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<p>Most of the colleges on your list offer need based aid ONLY (no merit aid)…Duke and I believe UChi offer merit aid. The others do not.</p>
<p>Re: asking for more?? The schools will use the financial information YOU provide to them to calculate your need. For schools that meet full need (most on your list do), the SCHOOL will then determine your need and the financial aid package to meet that need. Unless your financial circumstances change…it is HIGHLY unlikely that just “asking for more” will net you much. There have been reports of students who have gotten more favorable need based aid packages and who have presented those to schools which didn’t quite match up and have gotten additional aid. To be honest, in this economy, I don’t see that happening as frequently.</p>
<p>The MOST important thing you can do RIGHT NOW is have a frank discussion with your parents about how much they WILL contribute to your college education annually. It really doesn’t matter what the school says if your parents are not willing to make up the difference between the financial aid offer is and your cost of attendance.</p>
<p>In addition, take your family’s income and assets and run them through one of the financial aid calculators. These will give you a GUESSTIMATE of your family contribution based on the numbers you input.</p>
<p>Financial aid is largely based on parent income and assets…mostly income. If your parents’ combined income is in the $100,000 range, your family contribution will be somewhere between $25,000 and $33,000 per year…depending on assets. This is an ESTIMATE and is not necessarily what YOUR schools will compute…but it’s a ballpark (1/4 to 1/3 or pretax income).</p>