STRIDE with need-based aid

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

(I know this is a financial aid question, so before I start, feel free to move this to the finaid forum. Very Smith specific though, so I thought it would be better here).

I got notice about being a STRIDE recipient yesterday, and am wondering how exactly that will fit into my financial aid package. I will get in contact with Smith’s financial aid officers after I get my full financial aid package, but I wanted to see if there are some students/parents here who have had both STRIDE and qualified for significant need-based aid in the past. If so, how did that pan out?

I know that there’s a $1250 loan expectation each year (at least from this year), so would the 15k only dip into the rest of the student loans, the expected student contribution (summer), and the work-study? If these last three don’t add up to 15k, could I use the extra for school-related expenses (computer, books), or would it just be subtracted from the need-based aid?

That got a bit long, sorry! It would be great if any of these questions are answered. Thank you!

2

How did it turn out? I’m guessing you got a combination of the STRIDE, a Smith grant, loans and work study, depending on how much you needed. From what I’ve seen at other colleges, the scholarship gets subtracted from the COA first, then they add in the others until you are at your family’s EFC. How did it go in you package?

3

yep. As expected, the loan was reduced to the expectation amount (1250) and the rest reduced my smith college grant. The work study portion was replaced by the stride research stipend. The final result doesn’t differ too significantly from the need-based only aid that we had anticipated from the net price calculator.