<p>I've decided to only apply to one of these schools and am choosing solely based on who could potentially give me the best financial aid. I'm planning on applying RD and have been doing some research on finaid, but it seems that being from the middle class, I'll probably get about the same offer from each. I am right or does one of these schools offer better finaid than the others? I appreciate your feedback.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, when you calculate your EFC on collegeboard, is the number they give you for all four years or just for one?</p>
<p>EFC is the amount you are expected to pay for one year. All of the schools you list use the college profile so the yearly amount you are expected to pay would likely be higher than the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Williams and Amherst provide more reliable aid than BC. Below is a link from a 2005 article extremely critical of financial aid at BC. I personally know of several top students with high EFCs on the FAFSA ( one a val and national merit) admitted Early Action to BC only to receive extremely poor financial aid, primarily loans.</p>
<p>Economist's View: Changes in the Cost of College across Income Classes"Admit-deny is when you give someone a financial-aid package that is so rotten ..... Boston College, and Boston University are among the highest-profile ...
economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/10/changes<em>in</em>the_.html - 121k</p>
<p>Williams has a financial aid calculator which is pretty on point (at least it was when my D applied). It was our experience that the Williams package was much better than the Amherst Package.</p>
<p>To BC's credit they do have a few merit aid scholarships where as Amherst and Williams only give need based FA</p>
<p>Sybbie, was the package from Williams better in that it had a lower loan component, or a lower EFC, or ? I wonder now that Amherst is going "no loan" how that would compare with a Williams offer. When I did both their online calculators using their own methodology, Williams came out with a somewhat higher amount for our EFC. Not enough difference that it would be a deciding factor, but the no-loan program at Amherst certainly would be.</p>
<p>As you look into all of this, here is something else to think about: expenses other than tuition and room and board. I don't know about Amherst, but the way Williams handles things is worth taking into consideration. If you get any financial aid at Williams, you will qualify to borrow your textbooks from the 1914 Memorial Library each semester. This saves hundreds of dollars (textbooks are extraordinarily expensive, even used). The college has very rich cultural offerings. Most of them and virtually all sports events will be at no additional cost to students. For a $10 annual fee, a student can borrow all sorts of camping and outdoor equipment from the Outing Club and use the college's cabin. In other words, Williams students can get by very nicely with very little spending money, which really helps lower the overall cost. In addition, Williams is very generous about making grants to students for various things they want to do.</p>
<p>By contrast, some schools charge extra for almost everything aside from courses, the meal plan, and a room. I have been reading on another thread about students at big urban schools who "need" a minimum of $200/week of spending money, plus money for books and often for transportation in the city. It adds up very quickly.</p>
<p>I suspect that, if Williams and BC had the exact same tuition, room, and board and you had the same EFC at both, Williams would turn out to be considerably less expensive in the long run (due to the "everything's included" approach, the 1914 Library, and the college's generosity in making opportunities available). I could be wrong, but do look into this.</p>
<p>To piggy back on Grace's comment, that is one of the things I did love about Williams, their "no hidden fees" approach so there is not a big divide between the "haves" and the "have nots". Movies, concerts and other things on campus are free or very minimally prced ($5, $10). She is right about factoring in books (if the library does not have a book, they will give you a voucher toward purchasing a book -it just has to be returned to the library at the end of the term).</p>
<p>The thing you must take into consideration at a school close to a big city is when the weekend comes, students with $$ will be hanging out int he city; shopping, going out to dinner, clubs, etc. It could easily become a very lonely place if you are the person "stuck" on campus every weekend because you can't afford to go out.</p>
<p>During the admissions cycle D (now a rising senior) got accepted to amherst, dartmouth, williams, barnard, tufts, bryn mawr and Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>There was a total of $12,256 between the Barnard package and the final offer we got from dartmouth (we used the Williams offer to negotiate a better offer from Dartmouth where D is now attending. However, the williams package was not the overall best package, we were just negotiating between 2 comprable schools). </p>
<p>Originally Williams gave more grant money,less loans, a less student contribution, less parent contribution than Dartmouth. </p>
<p>Dartmouth met Williams' EFC, lowered the loans, and met the grant aid.</p>
<p>EFC 2221 lower than barnard
student contribution 585 higher than barnard)
Grant money 7720 higher than barnard
loans 2600 less than barnard
work study 300 less than barnar
total 12256</p>
<p>difference between Williams and Amherst</p>
<p>parent contrib 2251 higher at amherst
student contribution 975 higher at amherst
grant money 4906 lower at amherst
loans 3500 higher at amherst
Workstudy 100 higher at amherst
11732</p>
<p>We were not impressed with Amherst FA package either (rising Jr.). Williams was decent, Swarthmore was on par with HYPC. MHC offerd $100K in merit which blew everyone away. In the end Harvard just about matched the best need based aid and has improved it each year. Dartmouth and Brown were not competitive for us. In general, without merit money, the LACs (Wellesley, MHC, Smith, Williams, Amherst, Midd) and lower Ivies were not on par with HYPC for need based aid. MHC and Rice had very nice merit money. There was considerable variation from top to bottom across all of the packages.</p>
<p>D's experience this year is that Swathmore was decent especially if you are deemed a Swathmore Scholar, which means loans are replaced by grants. Wellesley and Bryn Mawr were very similar, basically on point with the EFC calculator (<a href="http://www.finaid.org)%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.org)</a>. MHC blew us away with a $120K merit award. D will be at Yale which I have said before is a blessing due to H recent layoff. Yale's generosity is amazing, for example freshmen can petition for additional aid to off set the cost of a laptop. All students on financial aid can request additional funding due to excess cost (beyond what is usually estimated in the student's budget) for books, travel (up to 4 trips home per academic year) and health insurance.</p>
<p>I'll add another data point on Williams v. Amherst FA.</p>
<p>Total Cost (tuition + room/board + various fees): $510 lower at Williams
Grants: $2203 higher at Amherst
Loans: $1100 lower at Amherst
Work Study: $150 higher at Amherst
Total FA: $1253 higher at Amherst
Net Cost/Year: $743 lower at Amherst
Parent Contribution: $840 lower at Amherst
Student Contribution: $97 lower at Williams
Total Debt after 4 years (assuming same FA package): $4400 lower at Amherst</p>
<p>I'm attending Amherst and I got my loan and part of my work study wiped out by a NMF scholarship for this year. Since Amherst is going loan free next year, that means I get to graduate college debt free!</p>
<p>It looks like the differences between Amherst's and Williams' methodology favored me more than Sybbie and bandit_TX. My situation may be odd, because my dad is self-employed (home repair, including a lot of pools and hot tubs) so he has to pay out quite a bit for parts (pumps, motors, circuit cards) , which means our gross and net income are very different. My guess is that the difference between Amherst and Williams FA for me depended quite a bit on how they took my dad's self-employment into account.</p>
<p>FWIW: We got incredible packages from Barnard (D) and Williams (S). Only Mt. Holyoke was better. (Brown less, UChicago a little less, Smith less.)</p>