ED Financial Aid Barnard?

calmom
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:58:21 +0000

Collegestandard, there may be some exceptions, but you are simply mistaken about both the factor of increasing loan burden and contributions from summer earnings. (Since you brought up Cornell, they refer to that part of their financial aid structure as “summer savings expectation”) The CSS Profile formula has a student earnings contribution built in, and the federal loan system is set up so that the amount of subsidized loans available increases after freshman year, so any college that expects their students to take Stafford loans will structure the financial aid award so that the loans increase. Although, FWIW, my d’s Barnard grant did not go down because of those factors, because Barnard’s overall costs kept going up, and the costs were going up at a faster rate than the loan/work expectations.

As for comparing Barnard to Cornell, here is the published data. It looks to me like on average, Barnard grants are higher, and Cornell students end up graduating with considerably more debt:

Cornell:

Average financial aid package: $37,846
Average need-based loan: $2,735
Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $33,653
Average indebtedness at graduation: $20,648

Barnard:

Average financial aid package: $39,578
Average need-based loan: $3,330
Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $36,670
Average indebtedness at graduation: $14,617

So while I don’t think it is particularly useful to compare one college’s financial aid policies with another, the published data seems to suggest that Barnard’s aid is fully competitive.

I do think that Barnard’s policies are very transparent, and everything is spelled out quite clearly on their financial aid web site. Many other colleges aren’t as clear at the outset as to what is likely to happen over the coming years.