Do i stand for a chance?

mini
Sat, 01 Jul 2006 13:25:39 +0000

“But–and I suspect it’s unproveable–there is a very widespread perception that many students at many colleges receive offers that are at least slightly inferior to what they would have received had they applied RD. Others (Mini?) may have some actual hard data on this, I do not.”

There is no hard data on this (for obvious reasons - there are no two applicants exactly the same in every respect, whose financial situation is exactly the same in every respect, where offers can be compared.)

I can tell you from personal experience that, among comparable colleges, all guaranteeing to meet 100% of need, the offers we received (and we are an easy case - no businesses, extra real estate, expensive houses) varied by as much as $47k over four years, with loan amounts from $0 to $17.9k - all colleges supposedly using the same methodology. So it is my personal view that, if financial aid is a big issue, you don’t do yourself any favors by not putting yourself into a position where you can compare offers.

Average loan amounts from these websites or books don’t tell you a lot either. First of all, they only tell you the student’s indebtedness, not the parents’. High levels of student indebtedness may reflect that the student takes out loans when the parents’ economic situation is such that they can’t. (i.e. they are poor.) Secondly (and this may seem counterintutive), high average loan amounts may reflect MORE generosity on the part a college, rather than less. Low average loan amounts likely mean that the college has accepted large numbers of students in the $120-$160k income range, for whom the institution has offered small loans. Indeed, Princeton’s “no loan” policy is aimed primarily at this population, some of whom were taking larger scholarship offers at the Vanderbilts of the world. High average loan amounts may reflect colleges accepting larger numbers of students who are actually poor or near-poor, and finding a way to meet their need through a combination of grants, loans, and work-study. (Hence, Smith’s 28% of the student body on Pell Grants, compared with Princeton’s 9%, and Harvard’s 7.4%.)