<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, it would be nice to have more transparency into how each college determines need-based aid.
Maybe another poster can confirm whether the UCs exclude home equity.</p>
<p>I’ve assumed in the above calculations (based on UCLA’s NPC instructions) that the UCs do not count home equity in determining need. I assumed (based on College Abacus instructions) that the other schools do. Suppose we take home equity out of the picture altogether. Assume for all schools that instead of $100K home equity, the parents have zero home equity but $25K in cash accounts plus $100K in other assets. In that case, here are the rather different results I get for some of the above schools:</p>
<p>California Resident
$25,210 U Rochester (not a “full need” school)
$24,588 Case Western (not a “full need” school)
$21,546 UC Davis
$21,265 UC SB
$20,646 UCLA</p>
<p>$18,035 CSU - Fullerton
$17,582 Holy Cross
$17,272 Boston College
$16,450 Tufts
$15,714 CSU - Bakersfield
$14,852 Macalester
$14,466 UC Riverside
$13,215 Colgate
$11,780 University of Richmond
$9,318 Vanderbilt
$9,110 Colby</p>