COVER STORY SIDEBAR: Financial aid for returning students
Strength in numbers
Having siblings at Cornell can be a strong factor in financial aid and reducing loans at the outset. Brandi Jackson '10 and her twin sister, Brittani, entered Cornell while an older sister, Tiffany Jackson '07, was here.
Brandi Jackson '10 See larger image
Her freshman financial aid package "was definitely the deciding factor" in her attending Cornell, said Brandi, a pre-med human development major from Twinsburg, Ohio. "When I got the letter of acceptance I was happy, but when I got the financial aid letter I was really happy, because I couldn't have gone here without it. With two of us going here, we couldn't have afforded it."
Without Cornell's aid, "I didn't have a choice -- I'd be going to Ohio State. They were offering pretty much a full ride," Brandi said. "I think when you're working class, you get caught right in the middle. There are a lot of people in the same position."
Brandi and Brittani's first year cost about $35,000 combined; and "it was really similar this past year," Brandi said. "My sister and I had planned to go to different schools, but we also applied and got into the same school. Nobody was going to turn Cornell down."
Brandi's aid included Cornell and Pell grants, and loan replacement as a Cornell Presidential Research Scholar. "So all in all, I came out at about $3,000 a year in loans, which isn't all that horrible considering what it costs to go here."
Her aid package this year "is pretty comparable to previous years," she said. Between Cornell, Study Abroad, Pell and federal grants, her financial responsibility was just under $3,000, and "my sister's financial aid package is nearly identical to mine."
Farm debt vs. tuition debt
Callan Space '09, an animal science major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, also had a sibling here (Kelsey Space '08), and said she had "a really good financial aid package" her freshman and sophomore years.
Callan Space '09 See larger image
"Between Cornell Tradition and my sister already being here, and a sizable Cornell grant, I had no loans," she said. "Coming from a farm, being able to pay Cornell tuition is a huge deal. That was a big help, to not have any loans. My senior year in high school was my sister's freshman year, and she paid a lot more that first year. But having both of us here it was about the same cost, a two-for-one kind of deal."
Cornell Tradition gives tuition grants to 125 new students per year. Callan also received a fellowship granting $4,000 in loan replacement, a Farm Credit Scholarship her freshman year, and Pell grants and New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) grants as a sophomore and junior.