<p>Are there rankings for universities with best need based financial aid? Obviously Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford would be at the top, but I want to know more schools with comparable aid.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale and Princeton have rare generous formulas for aid. Other schools (even those with good aid) aren’t as generous.</p>
<p>You posted the following earlier…</p>
<p>*My parents can pay only about $15 to 20k a year.</p>
<p>yeah our income is around 120k. *</p>
<p>Unless you get accepted to H, Y, or P, your expected family contribution is likely going to be higher than $15 - 20k per year - especially if they have any assets/savings.</p>
<p>I would imagine that with an income of about $120k and modest assets, your CSS EFC will be about $25k per year - at least.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids said:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>mom’s estimate seems to be in the right ballpark to me. Since OP says parents can only afford $15K to $20K, OP will need to take the time to choose his/her financial safeties very, very carefully.</p>
<p>So to the OP:</p>
<p>For financial safeties, you will need to be looking at places where:</p>
<p>1) COA is less than $20K. Start by seriously looking at your in-state publics</p>
<p>2) Places where there’s some serious automatic merit money for applicants with the OP’s stats. You can start with this thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=AUTOMATIC[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=AUTOMATIC</a> . Also look through the links on <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1151-financial-aid-scholarship-resource-threads-start-here.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1151-financial-aid-scholarship-resource-threads-start-here.html</a> for more information about schools that might have automatic merit awards large enough to make the school a financial safety.</p>
<p>And when you start considering academic matches, you should also consider looking at the schools’ merit awards and policies for distributing those awards. Strongly consider applying to some schools where your stats place you at or above the 75% and that have significant merit awards that are not too horribly competitive. Make sure you apply for all merit awards that you are qualified for even if they require additional work or an earlier deadline than the regular RD deadline.</p>
<p>Beyond HYP, look at Dartmouth, Swarthmore, and Amherst. Read current policies carefully but I believe those are still loan free. Barring unmentioned assets (and you need to find out about these now, not later) you will be in the right ball park at these schools. Dont forget the expected summer and campus job earnings from you, likely to add $3500 or so to what your parents are expected to pay.</p>
<p>US News and World Report has a section where they rank the schools in terms of final cost, which takes into account the financial aid they give.</p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>what the cpt said</p>
<p>in addition . . . short course:</p>
<p>1) The US News & World Report Big Book has 2 relevant stats for colleges:
% of students with merit aid
average merit aid award</p>
<p>Some that we found, for examples:
Oberlin 17% $10k
Muhlenberg 30% $11k
Wash U 14% $5k
F & Marshall 24% $13k
Grinnell 32% $10k
Beloit 25% $10k</p>
<p>2) other schools have a lower List Cost
McGill $27k
Ohio State OOS $32k
Grinnell $44k
Penn State OOS $27k</p>
<p>3) Look at schools that give merit aid where your stats place you in the upper echelons;i if they really want you there they will give more than the average</p>
<p>
The financial aid estimators have said my EFC will be from 12 to 17k, at HYPSM.</p>
<p>^^^As m2ck has stated, HYPS(I’m not familiar with M) are different from ALL other, even very generous, colleges. Due to their recent changes in FA policies for mid-upper income families, you should not expect to get comparable offers at any other colleges.</p>
<p>Yeah on Princeton Review “Great Financial Aid”</p>
<p>1) Swarthmore
2) Harvard
3) Stanford
4) Yale
5) Princeton</p>
<p>and i don’t remember the rest. Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Ohio U, UVA, and WUSTL all make the top 20 though.</p>
<p>My quote: *
I would imagine that with an income of about $120k and modest assets, your CSS EFC will be about $25k per year - at least.</p>
<p>OP quote: The financial aid estimators have said my EFC will be from 12 to 17k, at HYPSM. *</p>
<p>My response:<br>
Yes, because those rare schools have unique aid programs. You could not count on getting that low of a CSS EFC at other CSS schools. </p>
<p>That’s why I posted “Harvard, Yale and Princeton have rare generous formulas for aid. Other schools (even those with good aid) aren’t as generous,” in an above post. Those few schools have a policy that is roughly 10% of income (assuming that there aren’t large assets).</p>
<p>So, please don’t think that your CSS EFC would be that low at other ivies or elites. </p>
<p>BTW…do you know if your parents have large savings or other assets? If they do, then their CSS EFC will increase because of that - even at HYPS. </p>
<p>And, since you’re from the NE and you’re Asian, your chances to get into HYP could be harder, so you need to carefully choose other schools that will work for you if you don’t get into HYP.</p>
