<p>How close does the Amherst Financial Aid Calculator come to the actual final FA decision? </p>
<p>We are applying ED to Amherst. Not knowing the actual financial obligations before hand is a bit… tense. My daughter would be playing a varsity sport, is quite good at it (parental bias unfairly applied) and has the academics to get in. The financial obligation is totally open ended and undefined, other than knowing the maximum if nothing is offered. If the financial calculator is, typically, on target at least we know what to expect. If it is very conservative… or overly optimistic… that would be good to know as well. Commentary, subjective or objective, is greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Amherst did provide the best package to my D last year compared to other schools (state or private) she got admitted. I can not answer how close the “financial calculator” to the real package because we did not use it last year. Good luck to your D’s ED.</p>
<p>We did the Amherst FA aid calculator under similar circumstances a few years ago and it was highly accurate. The final award was very slightly different from what the calculator predicted. It was a small difference in our favor, but so small it wouldn’t have mattered if it was not in our favor. (If I recall the difference was around $50 or something like that.)</p>
<p>The estimate will only be as good as the numbers you put in, though, so try to be as accurate as possible.</p>
<p>Amherst gave us the best FA package of any school, including the one where DD was given the Presidential Scholarship with free tuition at a private for 4 years. 4 years at Amherst cost us what 1 year there would have.</p>