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Kareni
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 42 |
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Posted: Mon Mar 31st, 2008 02:21 am |
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I am curious to know if there is a list of private schools that require the FAFSA but not the Profile or their own institutional application for financial aid.
A friend (who is a small business owner) has a child who is currently a junior. The friend believes that a FAFSA only school would result in a more advantageous financial aid situation overall.
Any ideas if such a list exists?
Regards,
Kareni
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3216 |
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Posted: Mon Mar 31st, 2008 02:47 am |
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Out of the more than 2600 four year colleges in the U.S., only around 250 or so require the CSS Profile. So, the easiest way to answer your question is to look at the list of colleges that do require it. You can find it on the CSS Profile section of the College Board site, but here is the direct link:
Colleges Requiring the CSS Profile
By the way, your friend's assumption is somewhat faulty as each student's financial aid is going to be determined by (1) the family's individual financial circumstances (2) the desirability of the individual student to the individual college and (2) the financial aid policies of the individual colleges. While some families applying for aid at some colleges may find straight federal methodology (i.e., FAFSA only) results in a better package, this is not always the case, depending on the above factors. In some cases, the more detailed information of the CSS Profile can actually result in a more beneficial award. So, the best place to start is by talking with financial aid officers at various colleges about how your family's individual circumstances will be factored by their institutional policies, not by ruling out CSS Profile schools right off the bat. I would also recommend running the numbers in the FAFSA4caster and the College Board's financial aid calculator to get a clearer picture.Last edited on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 02:55 am by CarolynLawrence
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Kareni
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 42 |
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Posted: Mon Mar 31st, 2008 08:24 pm |
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Thank you very much for the link, Carolyn. I hadn't realized that so few schools actually use the Profile. (Of course, it seems as though all the ones that interest my daughter do. Wait! I see that Beloit, Grinnell, Hanover, Hollins, and Knox are not on the list. Now I need to determine what, if any, other forms they require beyond the FAFSA.)
I will certainly be passing this link on to my friend along with your other advice. I know that she's prepared to argue her case to a financial aid officer.
Thanks again,
Kareni
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leftcoast
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 1st, 2008 07:51 am |
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Keep in mind that most colleges that use the FAFSA only do not promise to meet the full need of all (or even most) of their students. So while the information is worth having, the fact that the school doesn't ask for extra information cannot be equated with an expectation that the aid package will be good.
With that in mind, I'll note that NYU is a FAFSA only school. They also have a well-deserved reputation for giving good financial aid only to a tiny fraction of their admitted students, with the rest being given packages with very limited grant aid and mostly consisting of loans.
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Kareni
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 42 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 1st, 2008 02:33 pm |
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leftcoast, thank you for sharing that (I think!). You've opened my eyes to something that I hadn't considered.
Is there a simple of way of determining what kind of financial aid package(s) a school typically gives? (i.e., to determine the type of information that you shared about NYU?) Or would that make life way too simple?
Thanks again!
Regards,
Kareni
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leftcoast
Member
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Posted: Wed Apr 2nd, 2008 02:48 am |
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You can check statistics posted with the common data set for each school -- these are often available on individual college web sites, and the data will show up on sites like collegeboard.com or http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. Information is also available at princetonreview.com (free) or the usnews.com college site (annual subscription required).
There is a web site called http://collegedata.com that lets you register (free) and enter in your EFC data, and then look to see what the "expected" award would be at each college. This is merely a statistical application -- that is, if a college provides 80% of need on average, the collegedata.com site will assume you will get that 80%... but they do have good info on average loans & work study award, so it might be easier to use that tool than to try to make sense of the figures on your own.
But you have to know that colleges which offer merit aid or which do not promise to meet full need of all students typically also leverage their aid, which means that they give very generous aid to some students... while giving very weak awards to others. Many even have offices of "enrollment management" rather than "admissions" or "financial aid" -- they are very clear that their goal is to offer each student the minimum required to entice them to that college, in proportion to how much they want that particular student to attend.
So if you only look to 100% need schools or FAFSA only schools... you might be missing the ones that are most likely to be generous. The generosity might be for factors other than merit-- for example, a small college seeking to improve gender balance might typically offer more money to boys than girls. So it helps to get a sense of what the college is looking for -- diversity factors can often be something that attracts money. (I'm using "diversity" in the broadest sense - not just ethnic or geographic factors).
Last edited on Wed Apr 2nd, 2008 03:17 am by leftcoast
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Lupine
Member
| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 135 |
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Posted: Sun Apr 6th, 2008 12:43 am |
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leftcoast wrote:
There is a web site called http://collegedata.com that lets you register (free) and enter in your EFC data, and then look to see what the "expected" award would be at each college. This is merely a statistical application -- that is, if a college provides 80% of need on average, the collegedata.com site will assume you will get that 80%... but they do have good info on average loans & work study award, so it might be easier to use that tool than to try to make sense of the figures on your own.
Just FYI, I visited that site and started to sign up, and then I read their privacy policy, which basically says they can do just about anything they like with your information:
Whom does 1st Financial Bank USA disclose personal information to?
Outside the 1st Financial Bank USA Organization. We may disclose all of the information we collect about our users, as described above, to individuals or companies that assist us in providing our products or services. We do not otherwise disclose any nonpublic personal information about our users to anyone outside the 1st Financial Bank USA organization, except as permitted or required by law.
Within the 1st Financial Bank USA Organization. We may disclose all of the information we collect about our users, as described above, to companies within the 1st Financial Bank USA organization. These companies do not offer financial services directly, but assist us with important risk management, legal, Internet, securitization and account-acquisition services.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3216 |
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Posted: Sat Apr 12th, 2008 12:47 am |
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Some other ideas: The most current source of information on financial aid is going to be the school's current Common Data Set. Not every school publishes or makes their CDS available, but a quick search of the website usually turns it up if they do.
Second to that, I think it's worth springing the $15 to access the premier account at the US News & World Reports education site. They take the information from the CDS of each school, and the info. is usually more current than the government's IPED site, which tends to lag behind by two years.
Finally, the data on the College Board site is free, and pretty complete.
But, of course, it never hurts to ask the colleges of interest directly. Some questions I like to ask:
1. What is the average amount of debt that students graduate with? Or, what is the amount of loans your typical freshmen receives? Or, what percentage of students have loans in their financial aid packages?
2. What percentage of admitted students have their full need met by your school? (No better question to ask if you want to see an admissions person squirm)
3. If the cost of attendance goes up, do you use additional grants or loans? How much has the cost of attendance gone up in the last four years?
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Kareni
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 42 |
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Posted: Sun Apr 13th, 2008 01:18 am |
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leftcoast, thank you for the two websites that you provided.
And Carolyn, thanks for your suggested questions. I see that I have lots of work ahead of me!
Regards,
Kareni
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