Financial Aid

If they do meet full need today, that is a policy change in that they did not use to meet full need. (A 2013 article in the Boston Globe said that NEU was not need-blind.) And if so, I stand corrected. Thanks.

@bluebayou Northeastern switched to full need in 2014-2015 I believe.

@bluebayou Thank you for reply #17 that essentially completely and accurately back up my ealier post! I appreciate your accurate facts.

Just to clear things up, yes, I should have ran the NPC beforehand. This was my mistake. I am just disappointed in the lack of aid. I was expecting something that was at least remotely close to the fafsa efc (sub 45k would have been great). I didn’t realize that the NPC calculated aid could vary THAT MUCH with the fafsa calculated aid and I didn’t realize how bad aid generally is at private schools when I got into this. It just angers me that schools like BC can claim they meet 100% need when “meeting 100% need” apparently means if my family sold our house, we’d be able to get through 4 years. Oh well. As I’ve said before, there are few schools worth 65k per year, and BC isn’t one of them.

@hickey – I understand your frustration! I just want to address your repeated mention that BC isn’t worth $65k a year. Since, as the posters above have pointed out, BC does meet full need (yes, as they determine it), it should only theoretically cost $65k a year for those who can well afford it. Given the disparity that you see between what your family can actually afford and what is being offered, you can say that BC is not worth $65k for you (by that standard, would ANY school really be worth $65k?). Value is a subjective thing and depends upon how much money one has and how they choose to budget that money.

And, for what its worth, I love the University of Miami and live a half hour away. Many of my family members have attended and learned a lot there.

@Hickey You keep saying BC claims to meet 100% need. The website says “Boston College meets 100% of your determined institutional need with a need-based financial aid award that includes grants and scholarships, loans and financing, and work opportunities.” They determine what the students need is. Sorry you did not realize you needed to use the NPC. It’s a good rule of them to understand what documentation you are filling out and why before having to do so. Understanding why you would be filling out the Profile may have helped you understand the financial aspects sooner.

BC has included home equity for at least 30 years, as I didn’t get any FA back in 1987, yet got FA at Duke (that was a no-brainer decision as to which school to attend). When we ran the NPC numbers, BC & USC came back at least $15k higher. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my son got WL at BC & like @Hickey got a big (50% tuition) scholarship at U Miami – which was one of his top choices. So, even if he gets off the WL at BC, he will likely have to decide if BC is worth $15k more than U Miami. As the person paying for this education, I say that it’s not. However, my dad is a BC alum, and he may feel it’s worth it to fund the gap for his grandson at his alma mater…