Need-Based Financial Aid

Colleges and Universities A-Z Elon University
1

Hello. I’m looking for advice. Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

My son was admitted EA to Elon. We need to decide whether to apply for Fellows (business) with the deadline in two days. He received the $7,500 scholarship with the acceptance. If by chance, he is selected for Business Fellows, he would receive an additional $7,500. However, that is not enough to make the net cost comparable to other colleges that have accepted him. The net price for these other colleges is $18-20K with merit and need based aid. The missing piece is financial aid and the packages haven’t yet been released. I’ve heard that Elon is not generous due to a small endowment. And the net price calculator included no need-based aid - only the possibility of the Presidential + Honors. I don’t think he’s a good fit for Honors.

The Fellows process is also not easy. If he were selected to participate in the Fellows weekend, we would need to pay for a trip from MA for a possible chance at being selected.

Based on your experience, does anyone have a rough idea how much need based aid Elon might offer with an EFC between $7K and $8K? Perhaps, the answer is in the net price calculator - $0. But before we move on, I thought I would see if anyone had more information that might help us.

If at all relevant, my son’s stats: 1490 SAT, 3.78 unweighted GPA

Thanks!

2

I don’t know about need based aid, but be award that often the need based aid will be reduced by any merit aid. The school reasons they have reduced your need by the amount of the merit, so therefore also reduce the aid.

Call them. They should be able to answer whether there will be any need based aid.

3

Thanks so much for your reply. That’s a good point that merit can reduce the need based aid. I recently called the school financial aid office. Unfortunately, they were only able to give me vague information. The person I spoke with said she didn’t know how much funds they had available for financial aid. It seemed like a lot was unknown. I think she said something about having less money available this year.

4

My son attends Elon but I don’t have much insight into your questions. I would say to have him submit the application just to buy you some time. And surely Elon can give you a date when financial aid packages come out…I would try calling again…the answer you got was a non answer.

Elon is less generous with merit aid in general because its sticker price is lower than comparable schools.

There is another thread with some Business Fellows numbers (applicants vs recipients) if you feel that information would be helpful.

5

Thanks so much!