<p>So i was really counting on bucknell untill about 2 mins ago i read that it’s not need blind??? My fam makes about 37k/year and our FAFSA says we have to pay $1700. is this going to mean i may not be offered admissions based on that?!? I’m so scared right now</p>
<p>alexsmol, i certainly didnt intend to make you nervous! clearly, now is not the greatest time for applicants to be 'surprised' by something like a schools need-aware status.</p>
<p>the reality is that financial aid is really, really expensive. specifically, bucknell spent $32,000,000 of its own cash on need-based grants-in-aid last year, a number equivalent to all of the income the school spent last year from returns on its endowment. now, obviously, a liberal arts college that spends $32,000,000 on need-based grants is admitting and enrolling quite a few students with demonstrated financial need. last year, that number was greater than 1600. but being need-aware, it also means that the financial aid well is not of unlimited depth.</p>
<p>what does that mean for you? well, for one, you can take solace in the fact that bucknell enrolls more lower income students on pell grants than most highly selective schools, including six of the eight ivies. as such, the fact that you are in need of substantial financial aid will not disqualify you for admission. that said, if your application finds itself among the final 100 being considered and the financial aid budget has already been nearly maxed, your outcome probably isnt going to be good. honestly, its not going to be good at all but about 28 schools around the country, though thankfully many colleges are undertaking capital campaigns to raise increased funds for financial aid. bucknell is among them, with the chief focus of its current $400,000,000 campaign being increased student aid.</p>
<p>anyway, per the chronicle of higher education, here is a complete list of need-blind colleges:</p>
<p>Amherst College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Claremont McKenna College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Davidson College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Haverford College
Macalester College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University</p>
<p>Isn't Harvard need blind?</p>
<p>thanks for catching that. yes it is. i simply copied the list, though now i cannot find the original post. </p>
<p>it appears there are a few other schools missing, as well, but my point remains.</p>
<p>thanks for your post, ericatbucknell. not only was i more comforted just by the sheer number of need based financial aid that bucknell gives out, but the high number of accepted students that are enrolled at bucknell who require financial aid makes me feel like there's more socioeconomic diversity than my mom (or i) originally thought. </p>
<p>i will be visiting in the next few weeks and i'm sure i'll love it :)</p>
<p>on the economic diversity question, here is a 'wealth' ranking (i made this one, so its right!) of the usnews top 50 lacs (minus the service academies; plus reed and sarah lawrence) based on the percentage of students on pell grants. a four year average was used, with the schools with FEWEST pell grant recipients ranked highest:</p>
<p>01 washington & lee
02 richmond
03 middlebury
04 davidson
05 kenyon
06 colby
07 franklin & marshall
07 lafayette
09 bates
10 furman
11 connecticut college
12 colgate
12 holy cross
12 rhodes
15 whitman
16 dickinson
16 vassar
18 gettysburg
19 carleton
19 haverford
19 pomona
19 university of the south
19 williams
24 bowdoin
24 bucknell
26 colorado college
27 claremont mckenna
27 depauw
27 grinnell
27 harvey mudd
27 sarah lawrence
32 swarthmore
33 scripps
33 trinity
35 hamilton
35 macalester
35 wesleyan
38 skidmore
39 amherst
40 bryn mawr
41 union
42 oberlin
43 wellesley
43 centre
45 pitzer
46 reed
46 bard
48 barnard
49 mount holyoke
50 occidental
51 smith</p>
<p>while this ranking doesnt address how wealthy non-pell grant students are, it does show that bucknell performs almost exactly average (among top 50 lacs) in enrolling lower-income students.</p>
<p>also, for some context, the top three schools on the list each enroll fewer than half as many pell grant recipients as the median school, colorado college (11.25%). both occidental and smith enroll more than twice as many, with mount holyoke not even close. (the range is 4% to 24.75%, meaning smith enrolls SIX TIMES as many pell grant students as washington & lee.)</p>
<p>Holy Cross employs a need-blind admissions policy.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Holy Cross employs a need-blind admissions policy.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>indeed. note, though, that holy cross does not guarantee to meet all demonstrated need, which is the other half of the equation.</p>
