I see a lot of elite universities that claim to meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial aid. For example on University of Chicago’s website they state “At the University of Chicago, we pledge to meet 100% of your family’s demonstrated need through a combination of grants, scholarships, and work expectations”. Do universities like this really pay for everything that your family cannot pay? If my family’s Estimated Financial Contribution on the FAFSFA is around $5,000, will UChicago actually cover the remaining $65,000?
Run the net price calculator because it might be a little different. For me, my FAFSA EFC was lower because it doesn’t include the non-custodial parent info which the school required.
University of Chicago doesn’t use non-custodial parent info.
The other schools that meet full need use the CSS Profile or their own form (Princeton has its own form) to determine need based institutional aid eligibility. The FAFSA EFC is really not what is used. The Profile delves into greater depth into finances than the fafsa.
Most of,the schools that meet full need for all do have a student contribution…it can be several thousand dollars. They expect that students will work to help pay for college. For very low income students, this is sometimes fulfilled with work study.
You should run the net price calculators for the schools. If you have married parents, they aren’t self employed, you don’t own real estate in addition to your primary residence…you should get a decent estimate of your net costs…and possible aid.
But remember. These very generous colleges are also very competitive for admissions…with many accepting less than 10% of applicants.
I just used the calculator and got $1,877 as the expected net price. I put in the information exactly as it appears on my parent’s forms but it seems a little too good to be true.
whi h college did you do? Chicago?
If your net price is $1877…your family income is well below $50,000 a year. Does that sound right. Might be below $40,000 a year.
100% need schools will include a family component of some sort, a student contribution of some sort, and some loans, as well as grants and what the school throws in. The loan amount will be quite reasonable, usually, and well below the national average. If you feel that you simply can’t afford someting and you’re at a full need meeting school go and talk to the FA office. They may be able to work something out. Even frugal students find attending full-need-meeting schools to be lean. You will not get rich at these schools, but you will get an excellent education at bargain basement prices.
National debt average is about $33K.
Need-meeting institutions average ranges from $6K (Princeton) to about $16K (Grinnell and Vassar). YMMV.
Need-meeting schools want you the student and the family to have some skin in the game, but they tend to be pretty generous. Different schools have different formulae for figuring need.
There are a bunch of schools that meet full need…with NO loans for families with incomes below a certain amount.
What does this mean:
Averages don’t mean a thing when it comes to need based aid. It’s what each student gets based on the school’s calculations of need for that student.
This line was directly under the line mentioning debt. This is the average debt per student coming from these schools that meet 100% of calculated need.
That means that the average debt for students at 100% need meeting schools is in that range. If you look up their average student debt, those are the statistics. Let me know if you nee me to point you to the location of those statistics.
Many 100% need meeting schools will include debt for even their poorest students. Because they want student skin in the game.
While you are correct taht each individual will get his or her own special package for FA, I find the debt averages school by school to be telling. They tell you taht the school ensures less debt compared with other schools, for example.
I have to update my numbers. Here are more current numbers.
Princeton’s average student debt is $8,500
Vassar’s average student debt is $17,800
Grinnell’s is $15,500
Haverford’s is $14,700
U of Chicago’s is $21,300
All of these institutions profess to meet 100% need.
You can guess from these averages that if you choose to attend Princeton, you will have less debt than if you attend Vassar or University of Chicago. On average. In all probability.
Part of the variance can be explained by the socioeconomic status of students that attend, but certainly not all of it. Vassar is known for seeking out underprivileged, smart students. If it’s meeting 100% with zero loans, then it’s average debt should be lower than Princeton’s, which has an higher SES on average. But Vassar’s debt is higher than Princeton’s. Haverford and Grinnell are need-blind (or have been until recently) and that predicts that students with higher need would seek them out. They would be expected to have a higher ratio of low-income smart students, and if you say that they make a package with no debt for the lowest income students, those schools’ debt average should be lower than Princeton’s. But it’s not lower. Their average debt per student is higher than for Princeton. U of Chicago has an even higher debt average than all of the others, and yet remains below the national average.
The fact is that many very low income students at schools that meet 100% of need have debt as part of their packages. You may know of students with 100% of need met with zero debt, but I personally know of no one in that category. And then there’s the data.
My family income is a little under $50k a year and I definitely plan to do work study. So the estimate I got is reasonable? Also, does UChicago specifically cover everything with no loans or do they expect low income students to take out some loans? The website only mentions “Federal Loans are available, if you wish to borrow.”
What does verwage student debt have to do with this…a little? Sure.
But there are kids who have NO financial need really, but they choose to take the Direct Loans out. Or their parents ask that they do so. These would count in the amounts for debt…but not necessarily because of financial need.
To the OP…it is very true that the amount of actual aid you receive even from schools that meet full need will vary a lot. Each school uses its own formula to compute need based aid.
Just make sure you look at those net price calculators for each separate school. What you get for one school just may not be even close to another.
Not necessarily. Colleges may determine EFC their own way that is different from the FAFSA calculation. They may also expect a student contribution (federal direct loan up to $5,500 and/or a few thousand dollars of work earnings).
A college that claims to “meet need” will produce a net price of EFC + ESC, where EFC is the college’s calculated EFC (not necessarily the same as the FAFSA EFC) and ESC is what the college expects the student to take in loans and work earnings (may offer work study to give preference for on-campus jobs). This can differ substantially at each college, so run the net price calculator on each college.
U Chicago does not expect low income students to take out loans. The aid comes in the form of grants that do not need to be paid back.
UChicago is very generous even among the 100% need met no loans schools. With an EFC that low you would most likely only have a work study requirement that would be used to cover your personal expenses. So you basically wouldn’t have any bill to pay with UChicago and you would get pay checks for your work study. The work study seems to range from $1000-3000 per year. If you aren’t granted enough from work study to cover things they don’t cover you can still get other campus jobs too.
Just because a school has a no loan policy, does not mean that you may not have to take out loans. The school is going to budget trips home in your cost of attendance, but they are not purchasing you s ticket You will have to get the money through your parents,savings from summer earnings, savings from work study or a loan.
You must have adequate health insurance, perhaps a new computer, book money, and other misc expenses
You did not make your &4000 from summer earnings, you may have to take out a loan because the school will not be increasing your grant
I respect your opinion, but I think it’s a mistake to assume that 100%-need-meeting schools as a rule do not include some loans in their calculations. Some schools do include loans. Not all of the “average debt” is as you claim for kids who do not need the loans but for some reason just get them anyway. Or maybe I’m reading your assertions incorrectly.
This idea that no loans are included is a disservice for poor kids attending these schools. When they graduate many still have loans to pay off, albeit much smaller amounts than if they’d attended other schools. This means that the jobs and (increasingly) INTERNSHIPS, nonpaying, that are available to them upon graduation, are that much more limited.
The bottom line is that 100%-need-meeting schools often do require the student to take out loans. It is simply a fact. That student scrapes bottom throughout his or her education, sometimes also sending work-study money home to pay electric bills for the family, for example, and then upon graduation must get a paying job rather than any unpaid (often more prestigious) internships.
I said SOME schools do not include loans for families with incomes below a.certain level. Not all schools. SOME.
And for very low income students at very generous schools, the student contribution can be met with work study…and a summer job.
There ARE kids who graduate without loans.
But yes…some kids will still need to take loans…or will choose to do so.
The loans for most meets need schools -'are federal loans. Not too onerous, and with decent protections compared to private loans. OP, the challenge is getting into the schools that offer great aid. You need a backup plan, too.
Yeah, I know getting in is the hard part, but it’s good to know that if I do manage the aid will be good.