<p>I ran the Brown’s NPC for my D’s application. It turned out significantly low although Harvard’s NPC gave me full price tag. I thought all Ivies are 100% need-based financial-aid only. Does it mean that Brown has a merit-based scholarship ? Or, is it just due wrong NPC for Brown ?</p>
<p>There are a lot of different ways to interpret financial need. Not only income but total assets are considered. If you run a business, you may have legitimate IRS deductions that get added back in when considering financial aid. When parents are divorced, the calculations can get complicated. Each college has different ways of calculating these various factors, so you can expect a variety of results in calculating NFC.</p>
<p>All Ivies give need-based financial aid. However, the Ivies vary in the size of their endowment, the money allotted for financial aid and their financial-aid philosophy.</p>
<p>You will find that Harvard, Princeton and Stanford have the most generous financial aid policies. Several years back Harvard announced that families with incomes between $100-$180,000 would pay 10% of their income assuming average asset levels. (I’m not sure what those income levels are now.) Brown concentrates its financial aid dollars on low income families. Harvard just has more money and can give larger packages. </p>
<p>And as Lorem said, schools have different rules for calculating your financial resources. Some schools look at home equity, others don’t, for example. </p>
<p>Also, the NPC should only be used as a guideline. Don’t assume that the NPC number is written in stone. In April, there are many parents and kids who come on CC and say that the final financial aid package looks very different from what the NPC estimate was.</p>
<p>Many families are quite happy with their Brown financial aid. Others are not, and their kids end up going elsewhere. It’s hard to say what will happen to you. If your daughter is accepted to Brown and other schools, and gets a better financial aid package from another school, you can bring that info to the financial aid office and they often adjust the package to match the other school. </p>
<p>And remember, Harvard’s acceptance rate for an unhooked student is incredibly low. They have very generous financial aid packages, but only a very small percentage of students benefit from them.</p>