<p>On this thread she is asking specifically about Bennington which does NOT meet full need for all accepted students.</p>
<p>That would be the minimum. Per the Bennington website below, the college does not meet need, so you need to determine exactly what your parents are willing to pay and then see how close Bennington can come to filling the gap…the key is going to be how much your parents can actually contribute…for 4 years. $7,688 is not a terribly high EFC which means money could be tight in your family…too tight for a $55,000 college but really all you can do is lay it out for the financial aid office and see what happens. Make sure you know the bottom line of what you can afford before you go talk to them. </p>
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<p>“On this thread she is asking specifically about Bennington which does NOT meet full need for all accepted students.”</p>
<p>“she”…heh</p>
<p>Thanks, momofthreeboys. The conversation I had with someone in admissions today was somewhat encouraging, but we’ll see how it goes. </p>
<p>Thanks for your help, everyone!</p>
<p>Sorry mostly I put she/he or he/she…all dogs are hes and all cats are shes…my car is a she…I must have been in a hurry last night…please don’t take offense.</p>
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<p>The list below (according to a past post) is where the OP applied to college. He did not get accepted to Vassar. The majority of the colleges on this list do NOT meet full need for all accepted students.</p>
<p>Allegheny College
Bard College
Bennington College
Colby College -
Geneseo, State Univ. of New York
Green Mountain College
Hamilton College
Hampshire College
Macalester College
Sarah Lawrence College
SUNY New Paltz - Match/Slight Safety?
University of Rhode Island
University of Vermont
Vassar College</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Bennington except thirty some years ago it was the most expensive college in the country and I had a friend who graduated from Bennington. Perhaps some demonstrated interest will open the purse strings…but I don’t know how well endowed Bennington is. It could have been pricey back then because it didn’t have a huge endowment. The package the Op has is more than 1/2 half off the price which isn’t too bad except the OP doesn’t appear to know how much the parents are able to contribute. </p>
<p>Macalester is a huge outlier in that list…it’s urban with a campus in the “city”, in the midwest, it has an international flavor and it’s has a strong pre-pro tilt…I wonder why Mac is on that list? There are other colleges more similar to Bard, Bennington and Hampshire in the upper midwest I could see if you wanted something in the upper midwest, but Macalester? Op what sparked your interest in Macalester it’s so very different from all the others? Just curious.</p>
<p>@Thumper1</p>
<p>Despite the fact that the colleges I applied to do not meet full need, I am confident in my ability to pay for my home state’s college as well as the SUNYs. </p>
<p>However, I’ve always been drawn to alternative education, and that’s what makes Bard Bennington, Hampshire etc. so attractive. My parents don’t make much money (relative to many on CC, that is – ~$70,000), but they managed to put my two siblings and I through a private Waldorf school without loans. So we’re pretty good at scrimping and saving.</p>
<p>@momofthreeboys</p>
<p>No offense taken RE: “she” :)</p>
<p>“OP doesn’t appear to know how much the parents are able to contribute.”
My parents say they have the ability to contribute about $7000 (though that depends strongly on our financial situation that year, as my father is a union painter who is at the mercy of the amount of work available), and will take out loans if necessary, though not the amount. We’re both hoping it doesn’t come to that.</p>
<p>I applied to Macalester almost on a whim. I wanted to apply to at least one school outside of my geographical area, and I liked to idea of a liberal arts school in a city. Perhaps there’s a reason why so many are in rural areas, however. In retrospect, Oberlin or Grinnell may have been better fits, but Mac seems to have at least some of the same culture, albeit in a school with more stringent distribution requirements. </p>
<p>Also, “According to US News, Macalester is one of only 70 four-year colleges in the United States that meets the full financial need of its admitted students.” Sounds good to me!</p>