<p>You need a mix of schools that include HYPS, some schools that will give you generous merit, and maybe some state schools. </p>
<p>BTW…is the M in your quote MIT? If so, they aren’t anywhere near as generous as HYP. A young man this last spring with a family income of about $85k (from divorced parents in 2 households) was given a family contribution of $17k (about 20% of their total income). That amount was very difficult because of the parents are living in two households and therefore have higher living expenses.</p>
<p>The problem with institutional EFC is that it can differ widely. Some schools take into account home equity, some do not, some do with a cap. So will consider 401K assets in the equation, most don’t. Some want the value of your cars. The CSS PROFILE is sort of like the Common App; there are some questions that are particular to certain colleges.</p>
<p>Even with the same methodology, colleges can come up with different need figures. If there is anything at all unusual in your parents’ assets or earnings, it can be viewed differently by different schools. Also, how much the college wants you can enter into the picture as well, and how much the college has to give is also important. Some schools also meet need with loans, a few do not. Some give more loans than others.
Many start the package with Stafford loans, work study, maybe a school loan and then a school grant. It is rare that a student gets a “full ride” or full need met without some self help component, except from very few schools, and of course the rare student. No one can count on being in that situation even if one is a top drawer student.</p>
<p>The 'name" schools that do give merit money, tend to be very selective as to who gets it. It is more difficult to get large prestigious merit awards than to get into HPY. Mainly because more kids are vying for them and there are far fewer awards of this sort than there are seats in the top universities. Again, anyone who has the possibility of getting any such awards should give it a try, but no one should count on this venue.</p>
<p>Anyone who needs money to go to college, should have some financial safeties on their lists that are also admissions safeties. It’s fine to shoot for the stars in terms of reaches, but have some choices that are sure landings as well. In my opinion, these safeties are the most difficult schools to find and make up the true work in college selection.</p>
<p>
I will look at Swarthmore now. Thanks for answering my question.</p>
<p>
It doesn’t need to be that low. I just want to add other colleges to my list that are close to HYPSM in aid. And also, I have figured out my financial safeties because of all the advice from before, do not worry about that. The only thing I am concerned about in this thread is schools with good financial aid to look into, like Swarthmore, thank you very much elbeeen.</p>
<p>
I got a great EFC in the calculator for MIT, so I’m assuming they are as generous. The family had two households, probably a lot of assets too, we don’t know the full picture.</p>
<p>Also, I really do appreciate everyone’s concerns and helpful advice about safeties and all, but trust me I got it covered.</p>
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<p>OK, I’ll just say this one last time, with your family income and possibly substantial assets it is highly likely that no schools will be CLOSE to HYPS. Two years ago our family income was closer to 100k with larger than customary assets. While Y gave us a generous 25k/yr, Amherst, Brown and Dartmouth said our need was zero. YMMV, but the fact is that those four schools are substantially more generous than ANY others for incomes from about 100-200k/yr.</p>
<p>ok…US rankings has a list for school with most need based aid awarded…but its in the premium edition. Can anyone post this?</p>
<p>You can add some additional schools to your list that are generous with aid, but be aware that even getting into these schools is difficult. To focus on the aid feature and not face the stats for admissions would not be wise with those accept rates. Look for other options as well, such as lower sticker prices, merit aid that you have a good shot (which you will have as someone who is a HPY possibility) at gettiing. Even the schools that are generous in aid can give the students they want the most the more generous packages. By being a top applicant at schools, you will have a better chance at a more generous package. Just because a school is not so generous overall with financial aid does not mean that certain select students do not get a lot of money. I’ve said it before…I know kids whose best package was from NYU, a school that does not meet 100% of students aid. They can be generous to the select students that they most want. If you can find schools where you fit that niche, the chances for a generous package increase.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse:</p>
<p>As someone very interested in NYU and very worried about financing it, can you tell me what other schools these people who received good packages from NYU were accepted to? It would be very appreciated and helpful. I can give you my personal statistics if it would help. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>