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Because admissions is not a dead certain lock at any of the schools that meet full need. Even for the strongest applicants.</p>
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<p>Pretty easy, actually. Folks with less than $100k of income (and not many assets) will get lots of need-based aid at the top 20 colleges. Indeed, such middle class folks are typically financially better off at a top ~20 than at a UC at instate rates. Even at $120k income, the private’s cost of attendance can match/beat UC. Thus, the ED gamble at such schools may be well worth it for those few extra admissions points.</p>
<p>robin - If your finances are not “uncomplicated” then I would agree that ED is not the right decision. Nonetheless, I have to disagree with you on the generalization that middle-class incomes of $75k/year shouldn’t apply ED. That is right about what my family makes, give or take a few thousand, and with outside scholarships to cover summer/campus work expectation, I essentially have a full-tuition scholarship at Swarthmore. I applied through EDII, at which time my package expected us to pay a small fraction of the tuition in addition to room/board/fees. (We do fall into the “uncomplicated finances” category, but with not-insignificant home equity.)</p>
<p>I would never apply to a school ED that didn’t make written promises with regard to the amount of loans packaged. No loans preferred, of course, but I would also consider those with reasonable loan caps that are spelled out in writing on the school website.</p>
<p>Schools that meet full need with max loans are not what I would truly consider “generous,” or at least generous enough to take a chance on ED. If the school does not make a statement regarding loan caps, I would further assume that they will package the maximum possible (although this is not always true, it’s a useful generalization).</p>
<p>Moreover, if you need merit aid, you shouldn’t be applying for ED unless the school has made a written commitment to provide the necessary amount of merit aid (e.g. a guaranteed NMF scholarship).</p>
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QFT.</p>
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I agree that WFU’s definition of meeting full need is disingenuous at best.
[Frequently</a> Asked Questions: Types of Aid](<a href=“http://www.wfu.edu/finaid/faq2.html]Frequently”>http://www.wfu.edu/finaid/faq2.html)</p>
<p>I also want to note that some schools (Juniata is the one that comes immediately to mind–it does not promise to meet full need, mind) will allow prospective ED students to get a pre-application FA estimate. I know that Juniata’s estimate form asks for the student’s academic stats as well.</p>
<p>curm, your generalization is almost-but-not-quite true. Although this doesn’t apply to me personally, I know that my in-state flagship (UDel) recently began guaranteeing full need with a high loan cap (but still capped) for in-state students only. UDel also offers the Commitment to Delawareans, which is a practical guarantee of admittance. My friend applied in mid-April and was awarded extremely generous financial aid. In this case–which I know is rather niche–the “dead certain lock” does guarantee to meet full need.</p>
<p>My apologies to all the Delawar-ites? eans? Blue Hens. (And I’m sure there are other exceptions, too.)</p>
<p>I’m only infallible on days that don’t end in “y”.</p>
<p>^No worries, you’re not too much out of date–I believe they only instituted the policy in 2008/9. (And we are -eans.)</p>
<p>Ok, so if I understand correctly…some schools have grants of their own ? </p>
<p>The one’s we checked here in state, offer merit scholarships. I didn’t see any need based listed except for things like Pell Grants. It’s student loans, private loans, merit scholarships, pell grants , or cash. I thought those things were more of a ‘tax’ thing, depending totally on income.</p>
<p>Most of the local/private scholarships available around here are need based. We didn’t qualify.</p>
<p>So…that’s why when you fill out the FAFSA, they need your school code. If you are using a different code, (different school) the EFC could have been different ?</p>
<p>So, our income at a different school could have resulted in more free money ?!</p>
<p>Did I understand that correctly ? Ok - I feel foolish. (However school we chose is about the same price as the others in state - just better education)</p>
<p>Checkers…the EFC is calculated based on the information you put on the FAFSA and will be the SAME for every school. The FAFSA EFC is used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid (Pell grant, SEOG, subsidized stafford loans, perkins loans, work study). </p>
<p>Some schools, in addition to the federally funded need based aid also have institutional money…money that is the school’s money…that they use to award scholarships or school grants. Some schools use the information from the FAFSA to figure out how to award their institutional money. However, HOW they USE this information for their institutional money COULD vary from the way the FAFSA computes family contribution. Most schools use the FAFSA ONLY to award need based financial aid. About 300 schools require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. These schools use the information on from the Profile to determine how they will award THEIR institutional money. The formulas VARY by school…which is why the awards vary too. Some schools use their own school financial aid form to determine how they award institutional money. Again…no consistency in the formulas.</p>
<p>So for a school that awards institutional money, the awards very well might very from school to school. In fact, even federally funded need based aid varies. For example, schools cannot award money in excess of the cost of attendance, so if your child is going to college part time at a community college and living at home, their total award might very well be smaller than if they attend a residential college full time…because the COST of attendance is higher.</p>
<p>There are a lot of variables in the college financial aid formula for INSTITUTIONAL need based aid. For the FAFSA EFC it is more uniform…if you are eligible for a Pell grant at school A…you are eligible for the Pell grant at school B, C, D and E. This is NOT the case with institutional money. School A could give you $500, school B $5000, School C $10,000…because that is what THAT school decides to do with THEIR money.</p>
<p>T1, very nice and clear post. </p>
<p>Checkers, this is why people shop around for the best FA packages instead of applying ED to one school. </p>
<p>A financial aid packages could contain grants, subsidized loans, un-subsidized loans, and work study. So, different school not only gives different amount of FA, the make up of the FA could be vastly different too. One school could give $50K aid containing nothing but grant and some work study. Another school might give the same amount of $50K but use up to $10~15K loans. </p>
<p>Another major difference I have personally experienced is the willingness to reach out and help a student in need. One school might go out of their way to help a family to prepare documents to demonstrate their needs. Another school might use 597 different ways to say “no” to your request to review the FA package. </p>
<p>At the end, FAFSA EFC is just a reference.</p>
<p>Very good explanation. Thanks !</p>