The question is as simple as the title states. Seeing as app season is coming quick, I think it would help others (and me!) get a good idea of schools that give good financial aid by getting some first-hand responses.
If you could list which schools you applied, and which ones gave the best (and possibly worst), that would be awesome! I know it’s a case by case basis and obviously running the NPC for each school is the best and most reliable option, but nonetheless I thought this could still be a fun and insightful thread!
(If this thread has already been done, sorry! You can link it below if you’d be so kind )
Thank you to anyone who takes their time to leave a response! Have a great day!
Your question has way too many variables to get a helpful response for YOU. Just because student A gets the best financial aid package from a certain school doesn’t mean YOU will.
Need based aid is based in each student's financial need AND the schools's need based aid awarding policies. This varies wildly from student to student.
Some students get excellent merit awards and these are based in their stats. Again...too much variation from student to student for indivudual awards to be helpful to you.
As you noted, there is a net price calculator on each college website which is going to be a better estimate than what another student received.
Students at many schools (including NYU which is notoriously stingy with aid) get great financial aid packages. This does NOT mean you will get the same generous package.
Some students are able to get dependency overrides, or special circumstances considerations which increase their need based aid packages. Not the norm..but it does happen.
If you want to know schools where you might get decent aid yourself, why not post your ACT or SAT score…and your GPA…and your family income. You will get better infomation that way.
In the meantime…you can read through the links in the first post of this:
By the way…it’s NO secret that the schools thst meet the most financial need, in most cases, are the 30 or so colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all students. But many of those have acceptance rates in the single numbers.
Maybe I worded this question wrong…I already know which schools I’m applying to, so I wasn’t planning on basing what schools I would apply to off the results of this thread. I just thought it would be interesting to hear people say which school’s offered them the best financial aid package (need, not merit)! I’ve already run the NPC for all the schools I’m looking at, and know that is the most reliable source, I just thought it would be fun/interesting to hear what school gave them the best aid package. Sorry for the confusion!
Well…maybe folks will put their need based packages down for you to see. But really…it’s not such a big secret. There are generous schools that meet full need…and they give the best aid in most cases.,then there are schools,that meet full need for all…but aren’t as generous as others. Those are good too.
Some states have grants for lower income students like TAP in NYC or Calgrant in CA or Bright Futures in FL…or HOPE in GA. Those grants would lower the costs for eligible students with need.
Schools using the Profile delve into greater detail about your finances than FAFSA only schools. Some colleges require non-custodial parent financial information…and some don’t.
Oh…and every school has its own formula for computing need based aid awards.
So…for any one given student…any number of variables can affect the amount of need based aid a student will receive from one school to the next.
I’m really not sure exactly what you want to know??
I mean, no school offered me any aid at all. So from my experience, I would say they are all terrible /sarc
On a serious note, the best schools are those with large endowments, a promise to meet full need, and a legacy of truly supporting students to the best of their ability. That encompasses most of the top schools.
A student with need could get a very nice merit scholarship from Tulane and an even better financial need based package from Harvard. The second student could get a very nice merit scholarship from Tulane and absolutely nothing from Harvard.
It does not matter what other people get. Check the NPC of each school that you want to apply. Also, find out the financial aid statistics of those schools (e.g. % students received aids and average amount). Do not waste your time.
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/sarc