Fin. aid questions and ED chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carleton College
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<p>Normally I’m not one for chance threads, but I’m curious and sort of bored. :p </p>

<p>And as far as financial aid goes, do packages typically include a lot of loans? I come from an upper middle class background but paying for college is always an issue. What sort of aid might I receive (all hypothetical speculation, of course), and is the financial aid office pretty good with adjusting packages that might not quite cover it? Basically, I really want to apply ED but I'm trying to decide whether or not I can afford to. :&lt;/p>

<p>All right, now to my stats:</p>

<p>I attend a small (~450) all-girls Catholic high school in the suburbs of Chicago. My senior class has about 100-120 people in it, I guess, and we don’t rank. I have a 3.9 weighted GPA, but we offer limited honors classes and even then they’re only weighted half a point. </p>

<p>I’d say I’m taking a pretty tough courseload… all the honors classes I can except Calc and AP Chem, I guess. I’m taking Bio II honors instead of AP Chem this year, and I’m pretty bad at math so I did pre-calc last year and trig/college algebra this year. (I went honors geometry, honors algebra II, then pre-calc instead of trig junior year.)</p>

<p>As far as extracurriculars go:
- Latin Club 10-12
- Band 9-12 (I’ve gotten some flute awards, too)
- Film club 10-11. I had to drop it this year because of…
- SRT! Senior Retreat Team. We plan retreats (whoda thunk?) and whatnot. I was really excited when I found out I got it because it’s a pretty big deal at our school and Mrs. I, the moderator, is awesome.
- Debate club 10-12, annotator (basically vice president) 11-12. My favorite club – this, band, and SRT take up a lot of my spare time.
- Habitat for Humanity, summer 2007 and summer 2008. I go with my Unitarian Universalist church group, YRUU. It’s always an amazing experience because, on top of the whole building-a-house thing, we end up bonding with each other like crazy.</p>

<p>Awards? NHS, honor roll, some Latin and flute things. National Merit Semifinalist (or even finalist) maybe? I’m crossing my fingers until the 12th on that one.</p>

<p>Oh! Test scores! Haha. 32 ACT, 1420/2140 SAT (760 CR, 660 M, 710 W).</p>

<p>And I’ve written two essays – one about how I am like Rafiki, and one about Stephen Colbert’s influence on my life. Not sure which will make the final cut yet. :)</p>

<p>I also have a part-time job in the cafe at Barnes and Noble. Sometimes I work book-side, too.</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>It looks like you are within range of the expected stats for Carleton.</p>

<p>As for financial aid, the difference between Cost of Attendance and Expected Family Contribution is met with:
1. The usual federal stuff - Pell grants, Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans, etc. You are not required to accept any loans.
2. Work study, which can either be paid to the student or be directly applied to the balance due.
3. Carleton grants/Carleton-sponsored National Merit Scholarship</p>

<p>Any outside scholarships are applied first to the amount covered in #1, then #2, then #3.</p>

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<p>My parents will be happy about the outside scholarship bit. :) Thanks!</p>