<p>My mother has gotten concerned about Carleton’s apparent lack of merit aid. Is it true that the only merit scholarship one can get is $2000 for National Merit? Because my family doesn’t qualify for financial aid, but there’s no way we can afford Carleton without help of some sort. :(</p>
<p>Current students, what sort of financial aid package did you get?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Carleton is one of those schools that is need-blind for about 95% of their admits, but the last 5% or so are admitted on a need-aware basis. My soph D and her friends have had 100% of their need met through grants, loans, and federal work-study (over $9/hr, about $2400/yr). You are correct that the only merit scholarships are those that are awarded to NMF (who did not receive a national award or a corp. sponsored award) @ $2000/yr.</p>
<p>File the FAFSA and CSS Profile and talk to the financial aid people. Even those with higher family incomes are receiving aid: <a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sfs/prospective/aid_chart/[/url]”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sfs/prospective/aid_chart/</a></p>
<p>Yes, the only merit scholarship you can get is the National Merit Scholarship. However, Carleton is not alone in this regard of giving out very little merit aid–many other top universities and LACs do not give out merit-based scholarships. Carleton is actually exceptional in that it is a top school that sponsors National Merit Scholarships.</p>
<p>Despite the lack of merit aid, Carleton financial aid is still generous and fair–the chart Maize&Blue links to shows quite a few families in the high income ranges who still receive good aid packages that include grants. It is cheaper for me to attend Carleton than for my sister to attend Western Washington University in-state because of their generous financial aid. Our net cost (family of six, ~$100K combined income, high cost of living area) is around $12K a year. I’m supposed to make about $2800 from work-study this year on top of that (10 hrs/wk at $9.28/hr I think) and I’m taking out about $2500 as a subsidized Stafford loan this year (no loans last year, probably increasing loans next year but I still expect to graduate with debt well below the national average). My sister’s tuition, R&B, fees etc. on the other hand is around $15K in-state with no financial aid offered aside from loans.</p>
<p>If affording Carleton is a concern for you, I would probably be worried about affording any private college unless you were very likely to receive an enormous merit scholarship. This is, of course, a very legitimate concern. All private colleges are ridiculously pricey and tend to expect families making over $100K a year to pay most of the way. With this in mind I wouldn’t discount Carleton, but I would also try to find schools that offer scholarships to students with a certain GPA or SAT score. If you’re National Merit, there are good public schools like University of Arizona and University of Florida that offer full-rides. Always have some viable backup plans. I remember Whitman gave me a lot more financial aid than other schools and I suspect that there must have been some merit scholarships tossed in there…maybe look at Whitman too?</p>
<p>Thank you both very much!</p>
<p>maize- I’ll try to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible.
toothbrush- Haha I just finished my Whitman application! Funny how things work out.</p>
<p>My son got an excellent aid package from Carleton (need based, but almost entirely grant with some work study). As with toothbrush, it is far cheaper for him to attend Carleton than UT or A & M–our state schools.</p>
<p>There are many schools that offer only need-based aid, but many also give what they call “preferential packages” in that they meet the need with free money–grants not loans, or predominantly grants.</p>