Schools like to sell themselves by saying that a certain percentage of their students receive some form of financial aid. In fact this aid, for the most part, takes the form of loans, which to me is not real aid at all. It costs the schools nothing and puts a smoke screen on how the schools are really “aiding” students. How can you see around this when comparing schools?
You run the Net Price Calculator at each school’s website. It will give you an estimate of the aid package - $X in loans, $Y in grants, $Z scholarships, $A for student contribution, $B for family contribution, etc.
If you can’t figure out the results of the NPC, it really, truly is OK to contact the financial aid office and ask.
Thank you happymomof1. I’ll check that out.
Yes, the NPC is best for your personal situation. But if you want to look at the breakdowns you mention in your OP, then look at the CDS, common data set.
research College Data sets for any colleges you are interested in- most schools send in these forms but some schools try to make finding them very difficult.
here for example is is the website for Stanford common data set info
http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2014
click on the link to Financial Aid - it is broken into different sections by scholarships/ self help /and parent loans/ and- with Stanford in particular -athletic scholarships and other waivers.
this website compiles info from common data sets- it s good place to look as well- the U of Chicago is one school that can be researched here. click on the
money matters tab
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=327
If the student has a collegeboard.org account because he/she has signed up to take the SAT’s, the college board has a good net price calculator that a number of the colleges use. If schools you are interested in have signed on to use the collegeboard.org NPC, that can be a bit easier to deal with, since you only have to input your financial info once to see how different schools would award aid. Of course, even if the student hasn’t signed up for an SAT or taken one, he/she can still make an account.
^ Actually, some schools put their NPC on CB. For instance, UMich has migrated their NPC to CB last year.