<p>Hi! I'm new as a member, but I've read lots of the transfer financial aid posts. So many people seem to get so little aid!</p>
<p>So, my question to all of you is: Did any of you get a great financial aid award? Pretty big merit scholarship? Plenty of need-based grants? If you did, which school was it from? Was it merit, need, or something else? What was the scholarship or program named?</p>
<p>For need based FA, in general, the schools that give generous FA to fr applicants also tend to give good FA to transfers. D1 transferred to Y and got excellent FA all three years. However, there are exceptions, for instance Brown has need aware admissions and limited FA for transfers.</p>
<p>For merit scholarships see the Resources sticky thread at the top of this forum; there are fewer merit scholarships for transfers, and they are usually for lesser amounts.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster. You should also realize it can be a bit dangerous going by other’s experiences. For example, some schools might prioritize huge grants for low income applicants, so below a certain cutoff everyone gets full need met, but above that cutoff everyone gets below average, etc. It can be so different you’ll be better off selecting schools that fit you academically THEN researching like each school’s policies, endowment, reputation, average need met, etc. (and obviously it helps if they are one of the few to explicitly say they meet full need for transfers.)</p>
<p>Beyond that, there’s not much anyone can do to advise you other than avoid NYU like the plague.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I understand that my situation is unique to me and that I shouldn’t expect the same package as someone else. However, since many schools reduce the aid they offer to transfers, it’s an important factor. Some that meet full need or close to it for freshmen do not do so for transfers. 
Examples that immediately come to mind are Brandeis and Tufts. I’ve looked at so many schools’ financial aid webpages and found extremely limited scholarship opportunities, too. </p>
<p>But, I know there are people who DO get lots of merit and/or need aid as transfers. Finding out a little more about which schools offered larger amounts of aid would give me (and maybe other financially struggling students like me) hope and information to work with. </p>
<p>And yep, I know all about NYU! I applied to Gallatin and got in, but couldn’t pay for it.</p>
<p>I’d say schools that make pains to seem “transfer friendly” are probably the best bets (Vanderbilt comes to mind, probably Northwestern and Cornell as well). </p>
<p>And some freshman rules do still apply. Like avoid the money-pit schools (NYU comes to mind again, as always, also probably schools like Providence College, BC, BU, etc.). I mean, it might sound controversial but if a school has a reputation for being preppy, expensive, and racially homogenous, despite being in the middle of a large city, there’s a good chance they don’t heavily advocate meeting a high amount of need. I mean that’s obviously not always the case, but in my opinion still a good rule of thumb if trying to narrow a large list before further researching.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some of the colleges with the most generous FA are not transfer friendly.</p>
<p>UVa and UNC both give good financial aid. Probably the best among public schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Probably the ONLY for OOS students.</p>
<p>I got 3,000 a semester of need based aid from Seton Hall with a 4000 EFC. So I’d say not that school.</p>
<p>A clarification question about Brandeis: I have read that they are need-aware when it comes to transfer admissions. But wouldn’t being need-aware imply that if they do admit you, they would handle your aid the same as any other undergrad student? I mean, I’m not sure I see the point in being need-aware in transfer admissions if you’re going to stiff admitted transfers for need-based aid anyway. </p>
<p>About BU: just by way of balancing the picture, I had read lots of stuff on CC about BU being a “money pit” school and stingy with aid, especially to transfers. But we were very pleasantly surprised by the size of the FA package they gave our son, who was admitted as a transfer a few weeks ago. They’re not meeting our full need, but they’re coming close enough that the added debt might be workable. Certainly it was more than we were expecting after everything we’ve read here.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In the case of Brnadeis, even though admissions is need aware, they do give 100% of need to admitted transfers:</p>
<p>[Apply | Undergraduate</a> Admissions | Brandeis University](<a href=“Transfer Applicant FAQ | Transfer Applicants | Application Process | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University”>Transfer Applicant FAQ | Transfer Applicants | Application Process | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>HOWEVER, this is school specific. For instance Brown is both need aware and has limited FA for transfers. Check out this thread, on pages 2 & 3 there are students that applied for FA and were accepted, the FA they received was a mixed bag:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/936056-brown-transfer-applicant-survey-fa-need-aware-admissions-2.html?highlight=need+aware[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/936056-brown-transfer-applicant-survey-fa-need-aware-admissions-2.html?highlight=need+aware</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s a thread with who was accepted to Brown and if they applied for aid or not. Only about 10% of the already low percentage of those that applied for aid got in.</p>
<p>^That’s the thread I linked to. </p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any doubt that applying for FA reduces admissions chances at need aware schools, however that wasn’t what nightchef was asking. They wanted to know whether or not good FA is given to those who applied for FA and are admitted.</p>