<p>A few things
I’m a current first year at Smith and Smith FinAid was BEYOND generous. My father was diagnosed with cancer my senior year, and Smith responded immediately to all email updates and was more than willing to adjust my financial aid based on my new circumstances. I’ve heard some people complain that Smith wasn’t generous enough, but that is mostly from my friends who are full pay or close to it who felt they should have gotten some aid. I’ve also heard of some people who started out full pay and expected to get aid as their savings dwindled who didn’t get aid later, causing some hardships, but this is not a common occurance(and most of it is anecdotal). Most of the people who are “high need” are well taken care of, but I know the aid budget isn’t perfect. </p>
<p>I feel Smith more than met my need personally and I know out of my friends almost all of them feel the same way. </p>
<p>Smith does have a few highly competitive merit scholarships(I got one) and they do help plug some gaps in finanacial aid. If your D would be lucky enough to get a STRIDE (and believe me, it’s largely luck) or a Zollman, she would have no loans in her finaid package if she’s on aid her first year and decreased loans throughout her four years (I think the TOTAL for all four years of loans for STRIDES is like 5k). Also, instead of work study money, you get your STRIDE research which is guaranteed money, and your D can still pick up another campus job (although she gets last pick of them).</p>