I’m looking into schools that cost $45,000 and up, so I have to rely on financial aid. Using the calculators provided by college board gives me grants of around $30,000 and end payment on my side of around $11,000 with ~$5,000 loans. I only need two years as I’m a transfer student, but these prices seem…okay. Is this usual for private schools? Is there some trick I’m not seeing, or are these results unrealistic?
Net price calculators generally don’t work for transfer students. You need to discuss this with the school FA office. If the grants are based on need it Might be valid.
What schools are you looking at? Most schools don’t give great aid for transfer students.
Be sure you ALSO apply to some schools that you know you can afford.
Well…first…the net orice calculators are set up for entering freshmen. If you have school scholarships in your possible aid. You need to find out if they are even offered to transfer students.
In addition, many schools offer more limited need based aid to transfers than to incoming freshmen.
So…first job…find out what the policies of your schools are in terms of aid to transfer students.
I will say…I would not count on the NPCs being all that accurate for transfer students…but YMMV depending on the school.
Yes, I’m also looking into a state school for readmission if everything else falls flat 
I’m looking into Northeastern, BU, and Tufts. Though, I’m not really feeling Tufts right now…
You know, I looked back into the calculator for Northeastern and Tufts and there really wasn’t any mention of high school. So…if it is only for freshmen, they sure aren’t making that clear.
You need to check the policies on need based aid at these schools for transfer students.
From the Tufts website:
Well that sounds very…vague. But okay, so “finite” doesn’t sound great. I would love to know the ration between transfer & international students, though. For some reason I thought I heard international students get no aid…?
And Boston University doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for all students. And they don’t.
The NPC usually ask for ACT/SAT scores, which is more often a freshman consideration and not a transfer consideration. Some NPCs do ask which year you will be in college, and if there is an option for junior or senior standing or even better a transfer student, the NPC might be accurate.
Call and ask the schools.
Actually the schools you have listed are more in the $60,000 a year range, not $45,000 a year.
Do you have any less expensive options on your transfer list?
Neither BU nor Northeastern meets full need for their students, so I wouldn’t rely on the accuracy of their net price calculator - they likely include “merit” in their calculations (GPA and SAT/ACT scores), which just isn’t going to apply to a transfer student.
Tufts, on the other hand, does meet the full need of all admitted students - both incoming freshmen and transfer students. The problem is that Tufts is “need-aware” for transfer students, meaning that they’ll consider your financial need in deciding whether or not to admit you . . . and your significant financial need would make it difficult for you to be admitted.
There are private colleges that meet full need and are need-blind for transfer students, but they are among the most competitive private colleges in the country. If you can get in, these schools would be affordable for you . . . but the trick is getting in. You can find a list of these schools here:
Northeastern says this on their website:
We are dedicated to meeting each incoming domestic financial aid applicant’s full demonstrated need.
Man…I had hoped that need-based aid would be considered fully…but not even letting in the students who are too poor to pay the sky-high prices?? That’s low. Really low.
I will never understand why the prices are so high anyway. Seriously - why? Does nobody question where the money even goes?
Northeastern does meet full need. That changed a year ago.
IMO most state university NPC are crap. The ones on College board are are more accurate.
Why would NPCs not work for transfer students? They ask what year of school you are in and have all 4 years of college as an option when you enter the info.
I’ve noticed that some do, some don’t. I wish they wouldn’t however, and I fail to see why transfers get less financial aid…maybe we went to CC because we couldn’t pay even with financial aid in the first place…
Transfers are often ineligible for merit scholarships that are meant to entice freshmen to come and stay for 4 years, but any college that meets financial need for its frosh would generally also do so for transfers.
Colleges use money to induce high stat students to attend their schools because that helps them in the rankings, but rankings are calculated based on only freshmen. Giving a lot of money to transfers doesn’t benefit them the same way.
Expensive colleges aren’t obligated to make their costs affordable to every low income student who wants to attend. Most couldn’t afford to even if they wanted to institute such a policy. I understand it’s disappointing. We can’t afford to send our kids to well known colleges either, so we chose colleges based on what we could afford. You need to check each college website to see what their policy is on transfer scholarships. The colleges that give those types of grants will list them. If you don’t have any colleges on your list that are affordable, take a gap year and apply to a new list this fall.