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financial need is determined by the college not the applicant/parents .
usually it's determined by US department of education via the fafsa process. if and how exactly this number is met (loan/grant ratio, etc) is up to the college
Going to a small school or a liberal arts school can be risky for someone who does not take standardized tests that well and who also wants a career in medicine, science, or engineering. For acceptance into grad/med/pharm programs, grades don't count for much at all, other than to rank similar students. In other words, a student with a 3.8 from Purdue will get accepted to an engineering program regardless of test scores, but a student with the same GPA from a school like Oberlin (where my sister is at now) might not, despite the fact that Oberlin is a very selective school. There are simply not enough Oberlin students going to engineering schools to make GPA statistically meaningful for the admissions committee.
usually it's determined by US department of education via the fafsa process. if and how exactly this number is met (loan/grant ratio, etc) is up to the college
Some colleges also give their own funds that have nothing to do with he government.
These colleges were all supposed to be needs blind and to meet the needs of all accepted students.
I never bought into either.
sorry but you are confused
undergraduate admissions are often needs blind. this has nothing to do with the financial aid package offered. i strongly doubt this is why your niece was rejected - those are all extremely competitive schools. do you know her SATs/GPA/etc?
you haven't answered the question regarding her EFC. did they fail to meet that with a combination or grants/loans/work - or did they fail to meet what you and/or your sister deem necessary?
Some colleges also give their own funds that have nothing to do with he government.
These colleges were all supposed to be needs blind and to meet the needs of all accepted students.
I never bought into either.
I went to Mills College (a small female liberal arts college in Oakland, CA), and I had most of my tuition paid for. In fact, I came out with less debt than I would have if I had gone to a state university, despite the state university's lower cost. Private schools can usually offer more grants because they receive millions in donations each year from past grads or benefactors. However, your niece is young enough that she's considered a dependent of her mother, and therefore, she won't get access to a lot of the grants that are need-based. When I went to school, I was able to qualify for tons of need-based loans because I'm a single parent and Head of Household and earned very little.
Have you spoken to your niece about other options? If she's 18, she can choose where she wants to go and how much debt she's willing to go into. Frankly, going to a community college for two years and then transferring will not only give her a better chance of getting into more schools (a lot of schools love transfer students), but will also drastically reduce her cost of education. Additionally, most schools teach the same stuff for the first two years - paying out your nose for basic humanities, math, and English courses doesn't make sense when you could get pretty much the same education/information those first two years at someplace much less expensive.
Perhaps as a transfer student, your niece would even have a good chance of getting into an elite school. That should please her mom, especially because once she has her degree, it wouldn't matter that she had once attended a community college.
undergraduate admissions are often needs blind. this has nothing to do with the financial aid package offered. i strongly doubt this is why your niece was rejected - those are all extremely competitive schools. do you know her SATs/GPA/etc?
you haven't answered the question regarding her EFC. did they fail to meet that with a combination or grants/loans/work - or did they fail to meet what you and/or your sister deem necessary?
I am not confused. I said that they were both needs blind and schools that say they would meet the needs. Both,
The EFC said ZERO. I do not trust them to be accurate, in my own experience.
Yes, they failed to meet her need to attend. Not what I deem necessary - or even her - by thousands of dollars, over ten.
And Wellesley says it will meet the financial need of accepted students. I never bought into that either.
The thing is, if Wellesley or Bryn Mawr really wanted her, they would lower their price tag. Simple.
So much for these colleges that say that they will meet all financial needs of accepted students,
Keep in mind that by meeting all financial needs, what they mean is meeting the EFC. Do you know what your sister's EFC was? I know that when I applied for colleges in 2005, my family's EFC was much, much more than my parents would have been able to contribute, which is why I applied to colleges a tier or two down from what I could have gotten into (which I know was advice that your sister ignored - it was good advice!).
Also, schools are feeling the financial crunch of lower donations from alumni and corporations, budget shortfalls in the sciences due to the sequester (I've been told by colleagues in the sciences to expect layoffs of lab staff), and increased need from students. Schools aren't going to be any more generous than they have to, especially for students who do not stand out from the pack.
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