<p>I have watched a number of older friends be accepted into colleges that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. However, many of them were not able to attend these schools because the cost was simply too much for their families, even with the financial aid.</p>
<p>A college’s idea of how much financial need a student has may be very different from what the student’s family thinks their need is.</p>
<p>And, on top of that, colleges may “meet” part of the need through loans – sometimes asking the student or family to borrow more money than they feel comfortable owing.</p>
<p>Most colleges that “meet full need” do expect a student contribution of $4,000 to $10,000 per year, met with direct loans, work study, or other assumed work earnings.</p>
<p>Also, colleges may have different methodologies for calculating expected family contribution, resulting a varying definitions of need.</p>
<p>Use net price calculators to get estimates rather than relying on vague assumptions about colleges that “meet full need”. But beware that the estimates are less reliable in more unusual situations, like parents with a small business or varying income from year to year, some divorced and remarriage situations, etc…</p>
<p>Still, colleges that meet 100% need tend to offer better packages than colleges that don’t meet need…
So, it can be even worse.
There are exceptions of course, so you should always run the Net Price Calculators on college websites to have an idea of how much you’d be expected to pay.
If your EFC is too high, you have to maximize your odds of a good financial aid package by applying to private schools, especially LACs, where your stats place you in the top 25%, and even better, 400+ miles from home (since most students apply to colleges within 400miles from home and few apply farther away, applying farther away means you bring geographical diversity, something national private schools care about to remain “national” rather than “regional”. :p)
In addition, avoid Out of State public universities that do not meet need for out of state students (except for UVA and UNC-CH).</p>
<p>If you find the net price too high even at “meet full need” schools, you need to look for schools with:</p>
<ul>
<li>Large enough merit scholarships that you can realistically get.</li>
<li>Financial aid with a significant merit-based component that can make the school affordable (schools where the net price calculators ask for your HS GPA, rank, and/or test scores may have blended need/merit financial aid policies).</li>
</ul>
<p>Those generous schools compute your need using THEIR formulas. The amount the school computes as your family contribution could very well exceed what your family is actually able or willing to pay.</p>
<p>Realistic for whom? Some find it just fine, but most of the time, most people don’t want to pay. We see posts here fof famiilies making well into 6 figures and they say they don’t have a dime to pay for college. Who;s the unrealistic one in such situations?</p>
<p>The federal EFC is generally 1/3 of annual income for most (truly) middle class families. Profile considers other items not even considered by FAFSA to come up with their own expectation. The expectation is that college expenses will come out of current income, savings and future income. Generally that is the lowest amount a family pays. So run the individual college calculators, figure out your EFC and then build a plan.</p>
<p>Keep in mind even a really nice and generally not easy to get merit scholarship of $15,000 brings a $55,000 college only down to $40,000. Even the meets needs colleges won’t go below your expected family contribution. Yes, I’m sure there are many families that choke at the thought of paying $30,000 of more for college each year. I’m in year 8 of roughly $30,000 a year with two overlap years at $50,000 with three more years to go and I blanch when I think about it and thank my lucky stars for merit money. I framed my oldest son’s final statement (that showed all 4 years) and gave it to him for his college graduation. I will do the same for number 2 this spring. Best of luck OP but please figure out what you can afford and build a strategy around THAT.</p>
<p>
MYOS1634, would you mind elaborating on this? I’m a bit behind in my homework and this is news to me. Realistically, how much might this lower the results spit out by a NPC? (Or have the NPC’s already done this calculation?)</p>
<p>ucbalumnus can you elaborate on your suggestions? How do you know which schools fit your suggestions? This seems like a smart way to approach it. How do you know which schools offer FA with the merit component?</p>
<p>Wasa…it will NOT lower the amount presented on the net price calculator. Those things…will help you with acceptances…and sometimes with merit aid. But for need based aid…no. Some NPCs do include stats and therefore include merit aid.</p>
<p>Being from a location 400 miles from home will not net you more aid in most cases.</p>
