<p>I ran the net price calculator and the result was some grant aid and 11K in federal loans. I though the max federal loan for first-year students was $5500? How do they double that at Oberlin? This is so loan heavy compared to the NPC for other schools, though I suppose it's a good thing to know upfront and drop the app. Is this the standard loan amount?</p>
<p>Oberlin’s financial aid packages are usually perceived as generous in comparison to other schools’. I suggest you contact the financial aid office with your questions.</p>
<p>while Oberlin’s financial aid is more generous than “most” schools, among the colleges which it competes with for students, it is not as generous. Now that NPCs exist for all schools, this is easy for parents and students to see. Oberlin is loan-heavy - including both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, perkins loans and a hefty work-study amount, when one considers that virtually all work-study jobs are minimum wage. Unfortunately, I know of several families with students who would have attended, but for this financial aid disparity. It is something that I think the school should take a hard look at. That being said, it IS quite good with aid when looking at colleges overall. And given the enrollment numbers this past fall, I suppose it hasn’t had a huge impact since for many students, the desire to attend/ fit, outweight the financial difference. </p>
<p>forgot to add - on the other hand, Oberlin is a college that uses a more reasonable formula for calculating need than some of its counterparts, so that while the packages do contain a full student-loan component, the actual grant amounts may well be very close to what you see from other schools, because they may formulate need slightly differently. It is always worth a conversation with your student’s financial aid officer to discuss circumstances.</p>
<p>Oberlin also is one of a handful of very selective LACs that do not require non-custodial income figures, and instead base their financial aid on the household income of the custodial parent and the sum total of household income. And, according to a list I found here on CC this morning, the acceptance rate jumps from 30% to 80% for IB diploma candidates.</p>
<p>@NEPatsGirl, that’s not true - they require information from non-custodial parents. FAFSA only schools only requie income information from custodial parents. CSS Profile schools can use the CSS Profile NCP form or use their own form. </p>
<p>So it does. I thought I had gone over every inch of their financial aid page 
They also require a 500 word supplement so I think I’ll tell D to forget about it. What she doesn’t need is more work to do to apply to a school similar to the other 12 already on the list.</p>