<p>I am being told that most students have very little to NO college debt when they finish at Haverford...can this possibly be accurate? Are the grants and scholarships really that good?!</p>
<p>Haverford is a 100%-need school which means their policy is to cover all the need the school calculates for each of their matriculants (i.e., they use financial aid to make up the difference between cost of attendance and what a family is expected to pay according to their rules). There are around 60-80 such schools in the country and a few more that come very close to 100% (see [Colleges</a> that Meet the Financial Needs of Students](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-that-meet-the-financial-needs-of-students/349/]Colleges”>Colleges That Meet the Financial Needs of Students | CollegeXpress)).</p>
<p>Furthermore Haverford’s policy is to include no loans in their FA packages. In other words they do not expect a family to incur debt in order to meet costs. Of the 100%-need schools, only a few have a similar policy ([Schools</a> That Meet 100% of Demonstrated Need without Loans](<a href=“http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/09/02/schools-that-meet-100-of-demonstrated-need-without-loans/]Schools”>Loading...)). Of course it is possible that families with students attending Haverford might still feel they need loans to meet their expected family contribution.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the guidance…this college hunting thing is new and there are so many options concerning everything! I really appreciate you replying to my post :)</p>
<p>You might find Haverford’s Net Price Calculator useful:</p>
<p><a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
<p>(Every school is now required to have one of these on-line, BTW.)</p>
<p>You should also be aware that Haverford (and all the other 100% schools) will use its own method to calculate a families contribution, not the one used by the government derived from the FAFSA form. Instead Haverford will rely on numbers from the CSS/Profile. The chief differences between the methods will be the possible inclusion of your home equity, the inclusion of income and assets of non-custodial parents, and allowance for the costs associated with private primary and secondary school attendance in the contribution calculation.</p>
<p>Thanks Descartesz! Your guidance is very much appreciated!</p>