<p>I came upon this in the princeton review website, that amherst ranks no.7 for “Students Dissatisfied with Financial Aid”.</p>
<p>Is that really the case?</p>
<p>Because Amherst actually have no loans, plus:
[same, from princeton review]
Tuition: $35,580.00
Undergraduate receiving need-based financial aid: 51%
Financial Aid Rating: 92
Average Undergraduate Total Need-Based Aid: $45,285.00</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>I've been scratching my head over this one too. I'll be curious to see how folks respond.</p>
<p>The financial aid packages that one receives at any of the top LACs are more-or-less the same. Perhaps, because Amherst is comparable in quality and prestige to HYPSM, many students' expectations are different--their standards are higher--, and they therefore feel upset that Amherst can't be as generous as its counterparts.</p>
<p>That's a reasonable hypothesis, kwu, except that I don't think Amherst students have higher expectations of aid. Or at least, not high enough expectations that they would rate Amherst's aid as 7th worst in the country, especially when you consider how generous Amherst actually is.</p>
<p>The only thing I can think is that there is some sort of glitch in the data.</p>
<p>I don't know who they ask in these surveys, because they didn't ask my D, and she and I are more than satisfied, in fact, it was the best package of any of the schools where she was accepted.</p>
<p>I cannot be more satisfied with my financial aid package at Amherst.</p>
<p>I have last year's Princeton Review rankings book, and Amherst was 20th in students HAPPY with financial aid, so there's obviously been a mistake on the website</p>
<p>A glitch or mistake doesn't explain how Dartmouth made the list too.</p>
<p>Of course Amherst isn't 7th worst in the entire country: it's 7th worst in terms of how many students are dissatisfied with their financial aid.</p>
<p>These lists are pretty silly. Both Dart and Amherst give great financial aid, better than most schools in the country.</p>
<p>There are objective measures: check % of students receiving aid and size of the grant. </p>
<p>Whether students are happy or unhappy about this says more about the students than the packages.</p>
<p>One student will be thrilled with a 90% on a physics test; another will be devastated.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review metric is not really meaningful.</p>
<p>As a Williams parent I am supposed to be opposed to all things Amherst, but I'm not. It's a wonderful school with good FA, as is Dart, as in fact is Wiliams.</p>
<p>None of these schools work out in every case scenario.</p>
<p>The dissatisfaction I heard about financial aid is mostly from middle-income students who did not receive a package that worked for them and would have to take out massive loans.</p>
<p>The no-loans policy is just taking effect for the first time this year, is that right? It's possible that the ranking will be more positive after this year when the students no longer have to borrow.</p>
<p>The no loans policy only covers the loans that are a part of the FA package; this does not eliminate the loans families take for the gap -- the portion of the EFC they can not pay.</p>
<p>I don't think people are complaining about the loans in the package because there are caps to those that are not that high.</p>
<p>Well, people who I have spoken to that couldn't afford Amherst have complained about the EFC they would have to pay but can't afford, so they would have to take out many loans if they chose to attend Amherst. </p>
<p>What loans in the package? Didn't Amherst remove loans as part of their FA package?</p>
<p>Yes, they did. But the coming year will be the first year to see packages that are all grants.</p>
<p>I though that the first year was already this year, the admissions for 2008.</p>
<p>Yes - this year. D's package had no loans in it. The prior years had loans, but small amounts which were covered by private scholarships that D had won. They also covered her work-study portion.</p>
<p>Well I think that is the coming year.</p>
<p>This past year (07-08) was the first year of the no loans policy.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't know who they ask in these surveys, because they didn't ask my D, and she and I are more than satisfied, in fact, it was the best package of any of the schools where she was accepted.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's a non-random, unscientific internet poll. The rankings depend on the percentage of responsdents from that particular school. Let's say that Amherst had very poor response to the poll (only 50 students) and half of them said they wanted more financial aid (who doesn't?). Voila, low ranking.</p>
<p>That's why I feel so strongly that the P Review lists are utterly worthless. You know something is wrong when Amherst is ranked 3993 out of 4000 schools on financial aid. That's absurd.</p>
<p>interesteddad: We totally agree.</p>