<p>"At the center of the admissions and financial-aid process is a massive information imbalance: Schools make their decisions with detailed data about each applicant that goes well beyond test scores and transcripts … Students are not so lucky. Schools offer comparatively little information about exactly who they’re awarding aid to and for what." …</p>
<p>If the net price calculator gives reasonably good estimates, then wouldn’t that be sufficient for most students attempting to get individual estimates of financial aid before applying? (Yes, very unusual financial situations can be hard to account for in net price calculators, so students in such situations need to be more careful.)</p>
<p>Financial aid methodology may be more helpful for those interested in policy issues, or perhaps those students with unusual financial situations for which net price calculators often do not account for.</p>
<p>I think is is more simple than people realize - they throw money at the kids they really want, then move down from there.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t really see why a private school needs to be transparent about admissions or aid. Public schools I’d see the argument. </p>
<p>I read an article a couple of years back where BU said it gave more aid to kids they really wanted. I suspect most schools do this and BU is just more up front than most.</p>
<p>The practice of giving better financial aid to more desired students without explicitly giving a merit scholarship is sometimes referred to around here as “preferential packaging” of financial aid.</p>
<p>Colleges do provide information about average need-based and merit award sizes, the number of students who get them, and other details, in section H of the common data set. IPEDS reports the average net prices paid by students in various income brackets to attend many colleges.</p>
<p>Here is a year-by-year account of how one small college allocates its need-based aid:
<a href=“http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/offices/InstitutionalResearchPlanning/Documents/financialAid.pdf”>http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/offices/InstitutionalResearchPlanning/Documents/financialAid.pdf</a></p>
<p>romani, I agree that they don’t need to, but it would be nice if they did. The reason to do it would be to help students plan application strategy better. I do this for a living, but I still have to advise kids aiming for significant aid to apply to lots of schools, far more than I think is actually optimal. If they were a little more transparent, we wouldn’t waste as much time.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would work. When my d. was applying to colleges I really appreciated the info that Boston U. put out – they very openly said that aid amounts were tied to merit, and they had a table showing how much students could expect based on GPA/test scores. The problem? My daughter’s test scores were not in the same band as her GPA – so no way to determine which tier she fell in. Plus, of course, no way to predict how the college would define “need”. </p>
<p>But at least they told us up front not to expect 100% need to be met. 
Just never did figure out how far down the scale of financial aid an award from BU would have been. (BU also waitlisted my d., something of a surprise after the fat envelopes from more selective schools… but I guess that’s a good signal that whatever the GPA, my d’s value to them as a financial aid recipient was -0-.</p>
<p>The problem is – it’s not a straight decision based on GPA or test scores or other objective criteria. When colleges engage in preferential packaging of their aid, they consider a wide range of factors – and I don’t see how they could put out information which would be particularly informative in a real world context. </p>
<p>Here’s the current BU link:
<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming/freshman-receiving-scholarships/”>http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming/freshman-receiving-scholarships/</a></p>
<p>That is the best I’ve seen from any college in terms of transparency. </p>
<p>Note that they are reporting average ranges based on the listed criteria – so even with all that information there are going to be students who fit any given category in the unfortunate position of having aid packages that make them outliers on the tail end of the distribution. </p>
<p>The NPCs work very well for those schools that guarantee to meet full need, that do not have much in the way of merit money or have no merit money, and for families that do not have an unusual financial situation or own a business. NPCs also complicate the formula. Those schools that do preferential packaging often have holistic factors involved, when that’s in the picture, no, they won’t say, can’t say because it will depend on the needs, desires, money in the pot of the moment. Colleges won’t share their specific wish lists with applicants. </p>
<p>Yep, “preferential packaging”. We’ve been on the receiving end for my 5 kiddos for undergrad and grad school. Same data all kiddos. Same EFC. Middle son applied to 34 had 33 financial aid packages. Most were 100% meets full need. All 33 were different. As much as $15K+ difference PER YEAR. Other kiddos also accepted to schools combining merit with need and those numbers were also very different, with same family data.</p>
