<p>So I'm considering some of these colleges and I was wondering how many are known for meeting the full-demonstrated need of students? Which of these colleges give generous financial aid packages with mostly grants? Also, are there any colleges on this list that I should take off because they give out poor aid packages?(Barely meet need or give a surplus of loans)</p>
<p>GPA: 3.7 UW SAT: 2070; retaking 610 CR, 770 M, 690 W 11 Essay
EFC: Around 12k or so
USC
Carnegie Mellon
JHU
Stanford
Claremont Colleges:Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, Pomona
University of Rochester
Creighton University
Boston College
Boston University
Santa Clara University
Whitman College
Willamette University
University of Puget Sound
University of the Pacific
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Hawaii(In-state)
Occidental College
Northwestern University
Lewis & Clark College</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> That Claim to Meet the Full Financial Needs of Students - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students)</p>
<p>[The</a> New York Times > Education > Image > Tuition Free, Loan Free, Debt Free](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/04/20/education/edlife/20essay2.ready.html]The”>The New York Times > Education > Image > Tuition Free, Loan Free, Debt Free)</p>
<p>Most schools by default include loans in the financial aid package. Many schools have policies in place that remove loans and replace them with grants for students under a certain income level. There are some schools (Columbia, Vanderbilt, Princeton, etc) that have all-inclusive no loan policies, no matter what your income is. You just need to do some research.</p>
<p>Secondarrow, I want to make sure you know several things:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You said your EFC is $12K. Is that from a FAFSA calculator or an IM estimator? Please realize that at least some of your schools will require a Profile and they use that to ask for a contribution that is often higher than FAFSA. The Profile does not give you an EFC.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have any divorced, separated or remarried parents, the Profile will use all income (including non-custodial parents and all step-parents). </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think all those schools meet full need for all students. I know Carnegie Mellon doesn’t for all students. This is from their website:
“Need-based financial assistance is used to enroll high-quality students. Highest quality students will receive the most favorable financial assistance packages.”</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Carnegie Mellon - no
JHU -?
Stanford - yes
Claremont Colleges:Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, Pomona - yes
University of Rochester - no…I think
Creighton University - no
Boston College - yes (but their “full need” awards seem to be low)
Boston University - no
Santa Clara University - no
Whitman College ?
Willamette University - no
University of Puget Sound - no
University of the Pacific - no
Washington University in St. Louis - yes
University of Hawaii(In-state) - no
Occidental College - no
Northwestern University - yes
Lewis & Clark College -no</p>
<p>I’m not 100% positive about some of these…but I’m sure someone will correct my errors.</p>
<p>University of Rochester is a meets full need school, but uses Profile and its own FA form to determine need. Federal loans will be used to meet need.</p>
<p>which schools give out decent/good financial aid in general? They don’t necessarily have to meet the full need of students. I just want to know which colleges I should look into more</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“in general” isn’t going to do you any good at all. Schools that meet full need will give you (typically) better need based aid than those that do not. Some schools that give good need based aid also give good merit aid…BUT sometimes this merit aid REDUCES your actual financial need…so you net not much. Some schools allow “stacking” of aid (merit and need based) up to the cost of attendance (I don’t believe ANY of the schools on your list do so).</p>
<p>And schools that meet full need typically either use the Profile or a school financial aid form in addition to the FAFSA. Many of the schools on your list above use the Profile.</p>
<p>Your financial need will largely be determined by your parents income and assets. You should use an online calculator using the institutional methodology to see ABOUT what your estimated family contribution might be (a GUESTIMATE).</p>
<p>How much financial aid do you need? Is your family low income? Or are you hoping for generous aid for a family with a higher EFC?</p>
<p>Those colleges span the entire country. The best advice ever from these forums is to build your list from the bottom up - meaning start with the colleges you can afford and then build your list out. So, you say your EFC is “around 12,000”. I would recommend you sit with your parents and use an EFC calculator to figure out what your federal EFC is and also use a calculator and figure out your guesstimated institutional family contribution as has already been mentioned. Then start researching that list and see which of the colleges meet need and go from there with your stats/GPA etc. to build a list.</p>
<p>Knowing your EFC is one thing, but it is much more important to know how much your parents are willing and able to pay. That is the number you really need. For example, our EFC is more than three times the amount that our family can afford given other financial commitments. Other families are able to pay their full EFC or even more than their EFC.</p>
<p>“Which schools give out decent/good financial aid in general?”</p>
<p>A school that meets full need (look at each school’s financial aid page to find this out) is generally thought of as giving ‘good’ financial aid-- but that doesn’t help you at ALL unless all parents and stepparents are able to come up with what the college says they can pay. The cheapest school for a particular student is often NOT a school that gives good aid but a school that gives generous merit. From the schools on your list, the most generous schools for POOR kids is likely to be Stanford. </p>
<p>So, again, is that EFC from FAFSA? If so, it isn’t much of a help. What is your im estimated contribution from online calculators and are there any unusual circumstances (divorced parents, stepparents, self-employed parents, businesses, student income, more than one property, inheritances or other lump sum payments, considerable assets)?</p>
<p>As far as Northwestern goes, assume you will be expected to pay more than your EFC. Our EFC was less than $4K and we were expected to pay over $6K and my son was expected to contribute another $6K with loans and work study. To me, that’s almost 4X our EFC. He will be attending another school without a student loan or parent contribution and only work study and $1500 summer earnings expectation.</p>
<p>well, my parents are willing to pay up to 15k for my college education even though my EFC is 12k. (EFC is around 12k for FAFSA. I believe it will be higher if I do the profile thing) I am looking to apply to safety schools like Creighton in hopes of getting decent merit aid along with need based aid. </p>
<p>How about USC? I heard that they meet 100% of the demonstrated need of students</p>
<p>Once again, the school gets to define what that demonstrated need is.</p>