If your EFC is low, what colleges should you be looking at?

College Search & Selection
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<p>My daughter was accepted at Smith and Mt. Holyoke but couldn’t get a noncustodial waiver approved even with long non-contact with her non-custodial parent. Some colleges will only approve a NCP waiver if the NCP is dead, in prison, or whereabouts unknown. (if student is receiving any child support than obviously the whereabouts are known) So while top womens’ colleges can usually offer a lot of FA, if your NCP issues are a bit fuzzy or don’t exactly meet the very strict criteria, they may also choose not to offer huge aid. I don’t recall exact figures now without looking back in the old info about it but I do remember that she received at least $20K merit from both Smith and MTH and it wasn’t enough without NCP assistance which wasn’t possible. Even though there was no relationship for a very long time, the colleges still expected the NCP to contribute as part of our EFC. </p>

<p>In case you think you may not be able to get a NCP waiver approved (you may as well try if you think the circumstances warrant it) be sure to apply to several colleges that do not require the CSS or their own similar FA forms because those colleges won’t even ask about the NCP.</p>

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<p>That sucks! I need a waiver, but I don’t wanna be too personal. I will have to figure out how to word things. But if not, then I just take your advice. </p>

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<p>I think someone may have mentioned Skidmore previously; that’s another mid-sized LAC that offers very good need-based aid and might be a good one to look into!</p>

<p>Wishing you tons of good luck in your college search…</p>

24

<p>Take a look at Beloit College, it sounds like your kind of place (if a little small). It will be a lot snowier than NC :-). They are a “full need met” school but do include loans. However tuition is lower than many schools and offer decent merit aid. </p>

<p>I second Earlham it is similar to Beloit but a little easier to get into.</p>