<p>and if anyone wants to post a better list than what i found, feel free.</p>
<p>Thanks for the list eric, especially the second one--it really made me think.</p>
<p>a few final comments on the 'student wealth' question.</p>
<p>youre going to find really wealthy people at all of the schools on the above list. and youre going to find a ton of people with upper-middle class backgrounds. the number of middle and working class students, as ive shown, does really vary, however.</p>
<p>but what does the data really mean for a non-wealthy student? well, id ask myself two questions:</p>
<p>1) am i someone who, for whatever reason, feels a strong need to appear cool? do i feel a desire to have a certain cell phone if some of my friends are getting one, or a certain brand of bag, or a certain make of jeans?</p>
<p>if the answer is affirmative and youre not wealthy, most expensive private colleges (and even some really wealthy publics, like uva) probably arent going to be for you. i went to a typical american high school where simply having a cell phone (granted, this was six years ago) and shopping at american eagle were about as 'cool' as it got. for some people in my high school graduating class who were very image and status conscious, the transition to a college where $400 phones and $200 jeans arent uncommon would have been difficult. its not that you have to have either to be happy at bucknell. honestly. not at all. i dont own pair of jeans that cost over $40 and in my social circle were people whose backgrounds ran the gamut. its just that for people who care about $200 jeans and cant afford them, theres going to be an issue. </p>
<p>(keep in mind that youre going to see far more people in sweats than expensive jeans when you show up to your friday morning psychology class.)</p>
<p>2) will i be able to afford to have fun with my friends? </p>
<p>in my opinion, this is perhaps the BIGGEST unasked question when it comes to college selection. all of those cultural attractions that draw applications to the boston colleges, nyus and george washingtons of the world... yeah, they cost money. in some cases, a lot of money. an expensive saturday at a rural school might involve going out for a $15 meal, followed by some drinks (your contribution: maybe $5) and a free concert. in dc, that meal is going to cost $30, those drinks are going to cost another $20 and that concert is probably going to have a $10 cover. so that fun $20 night all of a sudden costs $60. and it only goes up from there; i spent well over $100 on dinner/drinks/fun a few weeks ago (st patricks saturday) in dc. i didnt spend that much most MONTHS at bucknell.</p>
<p>a small campus job (or, in my case, generous parents) can cover $100 a month in fun. $300 (or a lot more, if your friends like starbucks and eat out during the week) is a bit harder to justify when youre working for $8/hour at the library.</p>
<p>I just talked with a counselor at Bucknell and he informed me that decision letters were mailed shortly after Noon today. I was curious about the need-blind aspect of the process, and he explained that all decisions this year were made without consideration of financial need, and that it wasn't a factor in their review process.</p>
<p>For the class of 2010: 1548 people applied for aid, 532 were determined to have no need, the remaining 1016 reflected a need of $26,100,000. Aid totaling $26,700,000 was offered to 1068 students (i know the numbers dont add up, but i am just citing the class profile). </p>
<p>The aid consisted of approximately $20,900,000 in Bucknell-sponsored scholarships, $1,625,000 in other forms of grants, $3,850,000 in student loans, and $325,000 in campus employment.</p>
<p>Of the enrolled members of the Class of 2010, 525 first-year students will receive approximately $12,000,000 in financial aid. That aid is distributed as $9,000,000 in Bucknell scholarships, $1,100,000 in other forms of grants, $1,700,000 in student loans, and $200,000 in campus employment.</p>
<p>For the class of 2011:</p>
<p>For the Class of 2011, financial aid applications were filed by 1,395 admitted students. Of these students, 372 were determined to have no need. The remaining 1,023 students reflected a total need of approximately $25,000,000.</p>
<p>Financial aid totaling approximately $25,400,000 was offered to 1,092 students. The aid consisted of approximately $19,500,000 in Bucknell scholarships, $1,400,000 in other grants, $4,200,000 in student loans, and $300,000 in student employment.</p>
<p>Of the enrolled members of the Class of 2011, 447 first-year students will receive approximately $12,775,000 in financial aid. That aid is distributed as $9,800,000 in Bucknell scholarships, $900,000 in other grants, $1,900,000 in student loans, and $175,000 in student employment.</p>