Schools That Say They Meet Full Need

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Schools That Say They Meet Full Need
Posted September 5, 2008

One way that students can increase their chances of getting financial aid is to apply to schools that tend to be more generous. This is a list of schools that say they meet the full need of the students they admit.


But students should beware: The schools have varying definitions of " need. " Some of the schools provide enough grants to make up the difference between the family's federal " expected family contribution " and the school's cost of attendance. Others calculate their own (often higher) EFC and still leave a gap of several thousand dollars to be covered by student loans and part-time jobs.

In some cases, these gaps are larger than the $6,500 or so counselors say most freshmen can reasonably handle with federal Stafford loans and a combination of school-year part-time work and summer full-time jobs.

So while this list is a good start, students may find that other schools could end up leaving them with smaller tuition bills.

College Name State
Adrian College (MI)
Amherst College (MA)
Barnard College (NY)
Bates College (ME)
Beloit College (WI)
Boston College
Bowdoin College (ME)
Brown University (RI)
Bryn Mawr College (PA)
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College (MN)
Carroll College (WI)
Chapman University (CA)
Claremont McKenna College (CA)
Colby College (ME)
Colgate University (NY)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Columbia University (NY)
Connecticut College
Cornell University (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Davidson College (NC)
Duke University (NC)
Emory University (GA)
Franklin & Marshall
Georgetown University (DC)
Gettysburg College (PA)
Grinnell College (IA)
Hamilton College (NY)
Harvard University (MA)
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Haverford College (PA)
Lafayette College (PA)
Macalester College (MN)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College (VT)
Mount Holyoke College (MA)
Northwestern University (IL)
Oberlin College (OH)
Occidental College (CA)
Pitzer College (CA)
Pomona College (CA)
Princeton University (NJ)
Reed College (OR)
Rice University (TX)
Salem College (NC)
Scripps College (CA)
Smith College (MA)
St. Olaf College (MN)
Stanford University (CA)
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Swarthmore College (PA)
Tufts University (MA)
University of Chicago
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond (VA)
University of Virginia
Vassar College (NY)
Wellesley College (MA)
Wesleyan University (CT)
Williams College (MA)
Yale University (CT)