<p>Which schools besides Princeton offer all grants to students to fill the demonstrated need? I am aware of the paid-tuition schools (Olin and Cooper), any more of those in my field? I am looking at engineering schools. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Considering that Princeton has somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 Billion (maybe more) in its endowment, it can more easily afford to do that. It is a really big gag between the school with the next largest endowment from which those funds come from. </p>
<p>Harvard is looking to reduce to amount of loans and the EFC for families making 40-60K per year.</p>
<p>Many schools believe tht the student should have some sort of financial buy-in to THEIR education. School with large endowments can give larger grants than those with small endowments. But remember, most of these schools are probably the Ivies and the Elite LAC's who also have a pretty decent amount of full pay. The larger amount of scholarship with smaller loans are usally going to those who can least afford to pay.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to look int the US News & World Report Ultimate Financial aid guide for the schools which you are interesed in to so that you can see thier financial aid break down: average grants/scholarships, loans, workstudy etc.</p>
<p>All the best</p>
<p>Brown has just started doing this with low-income frosh.</p>
<p>by the way, princeton has an endowment of about $7.5 billion, not $18 billion, sybbie. Harvard has an endowment of over $18 billion.</p>
<p>ok, I stand corrected, but its still alot of as compared to the other schools</p>
<p>DS#2 received a letter from Princeton about the "no loans" policy. He did not know Brown had also instituted the same policy. I will have to let him know. Thank you aparent5 for the info!</p>
<p>I don't know any schools other than Princeton and I think Brown (?) and that two year mens school in the CA desert (what's it called again?). </p>
<p>Maybe the following info will be helpful? Take it all with a grain of salt because financial aid packages can vary so much and there is no hard and fast rule for any school.
Schools with large endowments usually give more grant, obviously, and schools who's statistics are below yours will be more likely to give you most or all aid in grant. Apply widely and don't apply ED anywhere so you can compare aid packages. Some say ED is okay because you can actually decline admission based on the proposed financial aid package. Top schools generally give 100% EFC/Profile need, but not all in grant usually, but no merit aid (they don't have to). Merit schools tend to be below the top 40 or so. Of course, in this country there are thousands of colleges so there are plenty to choose from not in the top 40. If your EFC is more than your family can comfortably afford it is always smart to include a few schools that offer merit aid (including full ride opportunities) and ones that are financial safeties (often your State school) in case you are offered no money at all. </p>
<p>Remember that the few schools that are offering no loans at all are going to be even more swamped with applications. </p>
<p>An engineering-type school that is generous with aid: Harvey Mudd College.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies, I somehow thought that there were more schools with no loan policies. I also checked the princetonreview and they said that the average Harvey Mudd package is 15K (is 15K generous?) per year. It also says Caltech averages 25K per year. I was actually going to hold off on the HMC application until I heard Citrus mention that. So what is the actual average aid for HMC (my EFC is 15K)?</p>
<p>Deep Springs (the mens school in CA mentioned above), and Webb Institute are both tuition free.</p>
<p>Rice University offers some merit-scholarships (including a few full-tuition for engineering students). For recipients of some of their scholarships, they also meet all "need" with grants, scholarships and no work/study and no loans. I never saw this policy in print, but we were delighted to find it out after my daughter received her financial aid package. I don't know exactly what the criteria is that they use for this offer. At Rice, even for students who DO have loans in their FA packages, the loan cap is $10500 total for the entire 4-years - which is pretty incredibly low. If you request to have more loans, (let's say, to help your parents meet their EFC), they can give you more. Daughter is LOVING Rice.</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, Rice is actually one the schools I am looking at. May I ask what kind of aid your daughter received at Rice and you EFC? Rice seems like a good deal considering their reduced tuition. However, price is still a consideration in my college search.</p>
<p>Also there is Cooper Union whose tuition is FREE to all students. There are two catches:</p>
<ol>
<li>It is a very difficult school to get admitted to</li>
<li>You can only major in Engineering, Architectrure or Art/Design.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm from Rice, and I'll give a quick overview of my need and financial aid:</p>
<p>My EFC was calculated at about $1000 or so. The overall budget of costs for this year is something like $32,000. I received an $8,000/year merit scholarship from Rice, a $2000/year NM scholarship from Rice, app. $11,000/year from a Rice grant/endowed scholarship, app. $3500 or so from a Pell Grant, $3600 from Texas Equilzation Grant, $1500/year from an outside scholarship, $1500/year from a stafford loan I took out myself to cover some travel expenses, and a few hundred dollars of Rice Tuition Grant. </p>
<p>Originally, I had no mandated loans as part of my financial package. What was basically left to my family to cover was books and travel expenses, some of the costs of which I took out the loan to cover. So, as you can see, grants make up the overwhelming majority of my aid. Especially if you have a rather low EFC like me, this type of FA reward is somewhat typical, from what I've heard. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Tuition may be free but room and board are about $20K.</p>
<p>Thanks for the inof Jtullis. That financial aid package is great. Is the "Texas Equilzation Grant" for only Texas residents? I am applying out of state.</p>
<p>BTW: Hill's comment "Tuition may be free but room and board are about $20K refers to cooper Union, not Rice... Yes, Texas Equalization Grants are only for Texas residents - however, Rice agrees to meet 100% of your financial need, so it doesn't matter what the name on the grant/scholarship is! However, Rice doesn't give the "no loan, no workstudy" to all their students, and it is hard to be "outstanding" in this applicant pool. My daughter's package was handled similarly, although our grants were lower since our EFC is higher. Even if you don't get a "no-loan" package at Rice, though, it is still an excellent deal. With the loan cap at $10500. it is really affordable. (We totally dropped consideration of some schools - like Wesleyan, when we realized that they expected students to graduate with about $23,000. in loans. Yikes!)</p>
<p>I'm glad I could help. And actually, no, Texas Equalization grants are not only for Texas residents, as I am from Alabama. Otherwise, though, Anxiousmom is correct in that Rice is a great value even with loans as part of your package, due to the cap.</p>
<p>jtullis, where are you from?</p>
<p>What is the loan cap? Is that 10,500 loan amount for four years? Or is that per year? And do they use the exact EFC on finaid.org, or do they have their own system?</p>
<p>JoyJoy,
You sited the common misconception of many people when they look at those financial aid statistics. Just because a schools average financial aid package is 15K doesn't mean that is what YOU will get. There will be people paying full price with no aid at all and some will have full aid. Always apply to a school you are interested in.
When money is an issue the one thing that it is important to do is apply to a number of schools and include a financial safety school and also several that give merit aid and are below you statistically. Also, apply to your dream school and a reach or two. Most middle class people who want to have a choice when all this madness is over have applied to about 9 or so schools.</p>
<p>I know someone at Harvey Mudd right now on almost a full scholarship and I also know of a girl in one of my kids classes who received a full scholarship to Cal Tech. You just do not know what will happen. Apply where you want to, but be realistic also. You don'e want to have a 'what if' situation if you don't apply because of money.</p>
<p>Take my families experience:
We had no hope of paying our EFC amount. Because of that we insisted that DD apply to State schools. At the same time we did not refuse to allow her to apply to her dream school or others like it. She applied to nine altogether and she ended up with two full ride offers, one from a State and one private. The other privates all came either UNDER the cost of the States or within spitting distance. Much to our surprise she ended up at a small private. I will say that of the two need only schools applied to, one we could never have paid what they thought we could, and the other tweeked our fafsa need to a more realistic amount and we could. The merit schools were all very generous. </p>
<p>The point is, she could have gone to several of the privates and I am so glad she applied!
Go for it! But, be smart and cover yourself just in case. :)</p>