Which private colleges have the best financial aid for donut hole families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

This is 23K per year, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one that is a notch or two below where your kid would get in if you had more money.

I don’t think ranking matters for financial aid. Possibly you’re thinking of merit aid?

IMO it doesn’t matter what you call it. Seek both. Merit aid or financial at the end of the day. Both get you a discount and lower the cost of attendance. For most merit scholarships you don’t need to do anything in addition to the regular application.

Merit aid is preferable because it is guaranteed for four years, assuming that the student maintains a minimum GPA.

If OP shared her kid’s stats, and if they want a small/large/university/liberal arts college they’d get more precise suggestions for generous FA schools and generous merit aid schools worth considering.

Op. I already have a good understanding of which schools offer good merit so now I’m researching colleges that just offer really good financial aid (typically higher ranked schools that don’t need to give merit). Would prefer a liberal arts college or smaller university. 34 ACT, 3.9 UGPA.

This helps. She’s a good student but let’s assume not applying to an Ivy, Stanford or MIT (all of which have great aid).

Try the NPC at (in no particular order) Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, Vassar, Bates, Rice, Colby, Kenyon, Oberlin, Hamilton, Grinnell, Carleton, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Emory, Duke, Davidson, Wake Forest, Lafayette, Pepperdine.

Thanks - I also should have clarified that I was particularly interested in schools like Rice and also Colby (which a PP pointed out in a previous post and you noted above) that are particularly generous to donut hole families. These schools actively promote their generous financial aid policies to families who earn $200k or so. I was interested if there were other top schools that have this policy. While I do know ivies may offer this, we are not targeting that level of school.

OP - the reason that Rice and Colby stand out is because they are the only selective private colleges that have made this commitment.

There aren’t any others. It may be the start of a trend. There is no way to get around spending a few hours with the NPcs. Just because a college hasn’t announced a policy the Wayne rice did doesn’t mean they aren’t doing the same thing.

FWIW my DC was accepted to both Rice and Grinnell for fall 2019. Our income is $180K and we support DHs parents 100%. Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did, despite what Rice’s ‘donut hole’ commitment implies. In our case the NPCs were about the same and I called the FA offices before DC applies. I explained the elderly parent issue and they both assured me it would be “factored in” and we should send additional documentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

This is 23K per year, correct?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

That's absurd you got that much aid for an income of $200K when you easily could have saved 8-10K a year at least while kids were out of day care if you used day care.

I’m guessing PP didn’t make $200k 18 years ago.

we made half that 18 years ago and still managed to save for college.

And that’s great for your kids that they have good options and don’t need to shop around for the best aid package. We were full pay too, and my kids turned down merit aid to attend their first choice schools. But I understand that not everyone is in that position and that’s what the OP is asking about.

I could argue that my dd going to Harvard was a result of her training in a particular area that cost the amount per year that would have been saved for college. We don't live beyond our means and we live in a 1500 SF house in a high COL area, our kids went to public schools. And, no, of course we didn't make 200K 20 years ago. Regardless, there are a lot of issues surrounding money and some people are great at saving and some people are not, and it's not for me to judge others bc it's not cut and dry. And I would also like to add that the NPC was spot on, so use those as your guide, they vary greatly for each college. Last year our other kid (who is at Columbia) did get great offers financially from Vassar and UPitt (honors college), I think the total COA was high 20s. They gave presidential scholarships etc, and Pitt offered guaranteed admissions to the grad school.

Saying you live in a 1500 square foot house means nothing. That is bigger than ours and you easily could have paid a lot for it. It is cut and dry. You make choices with your money. It’s not fair some save and sacrifice and others live in expensive houses, designer clothing and travel. And yet those with no savings can get more.

or-what do you mean "it's not fair"? That is a ridiculous statement. How it works at Harvard is, they don't look at your financial situation AT ALL during the admissions process. But they don't want any family spending more than 10% of their HHI on tuition, and since they have such a large endowment, they can afford this, good for them and good for us. You should really worry about yourself and how you save money if that is what you want. Commenting on other people's decisions is kind of like MYOB. My kid is not taking anything from your kid or any other kid. But high performing kids do get better packages and that is bc the colleges want them, without the cost being a barrier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one that is a notch or two below where your kid would get in if you had more money.