<p>Think elastic. Son’s freshman year he had 12+ revisions to his package. The last revision for freshman year came AFTER his sophomore aid package. Daughter’s revised as well, she was at an OOS public. He was at an ivy. And no changes from us. Modifications for travel, winter wardrobes, laptops, tuition at other schools, research funds, books and supplies…</p>
<p>Saw it happen with my oldest in 2001, 4 subsequent siblings and now son for his MBA fellowship in 2014, his MD in 2011. </p>
<p>13 years of elasticity and “preferential packaging”.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>“I think is is more simple than people realize - they throw money at the kids they really want, then move down from there.”</p>
<p>For the vast majority of schools, this is not correct. MOST schools have a straightforward method of awarding aid based on EFC and time application is received (for example, SEOG may be first-come, first-served for all 0 EFC’s until funding is gone). </p>
<p>Yes, there are a number of schools (just not “most”) that award aid preferentially. Those schools do so in order to fill their classes in the best way they feel works for them.</p>
<p>Financial aid is difficult to award, because schools don’t know how many of those they award will actually decide to attend … if too many do, it’s a problem. It is an art, not a science, for many schools and is therefore not something that can be published for all to see.</p>
<p>Kat, I don’t understand what you mean about package revisions. Do you mean your award package from the same school changed numerous times for the same school year? How does that happen? </p>
<p>We just heard from Iowa and are very disappointed in the package offered. We were told by numerous families of current students that Iowa is a good value and is less expensive for most families (with students of similar caliber) than in-state tuition at University of Illinois UC. That was not at all truthful for this year or at least not for us. Now we have to cross that one off our list. Unhappy.</p>
<p>Same school, same student, revisions during the same year.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about Iowa. Sincerely hope your other options come through. What is deemed affordable by your family might have a different definition of affordable for the financial aid office and hence your ensuing package.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>So, your student already accepted the financial package and then while they were going to school, that school modified the package? Did they give you more money or less? Confused.</p>
<p>And it’s hard to believe that anyone would think over $40,000 per year (after all offers) is a good value/affordable.</p>
<p>My mother actually works in this domaine, with people who intend to donate for academic scholarships. From what she’s said around the dinner table, I gather that if a donor says they want to give money to an Asian-African-American with green eyes from Missouri, the college has to find a kid that matches this criteria and who they also want as a possible representative of the school. If they can’t, well, no scholarship awarded.</p>
<p>There are also small liberal arts colleges going under because they give too many students financial aid and, because of the size, find themselves with too few students to make up the difference. I doubt that that’s the reason for Iowa, but it is a potential reason for a college to give an unsatisfactory package.</p>
<p>An ‘information imbalance’? Whose money is it again?</p>
<p>They don’t want people gaming the system, I suspect.</p>
<p>Now package revision is another matter. Absent unusual circumstances, that seems like bait and switch.</p>
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<p>Whoa. That’s one very wide net!</p>
<p>I have very strong doubts about anyone claiming a college revised the amount of financial aid during the school year, unless it was to give more. From everything I have heard, absent the discovery that information provided to the school was incorrect, the financial aid is an annual contract. As someone else said, otherwise it is the worst form of bait and switch. I would think the university could easily be sued for doing that (again, assuming you meant the package was revised unfavorably to you. Otherwise never mind).</p>
<p>I have shaken my head over this for the last few months, also. My daughter applied to some EA and rolling admissions, and was immediately accepted by a few and awarded merit scholarships … at least a level or two higher than for which I thought she would qualify based on websites … so, definitely more favorable for her. What has puzzled me is why…she was a couple points lower in ACT and a little lower in GPA than listed, yet she has qualified for Dean’s/equiv. from several schools. I’m guessing it’s because her recs, theatre/EC resume and leadership has made up the difference, but I don’t know if that is true.</p>
<p>Agreed that it would be a lot easier if things were more transparent and yet, in our case, it’s somewhat beneficial that it’s not. My daughter also had to cast a very wide net (16) for financial aid purposes, and thus far, that strategy seems to be paying off.</p>