I think Williams is the only full need school that no longer includes work study in FA packages. I know Bowdoin applies any outside scholarships to work study.
Rice also counts home equity, I don’t know how many of the other full need loan-free schools also count that.
W&L did not include work study in my daughter’s package either. They gave us the option to bring down EFC but not figured into need.
Williams is, in my limited experience, the most generous school. No loans included in FA, no summer work, they pay for books, lab fees, music lessons and randomly send students stipends. His friends on full need received $4000 before the start of Freshman year to buy things they would need for school. This spring my son received a check that just said spring stipend! 
Some schools, like Vassar, only include the $3500 in subsidized loans in their financial aid packages. Not as good as no loans, but still nice not to have anything accruing interest until 6 months after graduation.
-Surprised that Cornell still has loans as part of need.
-Schools may have Work Study in their package but it may not be Federal Work Study. I believe if you qualify for Federal Work Study then it’s paid by the Govt. My D17’s Princeton package listed Work Study that was paid by the Princeton and was optional. I think if she would have accepted it she would have been assigned a job. Instead she just found a job among the many that were posted that she preferred.
-Her Columbia FA package included WS but it was waived and instead given a stipend for the amount as she was named some kind of scholar - which isn’t uncommon at Columbia. Maybe other schools might do the same.
-Travel for cost of attendance has been around for a while. My FA package for a school that I did not attend in 1983 included the cost for 2 RT air tickets (NC to CA)
When my D17 applied to Brown apparently Home Equity counted and their NPC was way worse than Princeton’s which didn’t.
Big congrats! UMD made S23’s “top 4” list. He absolutely loved it from the minute he stepped on campus to tour in the spring of his junior year.
Glad to see everything worked out in the end. I followed your journey on the TE thread, so it’s nice to see a happy outcome. 
The degree to which home equity is considered is all over the map! I recommend running numbers on the on-line NPCs using home equity and backing out to determine sensitivity of their models to that.
But another issue is: some take it into account differently in their on-line NPC calculators than they do for their actual FA award determination. Some places might provide more of a break depending on relative income. Don’t necessarily rule out potential options out because of bad NPC numbers.
If we’re talking actual FA award letters, it’s worth inquiring as to whether a special determination can be made if there are unusual circumstances like high home equity and low income. Some offices are willing to be flexible and accommodating.
Can someone remind me, aside from the convenience, if there are benefits to taking a work study job on campus vs. an off campus job? Assuming my son chooses Case Western, he has $2500 work study as part of his financial aid package. I heard this money won’t count as part of his income for taxes or next year’s financial package as opposed to getting an off campus job which would show up as income. Is this true or did I misunderstand that? They mentioned having a big job fair for on-campus jobs early in the semester with lots of variety.
I don’t know if this counts as convenience, but work-study jobs are, in my observation, more likely to let work schedules bend to allow for completion of irregularly scheduled course requirements (e.g., a music or theater course that requires occasional attendance at performances).
My kid works in hotel banquets $18 an hr. Signs up when she wants. Minimum one shift a month.
The students have the advantage.
If off campus will pay more, then I’d be off campus.
Flexibility can be had most anywhere.
No clue how it impacts aid. If it lessens it then why would anyone work ?
First part: not true. It is income that is taxed (or can be, depending student’s total annual income and whether they are under the exemption amount).
Second part: true. This can be a huge advantage since this income is not “taxed” for financial aid eligibility purposes. Actual advantage depends on a variety of factors. You can get an idea by running figures in the on-line NPC with and without this student income included.
I’d also say the work-study job is likely to be more interesting and more flexible.
I think you may be a little mistaken and/or over rating the perceived prestige.
A former President (Obama) attended Oxy and former HUD Sec graduated from Oxy (Jack Kemp). David Axelrod (in Clinton admin) was a professor at Oxy.
During my time at Oxy I had many courses with a high ranking executive from Rand Corp, a course taught by a Russian gentleman who had been offered a post in Gorbachev’s government and multiple Rhodes scholars.
I saw Jocelyn Elders (Human Health Sec in Clinton Administration), Ambassador to Peru, Maya Angelou and Bill Cosby speak (yeah last one is a bit embarrassing now).
I saw No Doubt perform on campus.
Reading this you would think I had attended a gigantic 50k student college however my graduating class was smaller than my high school graduating class (roughly 300 kids).
I also was able to rejoin the tennis team my Senior year (after not playing for 2 years) and play singles. A D1 school probably never would have allowed me to do that.
Every interview I have had, I get asked about Occidental. About half hold it in high regard and about half have not heard of it. Either way it is a conversation piece which has probably helped me in my success.
During my time at Occidental I performed course work which was much more rigorous and engaging than my former high school friends that attended UC’s, Stanford etc.
My only criticism is that the college does not always promote diversity of thought as it is extraordinarily liberal even for a college campus (plus the food was terrible at the time).
And, please note that I am middle aged so this was some time ago. I did revisit with my older daughter and the food looks much better plus the neighborhood has improved.
I also was one of the few kids in my class who had not graduated 1 or 2 in their high school class.
Thanks for the responses re: work study. Very good to know!
Agree!! Oxy is really impressive on so many levels, and were it not for the difference in COA, my D23 would absolutely be headed there this fall, choosing it over more selective schools that admitted her and including the school that you are feeling a little worried about letting go of, @Brillig! I’m sure your daughter is going to thrive there! 
Fear the Turtle!!!
And there are several jobs that basically pay you to do your HW.
I wish both our kids were headed there, @GoldRush2! We also crossed some accepted schools off our list because of COA—it’s a hard position to be in. I hope your daughter is headed to somewhere she loves! 
Last night, we pushed the button and paid the deposit to Oxy, so I guess my daughter is now a Tiger!
My son isn’t doing any admitted days. We couldn’t take him to audition in NOLA (2500 miles), go back for admitted student day, then move in a few months later. He made the most of his audition visits.
I may be wrong but I think you can find 3 different types of jobs on campus for students:
Most likely nowadays the first 2 are grouped together so as not to stigmatize the recipient but maybe not every Institution has gotten there. Back in my day I qualified for Federal Work Study and would have worked some crappy job like the Cafeteria if I accepted but I was fortunate enough to know how to use Computers quite well at a time that Computer Labs were being installed at Universities so was able to get a much higher paying ‘skilled’ job.