<p>I know that Hamilton is need blind/ meets full need, but is the need meet in a way that's actually possible to pay off? The average Hamilton grant seems pretty low in comparison to other liberal arts schools, which could mean that students are generally pretty wealthy, or that most of the need is met with a lot of loans. The latter would not be good- I've seen enough of my parents' debt to want to avoid it. Of course I know that I'll need a job and will probably have to as part of any financial aid package. I have no problem working.</p>
<p>My family income is around 35,000 per year at the moment.</p>
<p>I’m a current student and can give you what I think is the most accurate answer to your question, but others may disagree. There is a unpublished and unspoken family income cutoff of around $250,000 - if your family makes above that, in 99.9% of cases you will not receive any support. Below that $250,000 mark however, there is a kind of progressive scale of support (i.e a family with an income of 180,000 may be entitled to a loan or a small financial aid package that is equal or greater to your FAFSA estimate). For a family with an income of ~$35,000 annually, my guess would be that Hamilton would provide a financial aid package that covers most, if not all of your expenses.</p>
<p>As for the average Hamilton grant being relatively low, I would say that you are partially right. While nearly half the students receive some sort of aid, a relatively small portion has the need to have their full aid met.</p>
<p>Hamilton won’t disappoint you. My son’s grant has been generous and the Financial Aid Office is easy to work with. Give them a call. One reason he applied to Hamilton was the need-based aid.</p>
<p>I can only confirm what has been said above. My family income is a bit less than $30,000 and I got about $47,000/year in grants! So don’t worry, financial aid at Hamilton is truly generous;)</p>
<p>from my experience i can say that they take into account your fafsa and your css except they use whatever is better for THEM, so if for example the Fafsa requires giving you less money, they will choose that option. this is what happened in my case.</p>
<p>I got really good aid here. It was not quite as good as Vassar of Colgate, but it was only a little more, and the school is incredible. I got almost all in grants as well, with only a small subsidized loan.</p>
I hope that if I apply to Hamilton my finaid package is reasonable.</p>