<p>Just wondering, especially to those who are currently attending Dartmouth or those accepted to Dartmouth, how your financial aid package is.</p>
<p>Did you receive more than you expected? Less? Is Dartmouth generous or stingy compared to other comparable schools (ie. Other Ivies such as Cornell, Penn, Columbia, and compared to Top Liberal Art Schools such as Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore).</p>
<p>Any stories that you've had dealing with the Financial Aid office would also be appreciated. Are they at all helpful and flexible?</p>
<p>From my experience and those I have talked to they tend to be pretty good, particular for middle-class families that aren’t exactly poor but can’t exactly afford to be paying 50,000 a year. (of course there are a range of opinions and stories on this but most people I have talked to have been happy with their package)</p>
<p>Dartmouth also will look at other offers and possibly match them (the only caveat is they only will match need-based aid) so I was able to send in my Cornell aid package and Dartmouth actually responded by exceeding their offer.)</p>
<p>Our family has found D’s aid to be really excellent. The only school better for us in terms of the initial award was Pomona, a school well known for having excellent FA. We appealed and D restructured and increased their award so that it ultimately matched Pomona’s. (We have a somewhat complex situation.) I didn’t handle the appeal, so I can’t say whether it was presented as “matching” Pomona.</p>
<p>I cannot say too much about how much I appreciate their generosity and willingness to believe us about our circumstances–definitely not true of all schools. Assuming that we eventually emerge into financial daylight again some day, I will definitely we contributing to D.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is also one of a handful of schools nationwide that offer need-blind admissions to international students. So yes, I’d say it’s pretty generous.</p>
<p>My initial aid package from Dartmouth was about the same as all my other schools…sucky…but their financial aid office is so good at sitting down with you, looking over the numbers, listening to your account of the situation, and adjusting the package accordingly. I’ve had a positive experience. You just have to tell them why you think you need more aid, and they’ll work with you as best they can. They’re also super flexible in terms of replacing work study with loans, or adding loans, or getting rid of loans, and any other mid year adjustments you might want to make as your circumstances change.</p>
<p>The financial aid office is super nice. Not enough people use it. I’ve never had any complaints about my financial aid, and any time I’ve had questions, they’ve been happy to answer them.</p>
<p>One thing I’d add to this that I didn’t see previously mentioned (thought I may have just missed it) is that Dartmouth continues to be great with aid during your upperclass years. I have a few friends who went to other Ivy League and top-25 universities who discovered their junior year that their loans skyrocketed while their grants were cut off somewhat. The idea, presumably, is that the school believes the students won’t transfer, and will just suck up the additional costs.</p>
<p>For me (from a family falling firmly in the middle class), my experience was the opposite–my best financial aid packages from Dartmouth came my junior and senior years. My senior year, in particular, was amazing–they didn’t offer any federally-based funding, and as such, gave me grants down to below my FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>While my case obviously can’t be extrapolated to all students, from discussions with friends I’d say it is more the norm than the exception. In any case, it’s a good question to ask when you visit schools: does their aid profile change after the first few years?</p>