I don’t think ranking matters for financial aid. Possibly you’re thinking of merit aid?

IMO it doesn’t matter what you call it. Seek both. Merit aid or financial at the end of the day. Both get you a discount and lower the cost of attendance. For most merit scholarships you don’t need to do anything in addition to the regular application.

Merit aid is preferable because it is guaranteed for four years, assuming that the student maintains a minimum GPA.

If OP shared her kid’s stats, and if they want a small/large/university/liberal arts college they’d get more precise suggestions for generous FA schools and generous merit aid schools worth considering.

Op. I already have a good understanding of which schools offer good merit so now I’m researching colleges that just offer really good financial aid (typically higher ranked schools that don’t need to give merit). Would prefer a liberal arts college or smaller university. 34 ACT, 3.9 UGPA.

This helps. She’s a good student but let’s assume not applying to an Ivy, Stanford or MIT (all of which have great aid).

Try the NPC at (in no particular order) Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, Vassar, Bates, Rice, Colby, Kenyon, Oberlin, Hamilton, Grinnell, Carleton, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Emory, Duke, Davidson, Wake Forest, Lafayette, Pepperdine.

Thanks - I also should have clarified that I was particularly interested in schools like Rice and also Colby (which a PP pointed out in a previous post and you noted above) that are particularly generous to donut hole families. These schools actively promote their generous financial aid policies to families who earn $200k or so. I was interested if there were other top schools that have this policy. While I do know ivies may offer this, we are not targeting that level of school.

OP - the reason that Rice and Colby stand out is because they are the only selective private colleges that have made this commitment.

There aren’t any others. It may be the start of a trend. There is no way to get around spending a few hours with the NPcs. Just because a college hasn’t announced a policy the Wayne rice did doesn’t mean they aren’t doing the same thing.

FWIW my DC was accepted to both Rice and Grinnell for fall 2019. Our income is $180K and we support DHs parents 100%. Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did, despite what Rice’s ‘donut hole’ commitment implies. In our case the NPCs were about the same and I called the FA offices before DC applies. I explained the elderly parent issue and they both assured me it would be “factored in” and we should send additional documentation.

Op - I appreciate your sharing your experience. And that's very interesting about how the FA panned out with Grinnell vs. Rice. I've definitely been running the NPCs on colleges that we're interested in. I was just curious of there were some other colleges out there that had the same philosophy as Rice that we may have overlooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one that is a notch or two below where your kid would get in if you had more money.

I don’t think ranking matters for financial aid. Possibly you’re thinking of merit aid?

IMO it doesn’t matter what you call it. Seek both. Merit aid or financial at the end of the day. Both get you a discount and lower the cost of attendance. For most merit scholarships you don’t need to do anything in addition to the regular application.

Merit aid is preferable because it is guaranteed for four years, assuming that the student maintains a minimum GPA.

If OP shared her kid’s stats, and if they want a small/large/university/liberal arts college they’d get more precise suggestions for generous FA schools and generous merit aid schools worth considering.

Op. I already have a good understanding of which schools offer good merit so now I’m researching colleges that just offer really good financial aid (typically higher ranked schools that don’t need to give merit). Would prefer a liberal arts college or smaller university. 34 ACT, 3.9 UGPA.

This helps. She’s a good student but let’s assume not applying to an Ivy, Stanford or MIT (all of which have great aid).

Try the NPC at (in no particular order) Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, Vassar, Bates, Rice, Colby, Kenyon, Oberlin, Hamilton, Grinnell, Carleton, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Emory, Duke, Davidson, Wake Forest, Lafayette, Pepperdine.

Wake Fo and Lafayette are known For NOT giving aid to donut hole families, sadly. My kid would be applying there if they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look up schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need. If your EFC according to FAFSA is $35K or whatever, then you will pay $35K at a school that meets 100% of demonstrated need.

Ummm...when I hear the term donut hole family, I think of families with $50k EFC who can’t afford that much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW my DC was accepted to both Rice and Grinnell for fall 2019. Our income is $180K and we support DHs parents 100%. Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did, despite what Rice’s ‘donut hole’ commitment implies. In our case the NPCs were about the same and I called the FA offices before DC applies. I explained the elderly parent issue and they both assured me it would be “factored in” and we should send additional documentation.

