<p>Okay, so Carleton is far and away my first choice. I've only ever visited in the summer (going back in a couple of weeks) and I'm in love with the place. There is no doubt in my mind that this is where I want to go, it's a great fit, etc etc etc.</p>
<p>BUT! As the title states, the economy is certainly wearing on my family's financial situation. The official Carleton brochures on financial aid don't provide all that much information (they're very "You can do it! It's worth it!!"), so I'm wondering if I can actually afford to apply ED. Problem is, I'm an upper-middle-class white girl... I'm seriously afraid our EFC will come up zero or something like that. </p>
<p>Basically, I'm asking if anyone has any kind of comment/advice/insight into Carleton's, erm, generosity without me having to reveal too much about my family's financial matters. Thanks.</p>
<p>There are several financial aid calculators on the internet. Carleton uses the CSS Profile, so it uses the institutional methodology. Your EFC calculation will depend on a number of factors - income, amount of savings, home equity, etc. - so you or your parents will need to run your numbers through a calculator.</p>
<p>If accepted, Carleton does meet 100% of need, but part of that need will be met with the usual government loans (Stafford) and work-study.</p>
<p>They will use your EFC to determine your award. If it is above the total cost of attendance, you won't be getting any aid except work and non-need based loans. Nation Merit Scholars get $2000/year. This is not need based.</p>
<p>Your EFC calculation is helped greatly if your parents are supporting another kid in college. I did the calc with and without said sibling and it made a real difference. Alas, our older daughter graduated, and her graduate school pays all of her expenses. (Well, actually, that's in all other ways good news, just not helpful in getting financial aid for daughter #2.) Also, if your parents have investments and retirement funds, their value will probably be a lot less right now and this will lower their net worth. (Again, not good in real life but good for figuring financial aid.) As the other posters have said, have your parents try the calculators to see where you stand. As the calculators predicted, although we had a hard time believing it, we didn't qualify for any financial aid. Our Carleton D. does have a campus job, which takes care of spending money. The decision to walk away from generous merit aid offers at other schools was tough, especially given that these schools would certainly have provided a good education. Our older D. and our family finances benefitted from merit aid during her 4 years at another LAC. But these are choices every family has to make given their own circumstances. Carleton was the right school for our daughter, and we're happy we found a way to make it work.</p>
<p>Does Carleton still commit to 100% need for all 4 years (they still did a few years ago). If so, while it may not help for next year, if family finances get worse and you are already there, you'd get more aid in future years as needed. If the younger sibs are less than 4 yrs younger, the 2nd sib will help you in the need category. </p>
<p>Funny that everythings so backwards - gee - if the economy keeps tanking it'll really help your aid pkg. </p>
<p>Anyway,assuming Carleton still does the full need thing, once you are attending you're in a much better situation than you might be somewhere that gave an attractive initial package with no guarantees for the next 3 yrs.</p>
<p>i've heard some anecdotal stories about people improving their aid packages because they (like my family) were in that awkward FA "we make a lot but can't pay a lot" upper-middle-class limbo. is the financial aid office pretty good about that kind of thing?</p>
<p>You can't necessarily assume a similar award, but it does show that Carleton awards some need-based aid at higher family income levels than you'd expect.</p>
<p>And as an unintended consequence...it also tells you a little something about the economic diversity of Carleton, since it shows how many students fell into each family income category.</p>
<p>Is it plausible that ED rates will go up, because of such financial concerns like this ?
They are certainly all over the news, but not sure how much Carleton in particular will be affected by it.</p>
<p>I'm not sure waht everyone else has posted, but I would contact their fin. aid. office.
Davidson has a program where you can send in your financial info for an estimate of need-based aid. You will have to provide them with the CSS profile or FAFSA obviously, but you will have to do this anyway if you want need aid.</p>
<p>On the bright side, Carleton is need-aware (in our house, we call it affirmative action for the children of millionaires) so if the OP isn't asking for aid, she has a better chance of admission. Good luck to you, magnetic (as long as you don't take what otherwise would be Fang Jr's spot).</p>
<p>& that's just the problem - I'm asking for aid but I'm in that awkward place where it looks like we don't need any but we really do. Hence the financial concern. Sigh.</p>
<p>magneticpoet, my understanding of Carleton's not-need-blind admissions is that need/no need only comes into play in the final 5 to 10% of admissions decisions. The adcom picks who it wants and then takes a look at how those choices stand regarding ability (or lack thereof) to pay.</p>
<p>Carleton generally doesn't release ED info except in the Common Data Set. The student newspaper will generally publish admissions stats in April/May.</p>
<p>I just want to verify that it is not exactly accurate to call Carleton "need aware." They adjust as little of the class as possible without going over a preset budget, and they will only adjust at MAXIMUM 15% of the class (and my understanding is that it usually ends up being less). And since they won't go anywhere near their overall budget in ED acceptances, I suspect they are essentially needblind during ED.</p>