I’m not entirely surprised by the lack of financial aid my child received from the schools they applied to, but it is certainly frustrating.
The Publics
They worked incredibly hard and were accepted to a number of prestigious universities, only to be met with staggering price tags. The total cost to attend Michigan – Ann Arbor out of state is $84,164 a year. That could easily hit $350,000 for four years of school. Suddenly, Wisconsin – Madison feels like a steal at $63,268 per year.
The University of Washington comes in at $67,800 per year. They don’t use the CSS Profile and acknowledged that we actually need the full amount, yet they offered a meager $900 from a federal program.
The only out-of-state public school to offer our child any additional aid was the University of Minnesota. Their face value is $63,584, but our oldest was accepted into their honors program and received $23,000 in merit aid. This would make Minnesota half the cost of Michigan, but still leaves us looking at roughly $165,000 for four years.a
This, of course, brings us to our state school, The University of Illinois at $36,930. Since we are in-state, they receive an additional $8,400 from the MAPS program, plus $8,000 from school grants. They even earned a $5,000 merit scholarship. Once you factor in the Pell Grant (which applies to all schools at $7,400), we are looking at a net cost of only $5,000 a year.
Is Michigan a better school than Illinois? Arguably, yes. Is it $70,000 a year better? I can’t imagine.
The Privates
WashU has the WashU Pledge, and I previously wrote about how we should easily qualify if they got accepted based on our income.
When our child was accepted, I was shocked. I thought they had just secured a free ride.
Well, I was wrong. It turns out they don’t just look at Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). They consider your entire gross income plus any retirement contributions toward that $75,000 threshold. Under those rules, we weren’t even close. I was heartbroken.
WashU without any aid is $97,000.
Then came Northwestern, the day before Ivy Day. To our immense excitement, they were accepted. This is where my Dad got his Master’s degree, and he would have been incredibly proud. Unfortunately, the math was less sentimental. Northwestern is $96,236 a year. Because it is an Illinois school, they do actually receive the $8,400 MAPS grant, but that still leaves the cost at roughly $80,000 a year.
Next was Ivy Day: Berkeley (rejected), Brown (rejected), Princeton (rejected), and Dartmouth (waitlist).
Yale was the final decision to be opened. After having already been deferred during early admission, our hopes were low.
But… Bow Wow Bulldogs. They were accepted to Yale! Yale was the #5 school in my 2025 rankings. It was also the #5 political science school.
Because Yale heavily advertises that families making under $75,000 pay nothing (a figure we had verified with their Net Price Calculator), we were genuinely excited to see the financial aid package.
There was no aid.
Strike three.
Yale’s financial aid report literally showed that, according to the FAFSA, we shouldn’t be expected to pay anything! But that doesn’t matter. Yale is a private institution that uses its own formulas rather than federal ones, and we received nothing.
The Decision
It begs the question: What is a college education actually worth? Social pressures easily trick people into feeling that taking on massive debt is just a normal, expected part of the process. When you lay the numbers side by side UIUC at $5,000, Minnesota at $33,000, Michigan/Northwestern near $80,000, and Yale pushing $90,000. It really doesn’t feel like much of a choice at all. The clear, responsible winner is UIUC.
But… it’s Yale! Right? Right??
In the end, it’s the ultimate test of practicality versus prestige. UIUC makes all the financial sense in the world, but an acceptance to Yale is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As deeply frustrating as the financial aid system has been, we are willing to pay the premium to give our child this experience. Thankfully we are in a position to cover the cost so they won’t have to start their adult life burdened by student debt. It’s a staggering price tag to swallow, but… they’re going to Yale!