I appreciate your sharing your experience as well. I was curious about the statement "Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did" - does that mean that Grinnell discounted their sticker price by $15,000 more than Rice discounted theirs? The Grinnell website lists $67,646 for 2019/2020, Rice lists $67,102. Are you able/willing to share what your quoted price is with your HHI and your situation?

Naive question: they don't make you sign an NDA when you apply, do they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW my DC was accepted to both Rice and Grinnell for fall 2019. Our income is $180K and we support DHs parents 100%. Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did, despite what Rice’s ‘donut hole’ commitment implies. In our case the NPCs were about the same and I called the FA offices before DC applies. I explained the elderly parent issue and they both assured me it would be “factored in” and we should send additional documentation.

I appreciate your sharing your experience as well. I was curious about the statement "Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did" - does that mean that Grinnell discounted their sticker price by $15,000 more than Rice discounted theirs? The Grinnell website lists $67,646 for 2019/2020, Rice lists $67,102. Are you able/willing to share what your quoted price is with your HHI and your situation?

Naive question: they don't make you sign an NDA when you apply, do they?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW my DC was accepted to both Rice and Grinnell for fall 2019. Our income is $180K and we support DHs parents 100%. Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did, despite what Rice’s ‘donut hole’ commitment implies. In our case the NPCs were about the same and I called the FA offices before DC applies. I explained the elderly parent issue and they both assured me it would be “factored in” and we should send additional documentation.

I appreciate your sharing your experience as well. I was curious about the statement "Grinnell offered $15,000 more in FA than Rice did" - does that mean that Grinnell discounted their sticker price by $15,000 more than Rice discounted theirs? The Grinnell website lists $67,646 for 2019/2020, Rice lists $67,102. Are you able/willing to share what your quoted price is with your HHI and your situation?

Naive question: they don't make you sign an NDA when you apply, do they?

No.

Grinnell/Rice poster. No NDA. I meant our family’s net price was $15K lower at Grinnell than it was at Rice. Price at Grinnell is $29k per year total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

That's absurd you got that much aid for an income of $200K when you easily could have saved 8-10K a year at least while kids were out of day care if you used day care.

Just because you have an income that high during the aid calculation year doesn’t mean you had an income that high all along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

That's absurd you got that much aid for an income of $200K when you easily could have saved 8-10K a year at least while kids were out of day care if you used day care.

Just because you have an income that high during the aid calculation year doesn’t mean you had an income that high all along.

No it doesn't and for many years we made half that but we made it priority to save for college so we can at least fully pay for a state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

That's absurd you got that much aid for an income of $200K when you easily could have saved 8-10K a year at least while kids were out of day care if you used day care.

Just because you have an income that high during the aid calculation year doesn’t mean you had an income that high all along.

No it doesn't and for many years we made half that but we made it priority to save for college so we can at least fully pay for a state school.

Op here. Just because someone can pay for a state school, which is great, doesn't mean that they can't look at other opportunities that private schools provide that may end up being affordable as well. There are lot of different choices that people can make for different reasons and different prices. I don't think anyone has said that they deserve to go to a private school over a public school. I'm just looking at our different options as are other posters, so I'm not sure why you feel some people may have saved/not saved. The PP mentioned that Harvard was very generous to them so again I'm not seeing why you feel that this is a flaw with that family. This was a decision that Harvard made.

[Anonymous]

Out of curiosity, I typed my numbers into Rice's NPC ($180k HHI, $425k home equity, $80k cash, $170k nonretirement investments including $65k in a 529). Student and Parent Contribution: $65,700.

I noticed that they don't ask separately for 529 and non-529 accounts. Apparently, they don't care since they want all my money anyway over 4 years. But at least they wouldn't make me take out a home equity loan. Here's something!

[Anonymous]

Harvard. Very hard to get into but dd did, our HHI was 200K and her total cost of attendance is 23K. That includes books, room, board and transportation. I have one other in college.

I just ran Harvard's NPC with our HHI of 200k. I was pretty hopeful given this post above. But because we've scrimped and saved significantly for our 3 kids' college, we'd get no financial aid, according to the calculator. (Without the savings, it wasn't $23k, but the cost did jump significantly when I added the 529 funding in the assets).
Congrats to the PP but pretty discouraging for us. I'd love to hear any other tips...