<p>... because of its no-loans policy?</p>
<p>If the schools generally agree on the amount of a student's need, and Princeton meets that need entirely with grants while all the others include loans, then isn't Princeton is automatically several thousand dollars less costly, out of pocket, than its competitors?</p>
<p>Or, maybe the schools <em>don't</em> generally agree on the amount of need ... or is there some other factor that I am not considering?</p>
<p>It's the latter - schools don't automatically agree on need. Princeton is very likely to offer you better financial aid than many other colleges, but it is also true that Princeton might decide that your EFC should be $12,000 and maybe Dartmouth decides your EFC should be $8,000 -- so if Dartmouth & Princeton offer you the same grant but Dartmouth also offers you $4000 in loans.... which is the better package? (I've just put in the name "Dartmouth" by way of example - I have no clue what their financial aid packages are like or whether they ever offer anyone better aid than Princeton). </p>
<p>Bottom line: you should apply to a range of colleges and compare the awards you get after you are admitted. Princeton won't give you anything unless you are first admitted, and that really is where, when it comes down to it, Princeton is less likely to make college affordable. That is, Princeton give -0- to the more than 9 out of every 10 students it rejects every year.</p>
<p>Not true at all. We didn't have any loans at Harvard either. Likewise at Yale. Both were cheaper than Princeton for us.</p>