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Articles: Expert Advice
Top Forums
The top 10 colleges for financial aid
Dave_Berry
CC Admissions Expert Posts: 2,725 Senior Member
"Here are the schools that are doling out the most aid to offset the cost of college, according to The Princeton Review's 2019 ranking. The top 10 are all private, many of which have sky-high tuition prices, but their very generous aid packages tell a different story." ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/06/the-top-10-colleges-for-financial-aid.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/06/the-top-10-colleges-for-financial-aid.html
Replies to: The top 10 colleges for financial aid
1) Princeton $11,385
2) Yale $16,690
3) Pomona College $17,156
4) Williams College $18,177
5) Vanderbilt $18,756
6) Colgate $19,131
7) Thomas Aquinas $19,815
8) Vassar College $19,916
9) Bowdoin College $23,796
10) WashUStL $26,094
Princeton is 39% full pay (only need based). Vandy is 37% full pay (including need and merit aid). Actually 34% (if you add in athletic scholarships too).
Princeton's average need award is $54k. Vandy's average need award is $50k. Vandy's average merit award is $24k ($0 at Princeton). Vandy's average athletic scholarship is $51k ($0 at Princeton).
Money is money. So Vandy > Princeton.
Princeton's sticker price is lower than you would think.
Beyond those, there are substantial additional scholarships and aid (no doubt the bulk of the aid goes to need). Blind merit aid appears to be just a piece of Vandy's offerings which have been noted to be the most generous in the country this past year by Princeton Review. My kid was awarded a Chancellor's Scholarship and another kid from the same high school who was similarly ranked attends using an unnamed scholarship(s) possibly supplemented by FA. Another received an athletic scholarship. All three kids are attending Vandy and need is being met for all...and the merit award was given need blind. I would not hold the presence of merit aid against the schools that offer it. I would count it as a huge positive. In fact merit aid offered for academic and extracurricular and community activities are a good counterbalance to the merit aid that is given out in the form of athletic scholarships all across the country. It is just a piece of the financial offerings. Nothing weird about any of this, just exceptional reasons for all applicants to apply! If you look at Vandy's signature scholarships, they awarded with community involvement, leadership and volunteerism in mind. I wish more highly ranked schools would follow suit. Check out the Vanderbilt signature scholarship webpage and you will see that they are being offered for terrific reasons!
Actual middle income is about at the top of Pell Grant eligibility, so the rich good FA private schools would give heavy FA to students from those families.
Of course, many private schools have worse FA, but they are typically worse for low as well as middle income families.
But what you probably really mean is the forum "upper middle class" with income in the $150,000 to $250,000 range.