<p>spinz-- sounds like you got 25k per year not per semester.
raiderade-- every student regardless of financial background is eligible for Stafford Loans even if you don’t need the money. Read the posts on the financial aid discussion board for more info.</p>
<p>“While Brandeis has been relatively generous in the past, it looks like they’re no longer going to be generous unless they really have to be (i.e. to positively impact enrollment of low-income, URM, and international students) or to specifically draw in some special students.” Sounds like sour grapes. How do you know that those “low-income, URM,” etc. don’t also have just as good stats as the boy ranked 1 with near perfect SATs?</p>
<p>Brandeis, like other colleges, probably seeks to balance its student body in ways that may seem like a mystery to worthy students who feel miffed because they did not get merit aid or did not get into a particular college at all. (I know someone who was top of his HS class; 2400 SAT, etc. and didn’t get a dime at Duke, but he got in; I also know another boy who was valedictorian with perfect SATs and got rejected from MIT). Unfortunately, the schools have only so much money and great kids get passed by.</p>