Is it true that Hamilton doesn’t offer any merit aid? Is their need based aid generous (for families that might not qualify for much need based aid at other colleges?)
Hamilton does not offer any merit aid. In my opinion, Hamilton is generous with need-based financial aid in comparison with peer institutions. For example, Hamilton does not consider primary home equity when calculating aid, while most schools will include at least a portion of primary home equity in the aid computations.
In addition, Hamilton is one of only ~40 universities or liberal arts colleges in the country that are both need blind for admissions and meet 100% of demonstrated need.
They became need blind in 2010 when the board of trustees both made that commitment and made the further commitment to the already large endowment to ensure they could continue to achieve that mission - the endowment is currently $1 Billion which puts it in the top-30 on a per student basis.