<p>jack
I’m afraid you misunderstand what all these numbers - mine and yours - signify.</p>
<p>Carleton, like every other college listed above (as it happens) is part of a small select group that guarantees to meet all financial need of accepted students. What my list (and dadx’s) tells us is that Carleton regularly attracts a larger percentile of kids who qualify for ANY financial need. The other colleges listed above (with the exception of Amherst and possibly Grinnell) will have larger percentiles wealthy enough to qualify for NO aid at all. BUT those students that do qualify tend as a group to be poorer, i.e. eligible for more aid. This is in no way a comment on how much aid any individual student would receive at one school or another. Again, historically, Carleton aid packages have been excellent, and rarely bested by others. And again, I’d invite you and others to review years of posts/threads on this board describing individual experiences with financial aid at Carleton. Those reviews (like Mom90’s here), with near unanimity, have been filled with superlatives.</p>