<p>But it could result in a preferential package if the school desires you in their cohort…more grants perhaps than loans.</p>
<p>But unless a private university meets full need, the cost of attending could still be huge even with need based and/or merit aid.</p>
<p>Thanks, thumper1. DD stands a good chance of getting into an ivy or next-best-thing, but the NPCs are killing me. Poor planning has left me grasping at straws. She is, you may have seen on other threads, an NMSF, but years of Gilmore Girls reruns gave her other expectations.</p>
<p>Remind her that Rory Gilmore had a wealthy grandfather willing and able to fund her tuition bills.</p>
<p>She knows that. I think the little voices come from so keep in her head that facts and logic has little affect on them.</p>
<p>National private colleges want to have students from all over the US. That’s how they can call themselves “national” and they can brag about it in the viewbooks and brochures they send you. “Our students come from all 50 states and 37 countries!” ( Internal monologue just underneath the catch phrase “Okay, only one from Wyoming, because only one applied, so Wyoming had a 100% admission rate that year, and only 2 from Alaska, because the 3rd applicant really was unsuitable with that 2.1, but ey, now all 50 states ARE represented!”)
Conversely, having 60% students from the state (or 90% from the tri-state region, etc.) doesn’t look too good and is a criterion used to determine prestigiosity and whatchamacallit, ie., other intangible elements that shouldn’t matter, but do.
Unfortunately, most students apply within 400 miles of their home.
So, what can the colleges do to remain “national” and keep all the bagging rights and intangible prestigiosity (etc) factors they want/need?
—> Entice those “national ie non regional” applicants. Typically, with money.
If you’re from Hawai’i, Idaho, Arkansas, or North Dakota, or other under-represented states, you’re automatically welcome about anywhere :).
Then no matter what state you’re from, you can add the distance factor - it gives the national college its geographic diversity, something the college wants, and thus makes you more desirable than someone with the exact same stats who lives closer than you do. (Vice versa for you when you apply to colleges near your home).
That means it’s easier to get into a relatively higher-caliber school; to get preferential packaging (fewer loans, more grants/scholarships) especially at 100% need schools; and to get more financial aid since many schools that do not meet need will give the most financial aid to the candidates they really want (for a variety of reasons, including geographic diversity) and “gap” or “admit-deny” those they only admit to fill the class just in case.
However this may not appear in NPC’s since it’s subjective.
However, it makes sense, and it works. It’s been tested by many families.
Try it if only for one far away college and see if cost of travel isn’t made up with the financial aid package.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would advise you to check the ED/EA threads in december and the RD threads in late march early april and you will find many that beg to differ on your philosophy as students from all of these locations get denied year over year even with stats that 'fall in the range".</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is not always obvious which schools have blended need+merit grants. Those that do may not give a transparent way of determining them (e.g. “preferential packaging” of nominally need-based aid). Some do have them accounted for in their net price calculators (if they ask for HS GPA and test scores), but not all do.</p>
<p>Known big merit opportunities (some at schools with no need-based aid at all) have been collected in these threads:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html#post16451378[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html#post16451378</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-56.html#post16465904[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-56.html#post16465904</a></p>
<p>Some of what I wrote (the “monologue” :p) is in jest, but I thought it was obvious.
However, I didn’t say "if you apply from far away or from a less populous state, you’ll get in regardless of stats, EC’s, essays, or ‘fit’. " I said that, if you apply from a state less-represented at the college you’re applying to, you get a boost both for admission and financial packaging. Obviously students from less populous or far away states get rejected by colleges, especially colleges with admission rates under 20%. However it gave them a boost and if they apply to other colleges, it really helps. The fact not all students get into all colleges they apply to, especially on CC where most students aim for colleges with unpredictable outcomes, doesn’t mean the strategy doesn’t work. It works in most cases for some colleges, or in some cases for most colleges (depending on the college).</p>