Uncovering the Many Secrets of Financial Aid
Use these strategies to make college more affordable
The good EFC news is that because private colleges have become so expensive, even upper-middle-class families with six-figure incomes sometimes get need-based grants from schools. The bad: The vast majority of colleges fail to provide enough grants to make up the difference between a family's EFC and the cost of attendance. Overall, only half of all college students get any kind of grant. Those grants average slightly over $4,000, which leaves the typical student with a gap of almost $6,900. That can be bridged with federal student loans and part-time work.
But students who find schools looking for their particular characteristics can get schools to fork over bigger grants. The U.S. News analysis of 2006 aid awards and interviews with college administrators reveal many surprising factors students can exploit to increase their chances of getting scholarships:
Academics: Most schools give bigger grants to students who prove their abilities through grades, test scores, Advanced Placement classes, and other indicators. But an analysis of more than 300 award letters sent out by over 100 public and private colleges around the nation reveals a strategy likely to improve a student's chances for merit aid. No matter what the student's SAT score, those who applied to schools in which their scores put them in the top 25 percent of the school's student body tended to get more and bigger grants. On average, letters to students who were in the top 25 percent contained grants averaging $11,144, meeting 81 percent of the student's need. Award letters to students whose SAT scores were at least 200 points below the top 25 percent floor offered grants totaling only $7,800, meeting just 64 percent of need.
Typical were the awards from New York University, where 25 percent of last year's freshmen had (two-test) SAT scores above 1420 and the total annual cost of attendance this year is likely to top $48,000. Of seven awards examined, six failed to provide enough grants to allow the student to attend without borrowing. One student with a family EFC of about $16,000, a grade-point average of 4.1, and a below-average SAT score (for NYU) of 1300 received no grants. The only student to get the full amount of needed aid scored a very high 1520 and had a GPA of 3.9. Because that student came from a family with an EFC of slightly more than $39,000, the school grant of $10,000 made up the gap in the cost of attendance. Barbara Hall, head of NYU'S admissions and financial aid offices, says that NYU doesn't promise to meet the need of any student and generally caps its grants at $25,000. But while NYU does tend to offer better packages to students who have better grades, it also offers bigger grants to lower-income students, without regard to their academic record. "We are concerned about access," she says.
Students who want to increase their odds of being admitted and scoring big aid packages should apply to a couple of safety schools-in-state public colleges and perhaps one or two private schools in which their grades and scores put them at the top of the class. But they shouldn't necessarily end up attending the school that costs them the least, says Sandy Baum, an economist at Skidmore College and the College Board. "For some students, being a big fish in a little pond is a great idea," she says. But others would benefit more by opting for pricier schools with better students and more challenging courses.
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