UNC not on Princeton Review's top 10 Best Value Colleges?

<p>O2H4's statistics point out that "domonstrated financial need" is in the eye of the beholder.</p>

<p>Apparently out of state tuition was used in the calculations....which would explain it, if this is in fact true.</p>

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<p>I would readily agree that many believe that their financial need is greater than determined by colleges and universities, including UNC.</p>

<p>However, “demonstrated financial need” is simply the difference between the estimated cost of attendance and the “expected family contribution” determined by FAFSA calculations. You would have great difficulty finding an institution using FAFSA that will award need based aid greater than this. In this regard UNC is no different than any other university. What does set UNC apart is that it is committed as an institution to meet the full “demonstrated financial need” of eligible students. No all colleges and universities do this.</p>

<p>As far as the UNC statistics, the Common Data Set from which they were apparently taken clearly notes the policy of UNC. I would suggest that those not awarded financial aid fall into two groups. First, the largest number consists of those who applied for financial aid but were determined to have no need based on FAFSA. UNC has no control over who applies for financial aid and it cannot be assumed that everyone applying for financial need is entitled to it. The second group is the small number of students whose need was not fully met. Given UNC’s policy, I think it can be inferred that those students did not have their financial aid applications complete by the established March 1 deadline.</p>

<p>tyr - UNC employee??... great to have your insight, thanks.</p>