<p>I'm still a little confused on the whole FA and full-need schools thing. </p>
<p>I don't know what I'm really asking, but could anyone who's been through the process (students and parents) give me a little info?</p>
<p>Here are the schools I'm applying to, and the ones with ** next to them are "full-need" schools, but if I'm wrong, someone can correct me, please. </p>
<p>MIT**
Yale**
Cornell**
Smith**
Duke**
Wesleyan**
Rutgers
BU
NEU
UMass
RPI
Wellesley** </p>
<p>Here’s one thing: a school’s determination of your family’s “need” and your family’s determination of your family’s need might vary widely. Meets full need and provides full ride are two very different things.</p>
<p>MIT has a calculator on its admissions web site so you can get a pretty good idea of what they would consider your need to be.
You should check to see if some of the others have calculators as well. I think I read that schools will be required to have these in the future???</p>
<p>Thanks megdog- im still confused on that. People tell me it’s not the same as what I think I need and what they do, but I know it isn’t. These schools are nationally known to be very good will need based aid, and if they weren’t wouldn’t it be know?? It’s confusing. </p>
<p>Megmno- thanks - i used MIT’s a while ago, I think it directs to collegeboard. But they have a rough estimate policy of “if your parents make under _<em>k, you will at most pay _</em>k, and if they make above that, etc.” and they have no loan packages. I know it’s a rough estimate, but when I went to MIT the admissions man said if our parents make under 75k it’s free. </p>
<p>Wellesley has sample cases, which I can somewhat relate to one, we’re liquidating assets now (bank accounts, the money is for buying a house not for college, but of course colleges dont care.)</p>
<p>And I used cornell’s as well. It was along the same lines as the others. </p>