Which school offered the best financial aid package to your child?

[Anonymous]

Not eligible for need-based.

UMD gave 12K per year merit aid, + 2 K per year for NMS. For all 4 years.

We are paying room+board+travels+other expenses...for my kid to get a double major in 4 years.

[Anonymous]

DC got merit. We didn't qualify for FA. The most amount came from UMiami. The school that would have been the least expensive for OOS was UGA with merit. In-state schools didn't offer anything.

[Anonymous]

Full-pay family.

Santa Clara: $24k/yr
University of San Diego: $20k/yr
University of San Francisco: $19k/yr
Colorado School of Mines: $9k/yr

Attending SCU

[Anonymous]

Most merit: Purdue and Michigan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS class of 23
Lehigh-$30.6K ($51K COA)
CWRU-$30K ($56K COA)
BU-$28.5K ($61K COA)
UMN-$25K ($31K COA)
Ohio St.-$16.5K ($45K COA)
UMD-$10K ($47K COA) ATTENDING

Stats?

Male from NOVA. 1560, 3.98/4.5, NMSF, 8 AP/2 DE, CS major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, other posters' results may be due to their own mix of income and assets. Please use Net Price Calculators.

Is this the site you are referring to? the list of participating schools seems small

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/get-started#

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Is this the site you are referring to? the list of participating schools seems small

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/get-started#

Not PP, and not this site. You can find the net price calculator (NPC) of any school by googling "(school name) NPC." Clicking on the first hit returned by Google will bring you to the school's financial aid webpage on which there should be a link to its NPC. Clicking on the link will lead you to either the school's homemade NPC or the school's NPC hosted at College Board. Then with your tax/bank/asset info in hand, you can get an estimate of how much financial aid you will get.

When my kid applied to college two years ago, we started out with about 40 candidate schools. I ran NPC on every single one of them (took me more than a day) with a max budget in mind and was able to not only quickly narrow it down to about 20 schools, but also know how much each will cost. This is better than asking random folks here which schools are generous with financial aid. A school that is generous to them may not be generous to you because of differences in financial circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Every private school that required the CSS profile did not give us a penny of need-based aid. Though many gave merit which knocked it down to a COA between 35 and 40k per year, others--American and GW--gave no merit or need based aid and expected us to pay full price, over 80k per year.

The one outlier was Wofford. A private school that does not require the CSS profile. After merit aid brought the cost down to about 38k per year, they then gave an additional 5k need based grant, bringing us down to 33k.

American did eventually offer 20k per year merit around April 28th or so.

Went to a Pennsylvania SLAC that offered very generous merit.

[Anonymous]

GW most generous, almost 100% covered.
Small pa college also covered almost 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:George Washington, 20K merit aid a year, guaranteed for 5 years or until graduation. We were not eligible for financial aid.

DS did indeed go to GW. The merit aid was one but not the only factor in choosing the Elliott School of International Affairs over W&M's International Affairs dual degree programme with St Andrews. With merit aid, it made the two equally expensive. DS found GW had more courses to choose from and a study program at Sciences Po in Paris (specializing in his major, which he really wanted). He visited W&M's Admitted Student Day and was a little turned off by the vibe, and preferred GW's urban campus, which clinched it.

My DD is interested in GW. Do you have any insights on social life, how friendly and open students are? It’s the one thing causing pause.

Lots to do, lots of social activity. School organizes tons of things for freshman and all, and freshman generally in same dorms so they do stuff together. Freshman may find it hard to join clubs at first, try second semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every private school that required the CSS profile did not give us a penny of need-based aid. Though many gave merit which knocked it down to a COA between 35 and 40k per year, others--American and GW--gave no merit or need based aid and expected us to pay full price, over 80k per year.

The one outlier was Wofford. A private school that does not require the CSS profile. After merit aid brought the cost down to about 38k per year, they then gave an additional 5k need based grant, bringing us down to 33k.

American did eventually offer 20k per year merit around April 28th or so.

Went to a Pennsylvania SLAC that offered very generous merit.

American used to be really generous. They offered me half-tuition in the 90s. It was by far my cheapest option. I had used them as a safety (state school was unappealing to me and 15 minutes from my parents), though, and wanted to go to a school with a marching band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's cheapest option was UMW - $17k/year after merit (and in-state)

That’s a great deal!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids applied to many CTCL colleges in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. Every single one of the CTCLs offered about 50 percent off. These were merit scholarships. By contrast, the NESCACs offered no aid at all, which was fair since both spouses worked and the family had enough money to pay full tuition. We ended up with a NESCAC student and a CTCL student. (My kids actually preferred many CTCLs to many NESCACs due to location, vibe, etc )

The CTCL schools give merit to everyone, with many giving the 50% figure you mention.

At some point maybe they will just drop the COA by 50% beciause the rack rate is scaring people off.

A couple of schools dropped the list price for tuition in the 1990s, and they found that applications DECREASED. College is a luxury good and people think high prices signal quality, apparently.

Interesting. Although in the 1990s $20k in tuition was probably seen as expensive and “luxury.” As college sticker prices have climbed exponentially in the last 30 years, some are finally realizing that student loan debt isn’t always worth it. Plus with colleges facing the demographic cliff and related enrollment challenges, I wonder if they should reconsider this approach. Some families may be looking for better deals and get scared off by huge sticker prices on the shelf.

[Anonymous]

0 need based. Athletic commit for college class of 2026 (DIII). Financial Aid pre-read from 2 schools. One would have taken COA down to about 20K, the other to about 70K. Guess which one my kid chose.

[Anonymous]

University of Nebraska full ride