Appealing Financial Aid Offer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carleton College
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<p>This is a data point of exactly one, but when ds1 applied to Carleton, Grinnell and Mac, Carleton was the best offer of the three. Yes, he received both merit and FA from all three, but the bottom-line figure was best at Carleton by a few thousand.</p>

<p>Ds2 decided not to apply to any of those schools but did apply to Pomona and CMC. Their offers were fabulous and quite similar to Carleton’s for ds1. Now, this year is the one year that we’ll have two in college so Pomona’s and CMC’s offers might have been a little more generous than Carleton’s appeared that first year with ds1, when he was the only one in college, but all the offers – ds1’s first year at Carleton and ds2’s first-year offer at Pomona and CMC – were within a couple of thousand of each other, when taking everything (work study and loans) into account.</p>

<p>When ds2 and I visited Carleton I liked what we were told – that the school is 95% need blind. Basically, they admit 95% of the class and then assess where they are with regards to FA. If they haven’t met their quota, they can admit more who need it. If they’ve overshot it, then that last 5% are admitted in part on their ability to pay. I’m thankful that ds1 apparently was in that first 95%. Is that the way it still goes? I hate for someone to read Carleton isn’t totally “need blind” and have people assume that admissions officers are sitting in rooms twirling their handlebar mustaches trying to figure out how to only admit the richest of the rich, because that’s just not the case in our experience. </p>

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<p>By the way, to shed some light on the OP’s original concern about negotiating a better financial aid package, I can share experiences…</p>

<p>From my family’s experience with Carleton’s financial aid, they were more than reasonable. They met my family’s EFC. We complained that the package was too low without giving any good reason why it was too low. They actually raised the package slightly after that in terms of grants and work study. I remember when I arrived at Carleton, I said hello to an admissions official I worked with, and she subtly complained about this, but I was too oblivious at the time for it to dawn on me what she was talking about. They did raise my aid package for no good reason, so I can only say the experience was positive.</p>

<p>Another relevant experience I’ve had is applying for a need/merit based fellowship at the start of my PhD program at U. Michigan. Usually, a person who worked and then came back to school would not have been eligible. For example, you can’t quit a job and say “now I have need”. I had lost my job in the great recession (2008) and was able to show I was on unemployment benefits. This made me eligible…if I ever get a chance, I’ll thank my former employer for firing me :P. The point is for the OP, showing a layoff letter or unemployment benefits as the cause of the family’s decrease in income is huge when dealing with need-based financial aid in almost any situation (grad, undergrad, different institutions).</p>

<p>I’d like to hear from the OP about what eventually happens.</p>

<p>As for Carleton being need-aware…</p>

<p>I think it is more like 85% need blind, but it is hard to find an official statement on it. I’d be very happy if it were 95% need blind. Google points to a previous College confidential conversation about it…</p>

<p><a href=“Carleton Admissions - Need Blind of Need Aware? - #16 by blabbers - Carleton College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carleton-college/1227599-carleton-admissions-need-blind-of-need-aware-p2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I was able to find articles about it quoting 15% pertaining to Carleton… </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2011/03/college-admissions-in-hard-economic-times/”>College admissions in hard economic times - The Cavalier Daily - University of Virginia's Student Newspaper;

<p>Carleton does not have the endowment that these other institutions do that are need blind. Grinnell and Amherst may give 25 - 40% more aid (amount of money not percentage students with EFC met), but they both have over twice the endowment as Carleton.</p>

<p>Carleton basically started a building new buildings after 15-20 years almost exactly when the changed the admissions policy to need aware in 1993. Without the new buildings, it is very difficult to see Carleton as being competitive.</p>

<p><a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/facilities/property/historical/”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/facilities/property/historical/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hopefully, sometime in the future, Carleton will be need-blind again.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your responses! I was accepted to Swarthmore a few days after posting this, and considering it was even higher on my list than Carleton, I’m appealing there first. Swarthmore gave me no aid whatsoever, which is upsetting. I think they calculate need a little differently than the rest of my colleges. </p>

<p>If Swarthmore doesn’t reconsider, I will try appealing to Carleton and let you know how it goes. </p>

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Carleton offered our child far less than other schools, and while we can all debate the various rankings and considerations of peer schools, suffice it to say that offers up to $25k per year in true peers was common, vs nothing at all at Carleton, and up to full ride in schools that are likely just a tier down. They have been consistently polite, while unwaivering in their discussion on point. The essential message we took away is they just don’t really care. Take it or leave it. Our child did opt to attend Carleton, and their admission credentials were squarely in the midst of accepted students who attended, and our child is in the top 20% of current students. (for what it’s worth)

What we really need is for Sanders to get elected and fix the entire process.

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Carleton, with the exception of a small National Merit scholarship, does not offer merit aid. That is typical of many of the top tier private colleges and universities. As far as need-based aid, I found Carleton to be generous, although I have seen some posts where others did not.

As for Sanders, even if his proposals had any chance of passing through Congress, they would not apply to private colleges and universities.

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…so related to this conversation that I will not forget or get over…

Carleton JUST MISSED being in the New York Times list of 38 colleges that had more students in the top 1% than the bottom 60%.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

If you type Carleton College into “Add your favorite colleges to the tables in this article:”, Carleton came in 42nd with 14.4% of the students in the top 1% and 15.5% on the bottom 60%.

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It looks like Carleton does a good job of providing financial aid for those that need it. Certainly paying tuition that is higher than almost every school in the country (yes I know there are a few that are more) is something out of reach for many. However, their lack of providing merit based aid will cost them good students. I know because my son will not be attending. It just doesn’t make sense economically to pay the entire cost when other good schools offer merit based scholarships to help reduce the cost of a college education. Being from Minnesota and attending the Mayo Clinic for my Orthopaedic residency has made me proud of the wonderful education available in Minnesota, but I just can’t stomach paying that much more to attend Carleton. I’m quite certain their are plenty others who feel the same.

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@Bonedoc63: You don’t seem to understand how costs and financial aid work at top colleges.

First, some context: Carleton is one of the top schools in the country – I don’t think I’ve seen a LAC ranking where they weren’t in the top 10 in the country, and the top one in the midwest.

Regarding cost, here is a list of the most expensive schools in the country – a few years old, but still relevant:
http://campusgrotto.com/most-expensive-colleges
Carleton is 53rd. So more than “a few” are more expensive than them. And scanning the list, that includes about 26 LACs. Sounds like they’re actually a pretty good deal!

Further, just about all schools ranked that high only do need-based aid (i.e., no merit). Looking at the USNews ranking, of the top 18, a handful do a nominal amount of merit aid, the rest zero.

Yes, it’s true that for some good students the cost will be too high; but then that’s true at just about every other school at a similar level. And Carleton, and those other schools, seem to be able to find more than enough kids willing and able to pay that cost. So this model is working for them (and is arguably fairer overall).

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One thing I’d like to mention is a recent very major gift made to Carleton addressing needs-based financial aid.

https://apps.carleton.edu/media_relations/press_releases/?story_id=1482722

This is a 20 million dollar gift from the Weitz family. I really think this type of thing does a lot to make Carleton affordable for middle class and working class students.