<p>How can I find out which schools are most generous with aid for families with high EFCs?</p>
<p>By gathering data for schools with attributes:
1- high % of students recieve “non-need-based” aid
2- average high awards for “non-need-based” aid</p>
<p>The data are available for individual schoools at the College Board web site; dreaded USN&WR also has that kind of info.</p>
<p>Some examples:
School % w/non-need based aid avg $ non-need based aid
American 36% $16,086
Bucknell 6% $11,126
Carleton 12% $2,990
Case Western 71% $20,329
Dickinson 9% $10,571
Duke 3% $36,009
Elon 34% $5,670
Franklin & Marshall 39% $12,844
Grinnell 46% $9,269
Geo. Washington 27% $22,632
NYU 9% $7,250
Grinnell 46% $9,269
Villanova 10% $8,972
Wake Forest 8% $12,427
Rice 35% $15,912
U Richmond 11% $29,539
U Rochester 73% $9,620</p>
<p>^ why are we concerned with “non-need-based” aid?</p>
<p>The MOST generous are all of the schools that guarantee to meet full need…BUT buyer beware…ALL of the most generous schools use the Profile or a school financial aid form in addition to the FAFSA. The FAFSA EFC is really not relevant in these cases. These other forms look at other assets you have like equity in your primary residence, income/assets of non-custodial parents and spouses, self employed business expenses, and sometimes balances in your retirement accounts. The family contribution THESE generous schools calculate can sometimes be VERY different from the FAFSA EFC. </p>
<p>In addition, 90% of applicants to these school do NOT get accepted. Their generous financial aid does you no good if you are not among the 10% or so who get accepted.</p>
<p>The list in post 2 is “averages”. Please be careful of viewing those. There is NO guarantee that YOUR need will be at or above the average award. Half of the awards are below that amount. Many of those schools do NOT guarantee to meet full need (American, Case Western are two that I KNOW do not).</p>
<p>Maybe I should clarify…I am looking for the top/elite schools that are most generous with financial aid, not merit aid. For example, is Middlebury known to give more aid than Amherst, etc. Again, from a higher income perspective, not necessarily concerned with “meets full need”. Also, I am aware that the kid has to be accepted first :)</p>
<p>*Again, from a higher income perspective, not necessarily concerned with “meets full need”. Also, I am aware that the kid has to be accepted first *</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by that. Can you clarify.</p>
<p>If you have a “higher income” then even the most GENEROUS schools may not think you need aid. That’s often a surprise for many. Generous schools will look over your income, assets, savings, investments, home equity, etc and may determine that your family can full pay (even if it can’t). And, if you have a non-custodial parent, the school may insist on seeing his income/assets use that to determine how much the entire family should pay.</p>
<p>You can look at averages. USN&WR has a listing of them. However, that doesn’t mean that any given student will get more at a school ranked higher on such a list or even has more of a chance. The more information you have on that given student, the closer you can get to coming up with the probabilities of what is best of him/her. But then it comes down to the individual student and it’s all up to the college itself.<br>
I’ve known kids who got the best packages from schools known to be tight. Such lists were useless to those kids.</p>
<p>An example would be a school like, say Gettysburg. A very good LAC. It’s not need blind in admissions, but if you can get accepted, it will meet 100% of your need as they define it. If they really want you, they can define it in a way that it can be your best package by far. I’ve seen NYU packages that were very generous and they tend to gap most kids, but if you are one of the lucky ones that they really want, usually high SAT scores are the key and geographics.then you win the jackpot.</p>
<p>For non-need based aid you should look at the academic scores of the admitted freshmen. If you (or your child - not sure if you are the parent or student) has scores that are in the top quarter your chances are better that the school will want you. If they want you, they may very well put together a package that meets need and contains few loans. Many schools practice preferential packaging of financial aid, meaning that they give the best aid to the students they want the most.</p>
<p>For need based aid-- if your income is high, don’t get your hopes up. Just about everyone here probably went through sticker shock the first time they saw what they were expected to pay. Unless you get merit aid, you will pay at least your EFC, if not more. And as thumper pointed out, private schools can come up with their own version of the EFC which may include anything and everything you own.</p>
<p>Harvard has generous financial aid and does not give loans. It gives aid to folks who would not even make the cut for aid at most schools. Vanderbilt is another school that is generous in general. I’ve known upper income folks surprised with Colgate’s packages. </p>
<p>There is a thread on this forum where a parent finds that Rice is being less generous than Williams. Usually Rice is considered pretty danged generous and has a lower sticker price, so s/he is finding self in a rare situation, but really not that rare. </p>
<p>If you have other kids in private school, the colleges that will recognize that will be very helpful to you. If you have a lot of home equity, the formulas that cap it will be beneficial to you. If there is a non contributing, non custodial parent in the picture, there are schools that make it easier to take him out. There are schools that are stictly need and some that will sweeten that need with merit as long as you qualify for some need.</p>
<p>So moneybags, are you saying your family’s EFC is high, like over $50,000 ? </p>
<p>Then you should be looking at schools that will give you merit aid with your stats & where you are in the top of the applicant pool. Do not apply to schools where you are in the middle 50% of the applicant pool, hoping for merit aid. </p>
<p>There is also a benefit to you at certain schools if you are a National Merit Scholar.</p>
<p>
Harvard is probably the most generous. Between $120,000/year and $180,000/year, their average family EFC is 10% of income. Below $60,000/year, the average family EFC is 0, and between $60,000/year and $120,000/year, the average family EFC increases from 0 to 10% of income. I’m saying average a lot so others don’t freak out, because it will depend on things like family assets and debt, which vary.</p>
<p>Of course, while Harvard may be the most generous in general, others might be more generous to a particular person. Also, I would think the schools that ask for the IDOC would be abnormally good for financial aid, in that they would be the most accurate, regardless of FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Princeton has a generous program, too.</p>
<p>moneybags, take a look at the College Navigator site [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)
If you type in the name of a school, you can look at the net price paid by incoming freshmen who are receiving any type of federal aid. This includes unsubsidized Stafford loans, which therefore includes families of higher incomes. What’s informative is that the data is banded by income distribution: 0-30k, 30k-48k, 48k-75k, 75k-110k, and 110k and up. </p>
<p>There may be a way to use the IPEDS website and resources [The</a> Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System - Home Page](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/]The”>IPEDS) to get more detailed info, but I’ve only used the College Navigator side of the house so far.</p>
<p>If your family has a high EFC, then chances are you won’t get any financial aid. Depending on your income/assets, you might get some aid from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, but those schools are super hard to get accepted to, even if you have top stats. And, even those schools don’t give aid to everyone…if they think your income/assets are too high, then you don’t get aid from them either. Or, they may give you “some” aid, but they may still expect your parents to pay an amount that they can’t afford.</p>
<p>Either way, you need to protect yourself by also applying to some schools that will give you large merit for your stats. </p>
<p>Also, find out how much your parents will pay each year.</p>