Financial Aid in the College Selection Process

College Search & Selection
1

<p>One of the four key elements for creating an exceptional environment for undergraduates is deep financial resources and the college’s willingness to spend these for the benefit of undergraduate students. One potential use of institutional resources is the offering of Financial Aid. Comparing how generously various schools provide financial aid can be a good window into the college administration’s commitment to supporting undergraduates. </p>

<p>To evaluate the relative degree of Financial Aid generosity, I gathered a lot of data on the FA packages offered by the USNWR Top 20 National Universities and the five most highly-ranked public universities. For the publics, each has a substantial cost advantage for its IS students and it is likely that their net COA would be the most compelling financial offer. So, for this exercise, I evaluated the OOS students of the public universities, ie, those students for which there is likely the highest degree of cross applications with the top privates. </p>

<p>Here is how the comparison came out:</p>

<p>% of Cost of Attendance that is covered by the Average FA package , Avg FA Package , Cost of Attendance , Net COA , % of Need Met , College</p>

<p>71% , $35,831 , $50,250 , $14,419 , 100% , Harvard
71% , $34,744 , $49,000 , $14,256 , 100% , Yale
69% , $36,257 , $52,303 , $16,046 , 100% , Vanderbilt
68% , $34,600 , $50,992 , $16,392 , 100% , Stanford
68% , $34,195 , $50,434 , $16,239 , 100% , Cornell
66% , $33,289 , $50,547 , $17,258 , 100% , Dartmouth
66% , $32,866 , $50,100 , $17,234 , 100% , MIT
65% , $32,160 , $49,190 , $17,030 , 100% , Princeton
62% , $30,285 , $48,525 , $18,240 , 100% , Notre Dame
62% , $29,143 , $46,908 , $17,765 , 100% , Emory
62% , $31,820 , $51,300 , $19,480 , 100% , U Penn
62% , $33,064 , $53,406 , $20,342 , 100% , Columbia
61% , $32,239 , $52,450 , $20,211 , 100% , U Chicago
61% , $31,014 , $50,474 , $19,460 , 100% , Duke
60% , $29,533 , $48,990 , $19,457 , 100% , Caltech
56% , $23,529 , $42,096 , $18,567 , 100% , Rice
56% , $28,765 , $51,478 , $22,713 , 93% , J Hopkins
55% , $28,725 , $52,074 , $23,349 , 100% , Wash U
54% , $27,936 , $51,720 , $23,784 , 100% , Northwestern</p>

<p>% of Cost of Attendance that is covered by the Average OOS FA package , Avg OOS FA Package , OOS Cost of Attendance , Net COA , % of Need Met for OOS , College</p>

<p>57% , $18,568 , $32,662 , $14,094 , 100% , U North Carolina OOS
54% , $21,935 , $40,709 , $18,774 , 100% , U Virginia OOS
51% , $21,607 , $42,008 , $20,401 , 80% , UCLA OOS
48% , $20,971 , $43,693 , $22,722 , 62% , U Michigan OOS
47% , $21,868 , $46,598 , $24,730 , 85% , UC Berkeley OOS</p>

2

<p>Doesn’t tell you a thing about how many students actually received financial aid.</p>

3

<p>Does this help?</p>

<p>% of Cost of Attendance that is covered by the Average FA package , Avg FA Package , Cost of Attendance , Net COA , % of Need Met , College , % Receiving FA</p>

