Which schools meet 100% of need, and are need-blind?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I am looking for 1 or 2 match / low-match / safety schools that offer great aid.</p>

<p>Total household income = $20,000 / year</p>

<p>So far, I'm thinking George Washington University and/or Boston University. I would consider these match-type schools. Evidently, I would prefer an urban school, although am open to any suggestions, including any rural/LAC-type college. Wesleyan and Vassar were on my list at one point, but I crossed them out for various reasons.</p>

<p>Basically, what are some similar schools where I would be pretty matched up and where I could get EXTREMELY generous aid for a low-income student? A school that meets 100% of demonstrated need, is need-blind, and / or replaces loans with grants would be exactly what I'm looking for, though not necessarily a school with all of those attributes.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>
[QUOTE]
SAT: 2080
M: 740
CR: 670
W: 670</p>

<p>SAT II
French: 800
Math I: 750
US History: 730</p>

<p>Great ECs and essay.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission]Need-blind”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>

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<p>^ thanks</p>

<p>Also, George Washington U and Boston U supposedly give great financial aid, although they are not need-blind and do not guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Are they still viable acceptance/financial safeties for me?</p>

<p>But so far, I think UMiami will be my single financial and entrance safety, along with lower UCs. Is this enough / a wise option?</p>

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<p>Below are the national universities which are committed to meeting 100% of financial need for attending students who qualify. I have also included average size of these awards and the degree to which financial aid is awarded on these campuses.</p>

<p>% of Need Met, Avg Size of Financial Aid Package, % of undergrads on FA, National University</p>

<p>In the West:
100% , $ 34,600 , 43% , Stanford
100% , $ 32,720 , 40% , USC
100% , $ 29,533 , 53% , Caltech</p>

<p>In the Midwest:
100% , $ 32,239 , 44% , U Chicago
100% , $ 30,285 , 47% , Notre Dame
100% , $ 28,725 , 42% , Wash U
100% , $ 27,936 , 42% , Northwestern</p>

<p>In the South/Southwest:
100% , $ 36,257 , 41% , Vanderbilt
100% , $ 31,014 , 39% , Duke
100% , $ 29,143 , 38% , Emory
100% , $ 23,529 , 34% , Rice
100% , $ 17,492 , 27% , U VIRGINIA (public)
100% , $ 11,796 , 33% , U NORTH CAROLINA (public)</p>

<p>In the Northeast/East:
100% , $ 35,831 , 52% , Harvard
100% , $ 34,744 , 43% , Yale
100% , $ 34,195 , 41% , Cornell
100% , $ 33,289 , 52% , Dartmouth
100% , $ 33,064 , 47% , Columbia
100% , $ 32,866 , 63% , MIT
100% , $ 32,160 , 53% , Princeton
100% , $ 31,820 , 42% , U Penn
100% , $ 30,588 , 43% , Brown
100% , $ 29,600 , 40% , Georgetown
100% , $ 27,828 , 38% , Tufts
100% , $ 27,395 , 41% , Boston Coll</p>

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<p>thanks hawkette, although is that the list of all schools that meet 100% need? because I’m pretty sure williams and amherst do too. good helpful chart though</p>

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<p>Note that I said this list is for national universities. Several LACs also qualify, including Williams and Amherst, but I don’t have the complete list.</p>

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<p>ah, missed that. thanks again for the list.</p>

<p>If anyone else has comments on whether or not GWU, BU, and/or UMiami would be good financial and entrance safeties for me, I would be curious to know.</p>

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<p>BU does not meet need and is only generous to top students/students they really want. If yo are female, Smith and Mt. Holyoke would be good matches.Urban is going to be tough.</p>

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<p>I know one very smart kid (SAT 2300) whose first choice was University of Miami and he did not receive enough aid to attend. He is going to go to BC which had given him more money. This is just one story and I know nothing about how generous Miami’s FA is, but you might want to consider finding another financial safety.</p>

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<p>hmom5: well no im not female… how high on the SAT scale / low on the income scale, would I have to be for a rull ride (or something close) to BU? Because otherwise I’ll just keep community college as my safety…</p>

<p>tots33: thanks, little stories like that actually help to tip choices in one direction or another.</p>

<p>so far no baggage against GWU?</p>

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<p>I doubt they give full rides at all but really don’t know. Their web site should have scholarship details. At most schools you’d want to be top 5% stats wise to hope for their biggest scholarship unless you are a URM.</p>

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<p>Holy Cross-very good LAC near Boston.</p>

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<p>If Pomona didn’t I wouldn’t be going.</p>

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<p>[Boston</a> University - Office of Financial Assistance - Applying for Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming.html]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming.html)</p>

<p>Click “Probability of Receiving University Scholarships and Need-Based Grants”.</p>

<p>Where do you fall?</p>

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<p>^ so I should expect $40,000 to over $50,000 from BU… is that per year of attendance? Because if so, I’m definitely applying there.</p>

<p>While GWU and BU don’t guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need, I think I might still apply to see what happens. Thanks for that link, any other comments, especially about FA at either GWU or BU, would be really appreciated.</p>

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<p>% of need met is disingenuous because they can include hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans which aren’t even going to come close to helping out someone like the OP whose family makes $20,000 a year. This is America and human services like health and education are ran like a business, and if you can’t pay up, then too bad you can just suffer or something I guess, and if you want to do anything to change it, we’re going to call you a communist pig.</p>

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<p>^ you bring a great point about the loans… GWU and BU seem to offer a lot of their need-based aid on loans… So actually at this point I think I’ll apply to neither GWU or BU. I’d rather just stay public/local/cheap than get into debt. There’s no way I could afford any loans.</p>

<p>Any comments/opinions still welcome though.</p>

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<p>BU can be tricky with aid, even if your dead broke. They’ll give you 25,000 dollars knowing that the tuition is over 52,000 and that you’re low income. In terms of Financial Need you shouldn’t be expecting a generous package…you’ll be lucky to get a full ride, as full rides at BU are rare.</p>

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<p>ya, I’m pretty much done with BU… there’s no point in applying if I can’t pay tuition. same with UMiami.</p>

<p>Not really sure about GWU yet… should I expect a lot of loans from them?</p>

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<p>pomona, williams, amherst, swarthmore (?), middlebury (?) bowdoin.</p>