<p>Say, one has no parents or an EFC. Would a top private school such as Northwestern, Carneggie Mellon, or USC give me the same great aid one would receive as a freshman? Is being a transfer a much bigger hindrance now?</p>
<p>Having just applied to transfer, I can tell you that most schools - even top private ones - do not guarantee meeting full financial need for transfer students. In fact, many schools are need-aware for transfer admissions. </p>
<p>For the schools you listed, Northwestern’s website states:</p>
<p>"Transfer applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply for financial aid in the form of grants, loans, and part-time employment.</p>
<p>Financial aid is awarded on the basis of need, but is dependent upon availability of funds. Northwestern grant assistance is generally not available to transfer or returning adult students during their first year at the University."</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon does not necessarily meet full need even for freshmen admissions, so I doubt that they would for transfers. Make sure that you can transfer to CMU before you apply, as certain schools (Tepper) do not even accept transfers, and others have very limited space.</p>
<p>USC appears to meet full need for all accepted students, however, it seems that they re-calculate your need by a different formula. Your EFC may end up higher than the number estimated by FAFSA.</p>
<p>Strictly according to the websites, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, and a few others work that way, but their transfer admittance rate is single digit, so go figure yourself. :P</p>
<p>You have to check each website individually and sometimes call. Traditionally schools are need aware for transfers, and don’t meet full need.</p>
<p>Read the college websites, start at the top of the list of most selective schools and work down, you won’t have to go very far. </p>
<p>There are relatively few schools for fr admissions that are need blind and provide 100% of need, and considerably fewer for transfers.</p>
<p>What about Johns Hopkins?
I did check the college website but didn’t see any info regarding whether financial aid is guaranteed for transfer.</p>
<p>^Call them and ask.</p>
<p>Middlebury meets full financial need, but isn’t need blind.</p>
<p>I believe so are Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan…</p>