need based aid for transfer students

[megiddo]

<p>is need based aid given to students who transfer to other colleges? do they give less out to transfer students then they do freshman?</p>

[thumper1]

<p>Policies for need based financial aid for transfer students depend on the specific school. You would need to check the school’s website for their specific policies. This is true for merit aid for transfers as well. YMMV.</p>

[Bedouin]

<p>one rule of thumb is that its often more common to get good aid as a transfer than to freshmen. Transfer students have at least proven that they can hadnle college-level coursework. Your need-based aid based on federal programs is an entitlement that has to remain the same though, so if you get a federal grant at 1 colege and transfer, you still get whats left of the grant.</p>

[thumper1]

<p>

one rule of thumb is that its often more common to get good aid as a transfer than to freshmen.

</p>

<p>Where is the proof for this statement? I certainly don’t know about EVERY college…but all of the colleges I DO know about give merit aid to incoming freshmen and much LESS to transfers. For schools that don’t guarantee to meet full need, the schools use their need based funds (except federal entitlements like Pell) more for incoming freshmen than for transfers,</p>

<p>Schools that meet full need…well…if you have been a very successful student and you transfer to those schools AND you have demonstrated financial need…your chances of being accepted as a transfer and therefore receiving their need based aid are improved IF your performance at college number 1 is good.</p>

[mom2collegekids]

<p>Unless a school promises to meet full need, transfer students sometimes get less aid than freshmen.</p>

<p>Schools sometimes use FA for preferential packaging to get the freshmen that they want.</p>

[swimcatsmom]

<p>

one rule of thumb is that its often more common to get good aid as a transfer than to freshmen.

I don’t believe this is true at all. The complete opposite in fact. At best need based aid will be the same as for a freshman. It may be less, especially as far as merit aid is concerned.</p>

<p>As far as federal aid is concerned your aid should be similar to what any student would receive. It will be based on your EFC and the school’s COA. If you are eligible for the pell for instance, you will get the same Pell as a transfer that you would as a freshman. Your Stafford loan eligibility will be the same as for any student of your standing (sophomore, junior etc). For campus based federal aid such as SEOG, Perkins, and work study it will depend on each school. My daughter is a Junior (actually I guess she is a senior now) and I have yet to figure out exactly how her school determines how they distribute these limited funds as hers vary every year despite her EFC being the same.</p>

<p>For schools that have institutional need based aid it will depend on the school and it’s own policies. You would need to check with the school. </p>

<p>Some schools do offer merit to transfers but it tends to be much less generous than that offered to freshmen. At my daughter’s school, for instance, the top 3 freshman scholarships are full tuition waivers plus varied additional cash awards. For a transfer the top scholarship is a partial tuition waiver that covers under 1/2 tuition.</p>

[entomom]

<p>

one rule of thumb is that its often more common to get good aid as a transfer than to freshmen.

</p>

<p>Quite the opposite, I don’t know of any schools who give better FA to transfers than fr. Some treat transfers the same as fr and others have less aid, Brown for example provides 100% of need for fr but not for transfers:</p>

<p>[Brown</a> Admission: Transfer Students](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>

<p>

Financial aid for transfer applicants is limited…Students who do not apply for financial assistance with their initial admission application will not be considered for University Scholarship at any point during their undergraduate years at Brown, regardless of any changes in their family’s financial situation.

</p>

<p>In addition to limited FA, B transfer admissions is need-aware, not need-blind as it is for fr admissions:</p>

<p><a href=“https://financialaid.brown.edu/Cmx_Content.aspx?cpId=56[/url]”>https://financialaid.brown.edu/Cmx_Content.aspx?cpId=56&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

Transfer students are admitted to Brown under a need-aware Admission policy. Need aware means that financial need will be taken into account in making the admission decision.

</p>

<p>While need aware/blind is an admissions and not a FA policy, it does have a strong impact on whether or not a student applies to a school and the chance they will have in being accepted.</p>

[_rentof2]

<p>Generally speaking, I believe need-based aid is going to be mostly consistent with the government’s and/or college’s policy for awarding it, regardless of class level. Merit aid tends to be much more generous for freshman, but there are usually some competitive scholarships transfer and continuing students can apply for… but the number of them and the amounts of them tend to be limited.</p>

<p>Bedouin, it seems like a hefty percentage of the time your advice is exactly opposite of the truth.</p>

[college_ruled]

<ol>
<li>Federal money is federal money. </li>
<li>Institutional aid is left to the college. There are fewer merit scholarships (for less money) for transfer students, because the college rankings don’t care about the stats of transfers. Many (most?) schools that are need blind for freshmen are not for transfers. With the economy and endowments the way they are many schools are looking for full pay students.</li>
</ol>