I put the latest numbers for my family into the NPC for the collegeboard. The problem is that schools that are reportedly stingy on financial aid (Notre Dame being the prime example) has an estimated financial aid package enough to cover all but $7,000 of cost. Other schools, for example, seem to only entice me with offers of peanuts and a rare walnut. Case Western for example gives me almost nothing. I know Notre Dame has a larger endowment, but something just seems off when I read in the forums about how stingy Notre Dame is.
I digress, are these readings accurate or is something likely wrong? Am I interpreting the pie chart incorrectly?
Note: Notre Dame was just an example of one of the many weird things I encountered. Please do not assume this is a Notre Dame thread or that I plan on even applying there.
On the forums I hear about people with similar incomes to my family talking about how they’re paying $50,000 a year. Just seems weird that Notre Dame would hypothetically throw sacks of cash at me when others seem to have gotten little to nothing. Is there any other so-called “stingy” schools I can check?
Do you know your family fafsa EFC? I can’t join you in the way you characterize ND. You could try USC which also meets full need but may have a larger family requirement. I think mainly you should make sure your inputs are correct.
If you’re not low income (income below $30k - $50k/year), and you’re seeing awards that cover almost your entire cost, then one of two things has happened: (1) you made a mistake when you filled out the NPC or (2) you misreading the award. If your award includes a Pell grant, then you probably entered your data incorrectly. If your award includes a large PLUS loan, then you’re misconstruing the award - a PLUS loan is money the school expects your parents to pay (and the school is just suggesting one way they can come up with that money - by borrowing it).
So, if the school’s COA (cost of attendance) is $65k/year, and you’re being awarded a $3,500 Pell Grant, a $55k university grant, and $2k in work study, the school thinks you’re low income and don’t have much (if any) funds of your own to pay for college.
If, on the other hand, you’re being awarded a $10k college grant, $5,500 in student loans, and a $35k PLUS loan, the school thinks your parents can afford to pay (or borrow) a large portion of your cost.
Use the net price calculators on each college website. If you are not going to college until 2016, make sure you do them again in very early fall 2015. Policies change as well as the formulas to award need based aid.
And as noted upstream, some schools guarantee to meet full need and have large endowments. Others don’t.
Even with schools that meet full need, your awards can vary by thousands of dollars.
And lastly…if your parents are self employed, own a business, are divorced, or own property other than your primary residence, the NPCs won’t be accurate.
??
What is your family’s income?
how many in your family?
do your parents have savings?
do your parents have home equity?? (you may have forgotten to include this)
If it adds anything, I have 2 (or 3) siblings also going to college while I go to college. Does that significantly weigh in?
Also of interest: It would be cheaper for me to attend UVA or UNC over my own in-states, according to this calculator. I’d rather not go through the files and put in all the numbers a second time, but does that reading say anything about if they’re off or not?
UVA and UNC-CH meet full need. Unless your instate university is U of Michigan, it is not likely that your full need would be met.
Re: siblings. Yes, having more than one sibling will reduce each one’s EFC…but that does not mean it will increase your need based aid. That varies by college policy…which is why I suggested using the NPCs on each college site. There should be a question on the NPC about siblings in college at the same time. Change the numbers and see what you get.
At 100% need colleges, they’d divide your EFC by 3 or 4. At non-meet-need colleges, such as most state schools, they may not care.
Roughly, for 100% need colleges, there are several groups:
up to 65K or so, up to 125k or so, up to 180-200k, above 180-200k
Those would roughly correspond to full ride, full tuition, 25-40k, full costs at the most generous schools. Note that most students would get 5.5K in federal loans and a work study for 2-3.5k packaged in. You have to run the NPCs because this would vary according to schools, personal circumstances, etc, etc, etc.
Schools that don’t meet need may or may not be cheaper depending on whether you qualify for merit aid and on how much merit aid they offer.
In short, if you’re in the 65-125k range, apply widely, but with 3 in college and a 34 ACT, 100% need and big merit scholarship schools would likely be your best bets.
Burgerman1 may have answered your question. EFC is an important concept to fully understand. If your EFC in total for 3 students in college is $60k, it will be allocated across all the college students in your family using some formula. The idea is that your family “should” be able to pay this somewhat fixed amount and more kids in college means your EFC at most colleges will go down
My D applied to Notre Dame and they offered her a generous aid package. It almost exactly matched our FAFSA EFC for our contribution, even though they are a Profile school. Our finances are not too complicated however. I did not feel they were “stingy” at all.
just hoping to clarify as i just looked at the NPC of a full-need –
Our efc next year with 2 in college will be around $16K per kid.; estimated.
I calculated the notre dame NPC a few minutes ago for kid #2 in college starting 2016.
it came up with with estimated 34K in gift aid, 7500 loan, 2500 work study or something like that, 17K parental.
question: so full-meet includes grants and loans and work study – and is the difference between what they determine a family can pay and what COA is ??? Do most full-meets include loans in their awards?
also once kid#1 ends college – we could potentially expect gift aid to drop by around $16K for that last year for kid#2? And that would probably the gift aid, not the loans? is that right?
The highest loan they should assess a freshman is $5500.
I don’t understand. They use the COA, subtract what they feel a family can pay (parent portion and student portion) add in the student loan, work study, and bridge the gap with grants.
We had similar conversations with FA officers at a variety of 100% need met schools my D applied to, and we were told that once her older brother ends college, they re-evaluate our situation for the next year. One way to get a ballpark is to run the NPC again, assuming one less kid in the family, and one less kid in college, but keep everything else the same.
That being said, @bgbg4us if the year after kid #1 leaves results in a drop of more than $16K for your D (and I would expect it all to be a cut in the gift aid), and nothing else changes in your family situation, it would be worth having a conversation with the FA dept at her school.
Full-meet usually includes grants, loans, and work study, and it covers the difference between COA and what they determine the family can pay. Some elite schools (HYPSCM) offer great aid without requiring loans.
The one thing that was surprising to me in this process is that almost every school calculates COA and EFC differently.
I can understand COA as they charge different tuition, R&B, etc., but I was surprised at the wide range of EFC. Had I spent more time at CC I probably would have expected that.
The CollegeBoard NPC is worthless because it does not capture all of the nuances of the FAFSA or what schools may or may not give in merit aid. Many, many schools are inaccurate as well as they are out of date.
Some colleges actually USE the College Board NPC…they don’t have a NPC of their own. When you go to their websites, you are directed to the CB NPC.
In all cases, the NPCs should be viewed as an estimate only.
What “nuances” are you saying aren’t captured like the fafsa?
It is widely known that the NPCs are not accurate for divorced parents, parents who own their own business or are self employed, parents who own real estate other than the primary residence…or for international students.