<p>While a $15-20K/yr grant is nothing to sneeze at, the top merit grants at some hightly ranked schools range from $35K (full tuition) to $48K (tuition/room/board) - - in addition to number of half-tuition merit grants. Likewise, some of Smith’s peer institutions cap loans below the fed max, offering about $2kyr more in need-based grants than the Smith package. </p>
<p>That said, we have found the Smith packages to be quite generous. And, like mini and R6L, when we incurred unanticipated medical expenses, D rec’d a signif mid-year increase in her need-based grant.
But we all enrolled, indicating that we were all satisfied with the initial package. I have seen posts from admitted students complaining about their Smith awards - - those folks probably voted with their feet/wallets.</p>