<p>Hello friends!
So, I absolutely adore Dickinson. I love it so much and it is my dream school, but it is so freaking expensive. My dad is only able to pay a maximum of 25k a year for my tuition, so I need to find a way to make up the rest. I don't think he'll let me go if I have to get into too much debt (or any debt), so I'm really stressing about whether or not I will be able to go. Could anyone who currently goes to Dickinson tell me how much they got in scholarship/grant aid? I'm not expecting much in financial aid, but I am pretty smart and could get a pretty hefty merit aid. However, I don't know if Dickinson is generous with merit aid or not, so any input would be suuuper appreciated. Also, opinions on college debt and whether or not it's worth it would also be helpful because I'm kind of clueless about that.
Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>Hi! Have you checked out the Dickinson Net Price calculator? You fill in a few numbers and it does all the math for you. You can find out if you will receive any grants or financial aid. Here is the link: <a href=“Net Price Calculator | Net Price Calculator | Dickinson College”>http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20081/financial_aid/1126/net_price_calculator</a> or just google Dickinson College Net Price Calculator. Good luck!</p>
<p>While it certainly is expensive, Dickinson’s costs are similar to its peer private LAC schools. So, it is a general college cost issue, not specific to Dickinson.</p>
<p>Dickinson is pretty good about meeting financial need, based on its calculation of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). As the post above says, check out the NPC to find out if what your family is willing to pay aligns with what the college calculates that your family should be able to pay. I saw that you don’t expect any financial aid, but it is worth checking to be sure.</p>
<p>Dickinson also offers some non-need based merit aid, but it is somewhat competitive. You can find more details about both need and non-need aid in the Common Data Set, section H.
<a href=“http://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/2516/cds20132014update_pdf”>http://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/2516/cds20132014update_pdf</a>
According to the most recent CDS that I found, 82 freshmen (out of 625, or 13%) with no financial need received merit scholarships, which averaged $9085. However 348 freshmen received need-based aid, with grants (excluding loans) averaging $31,317. </p>
<p>If you will need merit aid, that will be important when choosing which schools to apply to. Concentrate on finding schools which offer a lot of merit aid, and for which your stats are much higher than their averages. For example, my D got good merit scholarships from Allegheny College and Susquehanna, which are less selective than Dickinson. (She attends Dickinson, where she didn’t get any merit aid.) Of course, some colleges are less expensive than private LACs, particularly in-state public schools. </p>