<p>I would be extremely appreciative if all Grinnellians that read this would reply with the following information:</p>
<li>Basic high school stats (GPA, ACT, other worthwhile info)</li>
<li>Amount of merit-based aid received.</li>
<li>Approximate Expected Family Contribution (as calculated by Grinnell’s own AFA)</li>
<li>Amount of need-based aid received.</li>
</ol>
<p>And finally, and most importantly, how much does Grinnell cost you and your family per year INCLUDING loans and campus jobs.</p>
<p>This will help me very much to decide if Grinnell is feasible for me to apply to. (I’ll be a senior this coming fall.)</p>
<p>Financial aid is kind of a sensitive issue because the college, like many employers, engages in cost discrimination. But I'll divulge some information anyway.</p>
<p>My EFC is essentially 0. My current package is worth around $35.5K, of which $5K is self help. 3.5K is in loans, 1.5K in work study. This year Grinnell will cost me around $6.4K, including loans, workstudy and transportation and books. Looks great, right? Wrong.</p>
<p>Grinnell has the bad, bad habit of burning people who honestly report their scholarships early on, before receiving their financial aid award letter. I have 11K in renewable scholarships, all of which I reported early on. Grinnell basically deducted the vast majority of my grant money from my scholarships, so my package, while decent, is not what it could have been if I had simply waited.</p>
<p>The important thing you should get from my post is to hold off reporting scholarships until you have your aid letter in hand. I would also recommend not applying ED.</p>
<p>ex - How do you know the outcome would be different if you had reported the outside scholarships later? If you are asked at the time of application to report outside scholarships and don't, that seems dishonest to me. Generally, maybe always, outside scholarships are deducted from a school's aid package - it's nice to have loans knocked out first but sometimes the grants will go. I don't think your outcome would have differed if you'd held back on the information, but I do think if a school finds out you withheld they might withhold an offer of admission.</p>
<p>The advice to avoid ED is excellent. With any school, once you have finaid offers, you can speak to the schools you really want to attend and see if they can't increase their aid if it's not workable for you. Grinnell is one of the 40 or so schools that say they'll meet your demonstrated need (as determined by FAFSA and their own form). I think it's definitely feasible to apply there but you also want financial safeties (usually your state unis, lower cost privates and schools where you might be a candidate for merit money. Check out parent boards on financial aid and merit schools - lots of good general advice on those issues.</p>
<p>Thanks for your expertise/advice/insight. There are many things to consider and remember concerning financial aid. Any other experienced voices would be eagerly heard!</p>
<p>With a $1.3 B endowment, they can afford everyone -- 65,000,000 a year comes from the endowment -- or about 50% of the budget.</p>
<p>If you are the right stuff, and your package says you need the money, it will come.</p>
<p>The nuances of hiding ED and other grants is your decision. But, read the print on the documents as they require disclosure of many things which others in this forum are asking that you withhold.</p>
<p>I get a $10k trustee honor schollie off the top, then a Grinnell Grant--basically another schollie--for another $5k. Then I get a merit scholarship that I earned my freshman year for another $1600. Then a state tuition grant for a grand or so. Then I get $8k in outside scholarships. I live off campus, and they allow me to keep my full award including the room and board costs, so they pay me to go to school here. More accurately, I have the option of taking out student loans to cover "room and board" and decide to do so to avoid having to work to pay rent.</p>
<p>The point isn't that I'm so awesomely great, the point is that my case isn't really extraordinary here. Grinnell will open the pockets. Granted, I am poor, so they didn't expect my family to contribute much, but if you're accepted, they will pay.</p>