<p>I posted this in the FA forum, but it was suggested to me to post it here where all of you wise parents frequent :)</p>
<p>I'm still a little confused on the whole FA and full-need schools thing. </p>
<p>I don't know what I'm really asking, but could anyone who's been through the process (students and parents) give me a little info?</p>
<p>Here are the schools I'm applying to, and the ones with ** next to them are "full-need" schools, but if I'm wrong, someone can correct me, please. </p>
<p>MIT**
Yale**
Cornell**
Smith**
Duke**
Wesleyan**
Rutgers
BU
NEU
UMass
RPI
Wellesley** </p>
<p>And I believe that is all. </p>
<p>Is there anything I should know/do??</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I'm a '12er, BTW.</p>
<p>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) - What the colleges say you can afford <em>each year</em>, based on FAFSA and/or CSS and/or the college’s own financial aid policies. EFC is NOT what the family thinks it can afford. These numbers are usually reasonably close from school to school. This is <em>expected</em> to be paid by the parents out of savings or current income. Parents are not legally obligated to pay this amount. You can and should check out FAFSA Forecaster for a preview. AND discuss it with your parents to see if their expectations match. BEFORE you fall in love with schools.</p>
<p>Meets full need - Will give a combination of grants and loans to make up the difference between Cost of Attendance (COA) and EFC. This most often bites people in the income ranges of $40,000 to $200,000, where the EFC is more than the family thinks it can afford.</p>
<p>Need blind - Does not look at your financial aid application before deciding to admit you.</p>
<p>Ivies, MIT, and a very few other top schools - Are far more generous than the FAFSA when saying what they expect you to pay for incomes < $180K or so.</p>
<p>Gap or gapping - When the school admits that your EFC plus their aid is less than the COA. Most schools do this. Just as the parents are not obligated to pay the EFC, the schools are not obligated to meet need.</p>
<p>Merit aid - Money based on merit (scores, accomplishments, community service, etc), not need. Merit and need-based aid are two separate things.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>CPUsci '12 - GeekMom has provided an exact answer … but I’m not sure that it really helps you. You won’t really know what a school will offer until the FA package arrives … and at that point it will be W-A-Y too late to make adjustments. Here’s what I’d suggest:</p>
<p>(1) Find an online FAFSA calculator and see what your FAFSA EFC is … approximately.
(2) Make sure your family can afford the EFC amount.
(3) Build an application list from the bottom up … that is, with a couple financial safeties that you’d actually enjoy attending. Those might include your local state flagship. But it also might include a school like Pittsburgh which might offer an essentially full-ride to a top student like yourself.
(4) Accept that all other schools on your list might be unaffordable. Go ahead and apply, but don’t fall in love with a school that might include loans as part of the FA package.</p>
<p>Good luck, and remember that you can be successful wherever you attend.</p>
<p>GeekMom63- thanks for the in depth post! most of the schools have no loan policies, but i will double check.</p>
<p>NewHope- i’ve ran a calculator with a parent a few times. and, we cannot afford the EFC amount (~11k). but some schools will work out for me <em>i hope</em>.</p>
<p>thanks again! that last sentence couldn’t be more true, even though everyone always reaches for the moon <em>not that that is a bad thing, you’re likely to land among the stars</em> :)</p>
<p>this is the new forum with updated information, in case anyone was wondering.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1109951-ne-schools-good-merit-financial-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1109951-ne-schools-good-merit-financial-aid.html</a></p>
<p>“… we cannot afford the EFC amount (~11k).”</p>
<p>CPUsci '12 - If this is true, and you don’t want to borrow the $11K per year, then “EFC, meets full need, need-blind, and gapping” should not be issues for you because ALL of these are predicated on you and/or your family paying the EFC amount (at least).</p>
<p>All is not lost of course. But you may have to concentrate your efforts on schools known for providing an abundance of merit aid to outstanding students. Some of the schools on your list do not fall into this category.</p>
<p>Yes, my list is reach heavy. I’m trying. </p>
<p>What did you mean by the first paragraph?</p>
<p>“What did you mean by the first paragraph?”</p>
<p>With no merit aid or outside scholarships:</p>
<p>COA = EFC (You pay) + Need-based Grants (They pay) + Loans (You pay) + Work-study (You work, They pay) + Gapping (You pay)</p>
<p>If you can’t pay the EFC, need-based aid alone will not be enough for you to attend. (Need-based grants plus work-study) will never be more than (COA minus EFC).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The school will NOT give you money to fund your family contribution. If your family REALLY will not be able to fund the family contribution you need to include at least some schools where you might receive substantial MERIT aid. Most of the schools that meet full need on your list do not give merit awards.</p>
<p>Are you really a competitive admit for the ** schools on your list? If so, you might be a competitive merit candidate at a school that would offer you substantial merit aid. These would not be the schools in the northeast that are costly, private and competitive for admissions. but you could still get a great education.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you should apply to a couple of reaches…but you need to be realistic in terms of finances and craft a balanced list of schools to apply to…include some schools where you WILL be able to pay the bills. </p>
<p>I often recommend reading the thread by momfromtexas. It’s an old thread and many of the awards spoken of in the thread are not the same as when the thread was written. BUT the strategy for finding a fully funded school hasn’t changed and the ideas are good ones. You really do need to think “out of the box”.</p>
<p>Newhope- thanks, I understand now. </p>
<p>Thumper- I know they won’t cover the EFC. We have plans and back up plans so things will work out one way or another. I’m trying to think as much out of the box as I can, while staying within the bigger box of my geographical region.</p>