schools that honor 100% of your efc???

Paying for College
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<p>I have a child who is a going into her sophmore year in college and a son who is going into his senior year in highschool. We have started visiting some colleges, Knox College in galesburg, Il being one of them(they are recruiting him for football) so my question is two fold.</p>

<p>1)I have attended alot of informational seminars at local highschools for college planning, etc…The last one I attended he was talking about the colleges that honor 100% of your efc number. When I asked him specifically which and where those colleges are…of course I had to enroll their services for well over 500.00 for this information. Not only for this information, but for their help in selecting the right college for him, helping with his admission, funding etc…Does anyone know which colleges accept your efc(or close to it) or somewhere I can find a list.</p>

<p>2) We visited Knox College and were very impressed with the school. We have been told lately this school is for “the brainy kids”. My son is 4.4 out of 5.0 GPA, top 15% of his class, honor roll all 3 years in highschool, and I don’t expect it to change his senior year, but a rather low ACT (21). He has never been a good test taker his whole life. Basically just average as far as the testing goes, but he works his butt off to maintain his grades. I am just wondering if he will suffer at a school like Knox. I have called the coach who is recruiting him to ask him directly, but have not heard back from him yet. I am assuming since they are recruiting him, I might not get a fair answer to a fair question. Of course they will say, he will do fine. But I don’t want him to feel inferior if this is the case. I didn’t get that impression when we were there, but then there were only a handfull of student for the special athletic open house.</p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Thankx, Vicki</p>

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<p>Personally, I would never pay for that kind of information. It’s all available for free elsewhere (where do you think they get it?) If you can’t find the information in a format you want, I doubt the people giving the seminar have it either. You’ve found your way here, so you’re capable of getting the info either here or through other on-line searches. </p>

<p>Re: can he do the work. Most schools will say they wouldn’t accept a student who isn’t capable. Since your son will be playing football, I would ask coaches if they have special/mandatory study sessions for players or how they track progress of their players. Every college we visited has some kind of writing, math, study skills center. These are present at some of the hardest schools to get into - colleges recognize that not all students come in with the same amount of preparation. </p>

<p>My guess is “colleges that honor 100% of your efc” refers to colleges that have language on their financial aid pages that state they will meet “100% of a student’s demonstrated need”. There are only about 40 colleges in the country that make that claim. I think all (please correct me, anyone who knows better) are hard to get into. Many, maybe all? of the Ivys, and then LACs including Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Bates, Trinity College in Hartford, Grinnell, maybe Pomona and the like. The key is these are colleges with large endowments. The trick is that EFC is determined by the FAFSA form and usually an institutional form each college requires, so it’s not entirely black and white. </p>

<p>You can try EFC calculators on websites (I think cc has one and maybe Princeton Review) to get a ballpark. In our case, the ballpark was pretty accurate. Once a student applies and has offers (and they may well vary) you can use an offer in hand from one college to ask another college if they could meet that offer.</p>

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<p>My daughters school Reed college meets 100% of need-
I like the aid calculator at finaid.org
Also remember this is their idea of need not yours.
Here is a list o fLACs you can sort them by need met etc.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/tools/privatecolleges/privatecollege.php?sortby=NEED_MET&orderby=flop&states[/url][0]=ALL&myschool[0]=none&outputby=table”>http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/tools/privatecolleges/privatecollege.php?sortby=NEED_MET&orderby=flop&states[0]=ALL&myschool[0]=none&outputby=table&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>there are many schools that meet 100% of your need, but its from what they determine your need is, not your EFC from the FAFSA. </p>

<p>Example: My FAFSA EFC was $0. My EFC from Rice University was $1200.</p>

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<p>Lefthandofdog is correct. There are only about 40 schools, almost all highly selective, that guarantee to meet need.</p>

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<p>yes private schools use the PROFILE oftentimes as well as their own forms.
Depending on how they slant your need they can offer you what every they want.
I have known a student at one school who recieved room and board as well as tuition while her sister recieved loans as well as her tuition grant- same school same family.
However my daughters need at her school has been identical to the FAFSA and which was pretty right on to the EFC calculator.</p>

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<p>A list of the known schools that do meet their onw calculated need would be very nice… even if they are top schools… anyone have a clue what those 40 schools are?</p>

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<p>follow the link I posted above- it will give you 54 schools which will meet 100% of need and 30 schools that will meet 90% to 99% of need.</p>

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<p>Even if the school guarantees need, this is no indicator of how much of the package will be loans, low interest or not.</p>

<p>few schools will award only grants. Princeton comes to mind.</p>

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<p>Barnard uses their own methodology, like most schools I suppose, but is also need-blind and meets 100%.</p>

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<p>beginning - I’m not sure Barnard would be in the running for a son :)</p>

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<p>Columbia then
Cornell,Colby or Holy Cross,Carleton, Colgate or Claremont Mckenna,Dartmouth, Davidson or Duke U,Caltech, MIT or Swarthmore,Rice Emory or Middlebury,GRinell, Wesleyan or Willams,…
I was gonna list them all but it is easier if you look yourself, then you can also sort by SAT etc.</p>

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<p>I agree with lefthandofdog as you should not be paying for this information. Schools that use the federal methodology (most public univerisities and schoolos which do not require the CSS profile or their own institutional financial aid forms) will calculate your EFC directly from your FAFSA. what ever your FAFSA states your EFC is, that is what it is.</p>

<p>You can go to the financial aid website of any of the schools you are interested in, read the FAQ’s on FA because one of the questions is how is FA determined. The federal methodology is used to determine a student’s elegibility for Pell grants, Subsidized Stafford loans, perkins loans and SEOG (the latter 2 are for students with great need).</p>

<p>Many schools use a combination of federal and their own insititutional methodology in determining FA. These schools (ivies, elite Lacs, and schools which have their own institutional funds to give for college) will determine your EFC. Note for many of the Ivies and Elites there is a possibility that your EFC could be lower than what the FAFSA determined it to be. </p>

<p>Some schools will also tell your straight up how much your student contribution is (this often is a set amount of money that they expect the student to earn from summer earnings or savings). This could be any where from $1000 to $3000 (schools with large endowments the amount could be less).</p>

<p>If the student has considerable assets (college funds in their names, turst accounts, etc. then their Student contribution will be more .</p>

<p>Cost of attendance (tuition, room board, books, misc) minus EFC (parents and students) = Demonstrated need.</p>

<p>Now meeting financial need is a whole different story because schools vary on how they meet your need. A school can offer you a parent’s loan PLUS (as parents if eligible can borrow the entire cost of attendance) and they theoretically have meet your need. </p>

<p>Some schools, (ivies, eleite lacs, and schools with deep pockets may give a large portion of their aid as scholarship/grant aid. However Princeton beleives in no debt. </p>

<p>The parents and the student will have their EFC, there may be some work study, and the rest of the aid is grant/scholarship aid with no loans.</p>

<p>Other schools (Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, williams, Amherst) have thresholds for families of low income students. Their definition and requirements for low income vary in everything from reduced EFC to no loans. You will have to check the policy at each school.</p>

<p>As EK previously stated there are approximately 40 schools that meet 100% of your demonstrated need. However they are amongst hte most comptetitive.</p>

<p>I hope this helps</p>

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<p>The data listed in the Kiplinger magazine could be a good start, but it is essential to verify the information with each college. The data does not seem recent as far as admissions, COA, and percentage of grants. For instance, the changes at Princeton and Harvard for income below $60,000 are not reflected.</p>

<p>FWIW, trying to evaluate the amount of unmet need at a college that uses the IM will not be easy.</p>