Ivy transfer student aid information?

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm a student from an extremely low income family (10-12k untaxable from disability, EFC 0, plus this year I might be able to claim one of my parents as MY dependent), and I've got about a year's worth of credit from community colleges and NYU (don't even ask how I ended up there in the first place, I don't know.) In my first go at college, I got into Columbia GS because I'm a non-traditional student, only to find out that the person who told me the aid for GS students was the same as for freshmen had been very mistaken. NYU, interestingly enough, offered me the best aid out of my initial applications, which was still terrible. I left NYU pretty quickly. I've since applied (and been accepted) to various selective private institutions who all claimed to meet 100% of aid, only to get packages that left gaps to be yearly filled by loans larger than my family's income. For various reasons I was previously reluctant to apply to the ivy league schools proper but at this point it's looking like it's either them or state school for me. I'm reasonably confident in my acceptance, however I have some qualms about aid.</p>

<p>The ivies in general seem to have really great aid for students with financial backgrounds such as my own (except for Cornell, and I can't apply to Princeton.) However, in my experience there can be a dramatic difference between freshman and transfer aid packages. Brown seems to be actively antagonistic towards transfer students. The rest seem to imply good news but I can't find any specific information about whether aid for transfer students is as forthcoming as it is for freshmen. I'd like to be as sure as possible after my previous experiences. Can anyone help me out?</p>

2

<p>You re-apply every year for need based FA. I can't imagine why it would be any different for a transfer vs a returning student. Some schools are noted for worse aid for upper classmen in general however.</p>

3

<p>I didn't initially think it would be different for transfer students either but since then I've learned that quite often there are different policies regarding financial aid for transfer students.
Columbia for instance says "While transfer admission to Columbia is need-blind, only limited institutional grant aid is available for transfer students." When I talked to them on the phone they implied that the only institutional aid available for transfer students was merit based and practically nonexistent. Brown is even worse as far as I can tell, as their transfer admissions are not even need-blind: I am too poor to even be admitted. From what I have been told, many colleges have different policies regarding financial aid for transfer students whether they advertise them or not. Some of the other ivies imply that they don't have differing policies but I couldn't find any hard information about it. Does anyone have any information from experience?</p>

4

<p>YOur best bet would be to read the financial aid policies as it relates to transfer students at each school you are interested in applying to as they are pretty up front as far as their policies are concerned. While there are some that have limited if any funds for transfer students (in the case of Brown and Columbia) others will meet 100% of your demonstrated need.</p>