Interesting that UCI was tops. They were less generous for us than UCSD.
And I’ve known about Davidson since my oldest son applied to colleges. He never did apply there (not nearly enough math and physics), but it was originally on the list because of the generous f. aid.
The order of the list is interesting to me in that our financial aid packages (one student graduating in 2012, the other in 2015) would show something different. In 2012, we were not Pell Grant recipients, but would qualify for Blue Gold at UCs (under 80K income). In 2015, we were Pell Grant recipients.
The most generousneed-based schools on the two collective lists of my kids in order:
Vanderbilt
Caltech
Princeton
UPenn
MIT (They have recently changed their policy on outside scholarships in a positive direction)
Purdue (But this was a combo of scholarship and need-based aid; still, a pleasant surprise)
UCSD
UCI