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It seems that with the large differences in tuition prices, we can expect pretty large differences in financial aid packages. Is this reasonable? Or does every school offer a similar package, making the cheaper schools cheaper still?
Answers
Need-based financial aid is based on the FAFSA and the CSS Profile, which helps schools determine how much your family will be able to contribute toward the cost of education. So need-based financial aid works from an estimate of how much you can pay. Schools will offer you packages which try and cover as much of the cost of school minus the amount you and your family can contribute. This means that every school is trying to get the total cost for you to attend school to the same number.
If you're following me now, this means that every school should cost about the same for you if you're receiving need-based aid, right? Not exactly. A lot still depends on the financial situation of the school. Some schools make no promises about covering everything but your estimated contribution. Other schools pledge to cover 100% of what the FAFSA says you can't. Some schools will even go above and beyond that when you combine it with merit-based scholarships.
What this all means is that while all schools will be evaluating you on the same criteria and with the same information, they may not give you equivalent aid packages. Generally, though, schools will hover around the total cost of enrollment minus your expected contribution.
If you're following me now, this means that every school should cost about the same for you if you're receiving need-based aid, right? Not exactly. A lot still depends on the financial situation of the school. Some schools make no promises about covering everything but your estimated contribution. Other schools pledge to cover 100% of what the FAFSA says you can't. Some schools will even go above and beyond that when you combine it with merit-based scholarships.
What this all means is that while all schools will be evaluating you on the same criteria and with the same information, they may not give you equivalent aid packages. Generally, though, schools will hover around the total cost of enrollment minus your expected contribution.
Another really important factor to consider is that not all forms of financial aid are the same. Need-based financial aid will, for the most part, consist of grants and loans. Grants are just outright discounts applied to your tuition, while loans are just deferments of payments which you will need to pay back at some point. A financial aid package which is smaller, but consists of more grant money than loans, could be better than a package which is larger in value but consists of a lot of loan money. This all depends on your opinion of course, and sometimes it's worth that extra loan money to go to the better school.