<p>Congrats on your likely letter. For Dartmouth financial aid , you must file both the FAFSA, the CSS profile and submit your information through the IDOC.</p>
<p>The financial aid policy is as follows:</p>
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<p>If your family makes less than 60k, what this means is that you will get a scholarship that will cover your tuition only (currently $43,872). </p>
<p>However, cost of attendance is $61,398 (direct billed expenses over the cost of tuition will be 14,214) Your financial aid documents will be used to determine the parent and student contributions. While Dartmouth will not put any loans in your financial aid package, it does not mean that you will essentially get a “free ride.” </p>
<p>If your parents cannot pay their EFC out of pocket, you and/or they may have to take out loans. If you do not make your student contribution from summer earnings (~$3,000), you may have to take out loans to cover your expenses (books, misc. expenses, travel). If your parents do not have adequate health insurance, you may end up getting a loan to cover half of the cost.</p>
<p>I can tell you from our experience, the policy is now similar to what it was when my D attended. While there were no loans in the financial aid policy, she graduated with a small loan from her study abroad (~3000, which her grandparents paid as a graduation gift, so she ended up being debt free when she applied to grad school). However, I still had to pay my EFC and she still had a student contribution from summer earnings that was her responsibility.</p>