<p>So I’ve heard that some of these top universities have incredible amounts of financial aid to offer, which is understandable. Some schools say that they have “satisfied 100% of students financial needs”. For example, JHU said that they provided an average of 35,000 for financial aid, and their tuition is 47,000. Is this legit? Is it reasonable to think that if a top school wants you, then they will make sure you can pay? </p>
<p>No it is not reasonable to assume that if they “want you they will pay”. Many of these top schools give only need based financial aid…or primarily need based aid. So the aid you receive will be based on how much your family has in Income and assets, not on how much the schools want you.</p>
<p>Some of these schools offer highly competitive merit aid…based on the strength of your SAT/ACT scores, GPA, and admissions strength. Some have special applications for this competitive need based aid. </p>
<p>Even with that…schools have pockets that are only so deep. And there is no way for you to determine how much they might “want you”…is there? </p>
<p>Not that is not how it works. They don’t make sure you can pay. They tell you what you have to pay based on your income and assets. They decide what your ‘need’ is. Average numbers are not very relevant when you need to know your numbers. Different schools use different formulas to come up with the expected family portion. Most schools expect the student to take loans but some ‘super aid schools’ will give grant aid instead. </p>
<p>What you should e doing is running the Net Price Calculator, which will be on each school website. Then you will see an estimate for your family. Some people can pay the expected amount and others won’t have enough savings to do that. But for very low income there may be enough aid provided. See where you stand, use the NPC.</p>
<p>Edit to add: you might be confusing “preferential packaging” with “meets 100 pct need”</p>
<p>The average amount of grants was $34,536 given to the 2192 students qualifying for financial out of 5185 total students at JHU, according to Common Data. That means about $75,702,912, say $76 million dollars of grants were given to undergraduates. Some of that money came from PELL, some from SEOG, some from the state of Maryland,some from ROTC, some athletic awards, some private award, some from those states that have portable aid. Hopkins does meet 100% of need. However, as much money that they give, aid packages include loans as well as work study. A little less than a half of Hopkins students are on fin aid. COA for JHU is about $65K. So a Hopkins student getting the average grant amount still would have to come up with $30K a year. But averages are just that. There may not be a single student getting the average amount of $34,536 in grants. There could be a number getting $45K and more, along with a group getting less than $ 20K. No telling how the distribution works. </p>
<p>Hopkins gives very little merit money, only to the very top applicants. Not a whole lot of "buying"students with merit here. You cannot expect to get recruitment money at Hopkins. However, they may package their fin aid in accordance to how much they want you with the students most wanted, getting more grants than those who get more self help. But this is NOT a school where there is a lot of maneuvering for merit money. Simply isn’t much given, There are schools where it is possible but this is not one of them.</p>
<p>If you are low income all the things you state might apply to you. If you are a middle/high income family with little discretionary funding that’s a different thing. You will be expected to pay based on your income.</p>
<p>And JHU says their TUITION is $47,000. You have to add room and board onto that cost. Total cost of attendance exceeds $60,000. </p>
<p>In your other thread, you say that your family income is about $200,000 a year. That being the case, you will be a full pay student at all top twenty schools. You will not get any need based aid from these schools. </p>
<p>You would have to be VERY competitve as an applicant to be in contention for the merit aid at the few top twenty schools where it is offered.</p>
<p>Go to each school’s web site and search for the net price calculator. Use it to get an estimate of the net price each will expect from you and your family after financial aid (if any).</p>
<p>In another thread, you say that your parents earn over $200k. You will not qualify for ANY financial aid at JHU.</p>
<p>You need to ask your parents how much they will pay each year for college since you will be a full-pay student unless you attend a school that would give you large merit scholarships for your stats.</p>
<p>You mentioned JHU’s tuition. JHU costs $60k+ to attend, not $47k. You’re not living on the grass. There are other costs besides tuition.</p>
<p>Anyway, why were you looking at what the “average aid” award is when your family’s income is WAY OVER average? </p>
<p>The average aid pkg has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. Each student’s aid pkg is based on family income and your family doesn’t qualify. I don’t know the number, but likely JHU has a good number of kids that get NO aid or extremely little aid towards the $60k+ it costs to attend there.</p>
<p>Run the NPC for JHU to get an idea of what you and your family will be expected to pay for that school. DO the same for other schools on your list. Talk to your parents as to how much they are willing and able to pay for your college. At a school like JHU, unless you are one of their top students, you are not going to get merit money. You would get aid if you qualify for it, which nearly half the students do. You may not if your parents earn over $200K, and if you do, you won’t be getting the average aid amounts. </p>
<p>To the OP…if your parents are self employed, own a business, have real estate other than your primary residence, or are divorced, the NPC won’t likely be accurate.</p>