 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
Lupine
Member
| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 143 |
| Mana: |    |
|
Posted: Mon Mar 10th, 2008 06:07 pm |
|
Does anyone have any recommendations as to an efficient way to screen LACs to identify those with better financial aid for middle-income families? In our case, better would mean less reliance on home-equity to determine the expected family contribution.
I know that some of the most prominent colleges have recently enhanced financial aid packages, but we're interested in more of the colleges you don't read about every day, and I realized that I don't really know how to go about looking at this.
|
CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3316 |
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Mon Mar 10th, 2008 06:44 pm |
|
The first place to start, I think, would be with colleges that guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for all admitted students. I have a list on my blog at:
http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2007/03/which-schools-meet-full-need.html
(Note: Antioch is on the list, but no longer accepts new students)
Keep in mind that guaranteeing to meet full demonstrated need means they'll meet up to your family's EFC with some combination of grants, loans, scholarships, and work study. So, the next step would be to consider how much debt is tolerable to your family in terms of student loans, then research the average debt upon graduation (The US News College site is useful for this research - it costs $15 a year for the indepth version)
After that, I'd use US News or the COOL site to determine which schools come close to meeting full need for all students. There are a number that come very close, but don't guarantee to meet full need for everyone. Still, they'll typically meet 97% or more.
It is very important to ask every college under consideration the percentage of students who have full need satisfied. Every school will tell you that they have "great financial aid" but "great" only applies if your child is the one who has full need met.
I'd also recommend that you do a search on my blog for "Financial Aid Leveraging" to learn how colleges use FA to attract the most desirable students. The simple fact is that at *most* colleges and universities (beyond the highly selective ones stealing the headines these days) the most desirable financial aid packages (i.e., with lowest loans, or coming closest to meeting full need) go to the most desirable students. Of course, with the news coming out of the most selective schools changing the landscape, if your child is in realistic range of those sorts of schools, they should also be on the list. But, if realistically they're not a candidate (or even if they are as a safety net), make sure the list includes solid matches as well as reaches.
Hope this helps. It is very difficult to talk in anything but generalities when there are 2,600+ colleges involved.
Last edited on Mon Mar 10th, 2008 06:44 pm by CarolynLawrence
|
Lupine
Member
| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 143 |
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Mon Mar 10th, 2008 06:57 pm |
|
Thanks, Carolyn, that was exceedingly helpful. I've been trying to think about how the change in F.A. policies at the most prominent colleges was going to play out -- my guess is that middle class students who can get it to one of those schools (that would not be my D) may well apply at as many as possible in the hopes of hitting the lottery, but I'm not sure what it means for colleges that are very selective. (I'm noticing that college selectivity adjectives are beginning to look a lot like those for laundry detergent: is Jumbo bigger than Giant?) If Stanford is very highly selective, what's that make Amherst? Colby? Scripps? Davidson?
I guess I'll pony up for the UN News site.
|
CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3316 |
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Mon Mar 10th, 2008 08:25 pm |
|
I would say that the principles of putting together a good college list apply when you are hoping for good financial aid.
Start by determining what type of school would fit your daughter best, then take a realistic look at her admissions profile (gpa, test scores, other things she offers).
Then, develop a broad list of colleges where there seems to be a good fit between what she is looking for and what she has to offer.
Finally, do the research into financial aid policies at the ones that seem to be the closest match in terms of her interest and admissions profile to see what their FA policies are like. Ask a lot of questions directly of admissions and financial aid offices, don't just rely on the printed sources. T
The meeting point between student desire for the school and school desire for the student is probably where a middle class student with solid gpa/test scores (but not Harvard level) will get the best financial aid packages and merit scholarships.
Not an exact science, but probably the best you (or anyone) can do.
I am philosophically opposed, by the way, to playing the lottery when it comes to selecting colleges. 
|
leftcoast
Member
|
Posted: Mon Mar 10th, 2008 10:58 pm |
|
Lupine, your best bet if you have high home equity is to look for colleges where your daughter is likely to qualify for merit aid. Most LACs are going to take family assets into consideration -- those that rely on the FAFSA alone usually don't pretend to promise to meet full need.
|
Current time is 04:26 am | |
|
|
|
|
