<p>I know that Caltech promises to meet 100% of student need. However, from many examples, I've seen that financial aid amount has been inconsistent. How good is Caltech finaid compared to HYPSM?</p>
<p>Maximum loan allowed is 3.5k</p>
<p>It’s really going to depend on your situation and you don’t get to know until you are accepted and see your package. Caltech is among the best of the colleges that meet demonstrated need. HYP are way beyond that for middle-income people.</p>
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<p>Not sure where you got the number from. </p>
<p>Yes CalTech is known to give more grants than loans and try to keep loans to a minimum. However the catch always is, the demonstrated need. CalTech uses CSS/Profile in addition to FAFSA and follows the institutional methodology. So, your need may be less than the FAFSA EFC as the institutional methodology considers equity in the home as an asset for example, but FAFSA ignores the primary home.</p>
<p>CalTech FA for those with low incomes is one of the best, but once your income starts moving up, it may not be that good like say Harvard, who give good FA even for students with a annual family income of around $170,000.</p>
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<p>Um… wow… I maybe shouldn’t have used the qualifier “allowed” but here is the source direct from caltech’s website:
[Affording</a> Caltech - Caltech Caltech Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/affording]Affording”>http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/affording)</p>
<p>Caltech’s policy is basically: If we admit you, we’ll make sure you can afford to go.</p>
<p>^^^^^ The loan portion comes in only after the EFC is accounted for. Let us say the COA is $30000 and the COA is $50,000. So the balance of $20,000 is met with loans and grants (where they may limit loans) and you have to come up with COA of $30000. Possibly that $30,000 is in part due to the fact that your parents for example, have $200,000 in equity in your house. As CalTech follows the institutional methodology, they expect you can leverage the $200,000 to get some money out of it. It may be the money comes from an home equity loan or parent plus loan, which are not considered as loans when CalTech or other institutions provide data.</p>
<p>So the issue is not as cut and dry as you might think it is. That said, CalTech does provide good aid for students with low income.</p>
<p>^^^ I meant EFC of $30000</p>