<p>71% , $35,831 , $50,250 , $14,419 , 100% , Harvard , 54%
71% , $34,744 , $49,000 , $14,256 , 100% , Yale , 46%
69% , $36,257 , $52,303 , $16,046 , 100% , Vanderbilt , 47%
68% , $34,600 , $50,992 , $16,392 , 100% , Stanford , 44%
68% , $34,195 , $50,434 , $16,239 , 100% , Cornell , 42%
66% , $33,289 , $50,547 , $17,258 , 100% , Dartmouth , 50%
66% , $32,866 , $50,100 , $17,234 , 100% , MIT , 69%
65% , $32,160 , $49,190 , $17,030 , 100% , Princeton , 55%
62% , $30,285 , $48,525 , $18,240 , 100% , Notre Dame , 47%
62% , $29,143 , $46,908 , $17,765 , 100% , Emory , 38%
62% , $31,820 , $51,300 , $19,480 , 100% , U Penn , 39%
62% , $33,064 , $53,406 , $20,342 , 100% , Columbia , 52%
61% , $32,239 , $52,450 , $20,211 , 100% , U Chicago , 48%
61% , $31,014 , $50,474 , $19,460 , 100% , Duke , 42%
60% , $29,533 , $48,990 , $19,457 , 100% , Caltech , 58%
56% , $23,529 , $42,096 , $18,567 , 100% , Rice , 39%
56% , $28,765 , $51,478 , $22,713 , 93% , J Hopkins , 45%
55% , $28,725 , $52,074 , $23,349 , 100% , Wash U , 40%
54% , $27,936 , $51,720 , $23,784 , 100% , Northwestern , 43%</p>

<p>% of Cost of Attendance that is covered by the Average OOS FA package , Avg OOS FA Package , OOS Cost of Attendance , Net COA , % of Need Met for OOS , College , % Receiving FA</p>

<p>57% , $18,568 , $32,662 , $14,094 , 100% , U North Carolina OOS , 35%
54% , $21,935 , $40,709 , $18,774 , 100% , U Virginia OOS , 25%
51% , $21,607 , $42,008 , $20,401 , 80% , UCLA OOS , 26%
48% , $20,971 , $43,693 , $22,722 , 62% , U Michigan OOS , 39%
47% , $21,868 , $46,598 , $24,730 , 85% , UC Berkeley OOS , 33%</p>

4

<p>for the publics, looks like unc is a winner and Vanderbilt is a bit of
a surprise in the privates. But finaid packages are so individualized,
I not sure that your chart has much meaning beyond generalization.</p>

5

<p>What’s interesting about the list is, with a couple of exceptions (notably Princeton), despite substantial increases in COA, the percentage of students receiving ANY financial aid has hardly changed in the past 5-7 years. What this means is that the student body is even wealthier than it was then. Put it another way, with endowments booming until this past year, the institutions are taking in more funds from student families than ever before.</p>

<p>Of course, the average FA packages have risen, for most of the schools, at roughly the same rate as the COA, for obvious reasons. I also bet that, with rare exceptions, the number of Pell Grant students attending has remained mostly flat as well.</p>

6

<p>mini,
Lots of folks felt wealthy a few years ago, so it will be interesting to see how the Financial Aid numbers change going forward, particularly at colleges that have taken major hits to their endowments. Percentage of students getting aid going up and average package size going down??</p>

<p>As for surprises, I didn’t expect Northwestern to compare how it did. That is a pretty wealthy school and I was disappointed at the smaller Financial Aid packages and how that compared to its Cost of Attendance. </p>

<p>Another surprise was the Net Cost of Attendance. When I sorted by that, I came up with the following. A public is best on this measure and another public is worst. I suspect that the Pell numbers heavily influence this, but I found it interesting.</p>

<p>Net Cost of Attendance, College</p>

<p>$14,094 , U North Carolina OOS (35% of students get aid)
$14,256 , Yale 46%
$14,419 , Harvard 54%
$16,046 , Vanderbilt 47%
$16,239 , Cornell 42%
$16,392 , Stanford 44%
$17,030 , Princeton 55%
$17,234 , MIT 69%
$17,258 , Dartmouth 50%
$17,765 , Emory 38%
$18,240 , Notre Dame 47%
$18,567 , Rice 39%
$18,774 , U Virginia OOS 25%
$19,457 , Caltech 58%
$19,460 , Duke 42%
$19,480 , U Penn 39%
$20,211 , U Chicago 48%
$20,342 , Columbia 52%
$20,401 , UCLA OOS 26%
$22,713 , J Hopkins 45%
$22,722 , U Michigan OOS 39%
$23,349 , Wash U 40%
$23,784 , Northwestern 43%
$24,730 , UC Berkeley OOS 33%</p>