<p>Hello! I've posted this question at these specific college threads as well, but would VERY much like to hear about any experiences with financial aid from these schools, which are at the top of my d's list. I especially would like to hear about the extent to which need is met by grants as opposed to loans.</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Laxmom07</p>
<p>Oberlin = Very skimpy on finanical aid.</p>
<p>Can you tell us more? Thanks!</p>
<p>I would suggest that you go to the parent forum and read all the threads about merit aid/financial aid. There are at least two threads thumbtacked on the top and there are several active threads going too.</p>
<p>Have you actually done the financial aid calculator and do you have a rough idea what your EFC will be? Or are you thinking merit scholarship?</p>
<p>Actually, claremont's fin aid is published both on their website and in a college brochure we got last year. It is one of the schools that lets you know by various income levels exactly what $$$ were awarded, and how many awards they were.</p>
<p>Vassar is need only, they gave my D what appeared to be a very nice scholarship (need-based) but when we factored in the loans, it was waaay pricier than the schools using FAFSA (thereby removing home equity on the West Coast from the equation.) If there had not been the loan contingent, we could have considered it, but they were pretty darn high and in my mind, loans are helpful, but not "aid" if I need ot pay them back I still need to budget those funds available, so I did not count any loans in my spreadsheet comparing packages...Vassar was at least $20k more than the UCs...it's been a few years so I do not recall the exact details.</p>
<p>I would ask and try, but be sure to have a financial safety you are willing to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to ALL. I saw that Claremont lists FA, but it does count loans as aid, and I happen to be in agreement with somemom -- loans are not really aid. Thus, doing the EFC doesn't reveal the actual cost, even if that need is met. Which goes back to where I started and why I'm asking for the kind of info kindly provided by somemom. </p>
<p>So if others are willing to share this kind of information based on actual packages offered by these schools that would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Laxmom04</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that all loans are not aid. On the other hand, at the schools my d was targeting, there wouldn't be fin aid grants without the student being offerred the full stafford subsidized loan or perkins up to the federal limit of 2.6K. That definitely proved true in the 9 offers d got. Frosh year= 2.6K, and it increases to 5.5K for jr and sr yr. </p>
<p>I have pm'd more details to you of our offer analysis this past year. We included subsidized staffords and perkins loans in net cost and I have elaborated on my reasoning for that. Other factors we looked at were merit aid offerred, the five year grad rate at each school, and the average indebtedness at graduation, which also tell if kids don't stay (like when some schools reduce aid after frosh year). Of the schools you listed, Claremont is the strongest because they have 91% grad rate and avg indebtedness of under 11K. Our d rec'd several merit offers upon which fin aid was added, so it made sense to look at it all together.</p>
<p>Oberlin meets the full financial need (as assessed by FAFSA) of every accepted student. There is a limited amount of merit-based aid as well.</p>
<p>If you subscribe to the US News college reports you can get all this information for these schools. Do a search on each one and look under the "Tuition and Financial Aid" tab.</p>
<p>For instance, for Oberlin:</p>
<p>Students who applied for financial aid 75%<br>
Those determined to have financial need 61%<br>
Students whose need was fully met (excluding PLUS or other private loans) 100%<br>
Avg. financial aid package (% awarded aid) $22,771 (61%)<br>
Avg. need-based scholarships or grants (% awarded aid) $18,041 (54%)<br>
Avg. self-help aid, such as work study or loans (% awarded aid) $4,151 (56%)<br>
Avg. need-based loan (excluding PLUS or other private loans) $3,612<br>
% need met (of those awarded need-based aid) 100%<br>
Avg. merit award (% awarded aid) $11,495 (11%)<br>
Avg. athletic scholarship (% awarded aid) $0 (0%)</p>
<p>Isn't it amazing that a full 25% of the kids they accept don't need any financial aid at all??? Wow.</p>
<p>While you may not consider loans to be aid, the reality is unless you are low income and your D attends a school that has a low income inititative she will have loans at minimum stafford loans as schools that give out their own institutional need based aid also believe that students should be active participants in the financing of their education (self help portion of the FA package which consists of loans and work study).</p>
<p>If you are looking for no loans, you may have to look at schools that offer merit money but be careful to read the "fine print" so that you understand all of the conditions involved with keeping the merit money.</p>