanne6868 my sons have used CT Limo for 6 years–but then this year they changed their website reservation system and I can no longer get it to activate a Yale discount or even book a trip to Phelps gate. Did you use the website? or did you call them directly? Other than not being able to make a reservation, we never had any problem with CT Limo before.</p>
<p>My daughter has been using CT Limo and not having any problems (she calls them on the phone to make her reservations, I think). But for the return from spring break she was flying into Bradley at about the same time as some friends and they wanted to get a taxi instead, to save money. My concern was that one of the flights might have been delayed to the point that the kids would all have to go back to campus separately (not sharing a cab), and would they be able to get on to the CT Limo van, even without a reservation. </p>
<p>It seems likely that they could have done that, but all went well, all the flights came in nearly on time, and the girls were able to share the cab back. There were 3 of them and it was $40 each.</p>
<p>[Tweed</a> tower to close May 5 due to sequestration cuts- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut](<a href=“http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/03/27/news/new_haven/doc51525718dc0c0659665832.txt]Tweed”>http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/03/27/news/new_haven/doc51525718dc0c0659665832.txt)</p>