<p>Rank these in terms of aid.</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo
RIT
RPI ( I received the RPI Medal...)
MIT
Columbia
Northeastern
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
IIT
Case Western
University of Pittsburgh
U Penn</p>
<p>It is impossible – and totally meaningless – to “rank [schools] in terms of aid” because
(1) Each school gives out financial aid in accordance with its own particular policies, and
(2) Financial aid offers vary from student to student because they are dependent upon individual circumstances.</p>
<p>Here are a few things to think about: </p>
<p>– Merit aid (which is generally not given by the most elite schools) depends on the applicant’s stats and/or special talents – in relation to other applicants applying that year. </p>
<p>– Some schools give out just a handful of really big merit scholarships (e.g., from 1/2 or full tuition up to a “full ride”), while others give out a large number of small scholarships ($1K - $10K) so that nearly every student receives some sort of “discount” off the sticker price. Which approach is “better”? It depends upon whether or not you are one of the lucky few who could actually get the big scholarship.</p>
<p>– Most schools have some merit scholarships that are restricted to certain populations such as URM, residents of a particular area, certain majors, etc. If you don’t meet the criteria, you aren’t eligible. So how do you compare a school that has some scholarship money set aside for potential music majors to a school that offers money to students with substantial community service hours on their resume? Again, it depends on which category you fall into.</p>
<p>– Need-based aid obviously depends upon the applicant’s actual family circumstances, but also on how much money the school has available for financial aid that year. Some schools have endowments that are exponentially bigger than those of less well-known schools.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about “net cost” instead of aid awarded this analysis would make more sense but is still almost unanswerable with the info given. Are you instate for any of these? If so, how low is your EFC? NY has extra grants available for low EFC students at NY colleges, particularly SUNYs.</p>
<p>MIT, UPenn, and Columbia guarantee to meet full need. So if you have a lot of need as determined by their methodology (using PROFILE and FAFSA), they will be the best schools for you IF you can gain admittance.</p>
<p>However, if you do not have need as they define it, you won’t get a dime, because these schools do not give any merit money. In that case, you would likely do better at those other schools. Clearly if you are a NY resident, the low SUNY prices will make them a good deal as you will need less merit money in order to have less to pay out yourself. For my kids, the SUNYs were the best financial deal. Though they did not give out the biggest awards, the net effect was the least amount we would have to pay, given the lower sticker prices. Though my son got some generous scholarships from some private colleges, even a $25K award leaves a lot left to fund when the total COA is well over $50K. </p>
<p>It isn’t easy to determine where you will end up doing the best financially. There were some surprises in our outcomes. I have also seen surprises in many other kids’ packages. Some kids did better with the heavy merit, others with the aid component, others with a combo, some with the lower sticker prices.</p>
<p>Estimating the generosity of a school is not impossible.</p>
<p>First thing you need to do is estimate your expected family contribution (EFC). You can find a descent estimator at [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp)</p>
<p>Now figure out your financial need at each school…</p>
<p>COA - EFC = FN</p>
<p>COA is cost of attendance.</p>
<p>Now multiply your financial need by the college financial track record which can be found at collegeboard as well in the financial section of the profile. </p>
<p>Voila, you have a fairly descent estimate of each school’s generosity for your particular situation.</p>
<p>We’ve been using this calculation for 9 years with our clients and typically come within 5% of their actual awards, barring extenuating circumstances.</p>
<p>“Rank these in terms of aid.”</p>
<p>I’m sure you meant: “Can someone help me rank these schools in terms of aid, please?”</p>
<p>nk9230 - I noticed that you asked about the RPI medal in another post. Please note that the $15,000/year would be subtracted from any need-based aid you receive at RPI, not added to it. </p>
<p>And sblake7 - GREAT post!</p>
<p>sblake7- Yeah, thats what I meant… I was looking along the lines of Percentages of students whose aid is met etc.</p>
<p>scottaa- the EFC calculator will help</p>
<p>alamemom, so the RPI medal reduces need based aid I can receive basically?</p>
<p>Yes, because it reduces your “need.” If you are determined to have, for example, $35,000 in need, your $15,000 scholarship would be considered a resource. You would then be eligible for $20,000 in need-based aid.</p>
<p>The scholarship does offer an advantage - if your financial aid package has a “gap” (where you are not awarded aid to cover your entire need), your scholarship would generally first be applied to unmet need. (Contact RPI financial aid to get their policy on this.)</p>