Hamilton College in New York has announced that they will now be need blind for admissions. For those of you not up on your college financial aid jargon, this means that Hamilton will now make admissions decision without considering whether a student will need financial aid.  Hamilton also  meets 100% of the financial need of each admitted student.

This is very good, if not somewhat surprising, news. With all of the losses sustained by college endowments in the past few years, colleges have been looking at reducing their generosity, not increasing it.  Williams College, for instance, recently decided to reverse their no loan policy for financial aid packages.  Williams is still need blind and meets the full need of all admitted students.  But Hamilton has a much smaller endowment than Williams.

Unfortunately, the new policy will not extend to transfer students and international students but given the resources Hamilton has, I think they are being very good stewards of their money.

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Princeton Review is out with their latest list of what they consider the 100 best value colleges in the country. The list includes 50 best value public colleges and 50 best value private colleges.

There are some very good colleges on both of these lists but remember you can’t rely on a ranking to determine what is the best college for you. This is true whether someone is trying to rank the quality of the school or the quality of their financial aid.  You need to do your homework to understand financial aid.  Once you understand the basics of financial aid, information like that provided by Princeton Review will make more sense and can help you figure out what might be an affordable school for you.

Finally, a word of caution. There are a number of colleges that provide strong financial aid that are not on the lists from Princeton Review. Don’t ignore a college just because it is not on one of these lists.

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The Choice, the New York Times college admissions blog, recently had an article about a young woman who planned on attending the University of New Haven but was unable to do so because she couldn’t afford the college.

I feel sorry that this young woman wasn’t able to afford to attend the school she desired. But once again this is a clear example of someone who did not understand how college financial aid works. A quick check would have shown that the typical student gets about 68% of their need met at the University of New Haven. This student had about 70% of her need met and was unable to find the money to pay for the additional  costs.

If this student had understood financial aid she would have known that the University of New Haven might not be a reasonable choice for her.  Or she would have had more time to try to raise the additional money she would need to pay for this college.

Knowledge is power. Use the power to find the best college for you and that includes the one you can afford.

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Kiplinger Magazine has come out with their latest rankings of the best values in public colleges.   As I have said each time these new rankings come out, don’t worry about who is number 1 versus number 3 when trying to rank colleges.  The colleges and universities listed are among the best public colleges for their financial aid policies.

The rankings include both information on quality measures and financial measures. Quality measures include the admission rate, median SAT scores, student faculty ratio and graduation rates for each college. The financial measures include the cost of each college after need based aid is considered, the percent of aid from grants and the average debt of graduating students.

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For profit colleges such as University of Phoenix, Capella University and DeVry University have been growing dramatically in the past few years. This growth has occurred in part because much of their education is on line and thus convenient for non traditional students.  But there is an ugly side to much of the education provided by for-profit colleges.

The problem is that the costs for these educational institutions is usually covered by loans and often students don’t have the jobs after their education to pay for these loans. There is a good discussion of this problem in a Washington Monthly article “The Subprime Student Loan Racket“.

There is nothing inherently wrong with for-profit colleges. But they are often much more expensive than people realize because students often don’t adequately investigate their options before signing up for the programs. If you are considering attending an on-line college you need to do your research into the true cost of the program. Failure to do so may result in you owing substantial debt without a way to pay for it.

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Kiplinger has recently announced the 2009-2010 version of their 100 Best Values in Private Colleges. The list is broken down into the 50 Best Value Private Universities and the 50 Best Value Liberal Arts Colleges.

You can sort the colleges on the list by overall rank, cost, quality measures or financial aid measures.  You can also search by state to see which colleges near you made the list.

This list is a great way to find a private college that has strong academics and strong financial aid.

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Vanderbilt University has released a video entitled the “Insider’s Guide to Financial Aid“. This financial aid video is presented by Vanderbilt’s Dean of Admissions, Doug Christiansen, and is a follow up to his previous video “Insider’s Guide to Admissions“.

I thought Dean Christiansen’s “Insider’s Guide to Admissions” was wonderful and have recommended it in the past. Unfortunately, I don’t think the the “Insider’s Guide to Financial Aid” is as strong a video. The video asks some good questions which Dean Christiansen attempts to answer but the answers are not always as clear as they could be, particularly for someone not already familiar with how college financial aid works.

I am a strong proponent of getting information about financial aid out to prospective students and I applaud Vanderbilt’s attempt.  However, before watching the video, I would suggest you take a look at my page on Financial Aid Basics.  Having that background information the video will make more sense.

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I have discussed before the issue of taking out private loans to pay for college. Just to refresh, private loans are those that do not come from the federal or state government. They typically are not as favorable to the student as government based loans.

There is a new report out today from the Project on Student Debt, an organization that helps monitor student borrowing for college. This report, entitled “Private Loans:Facts and Trends“, reveals that most students who take out private loans to pay for college have not yet exhausted federal loans available to them. Moreover, the study shows that the majority of those taking out private loans are attending lower priced colleges.

There is nothing inherently wrong with taking out a loan for pay for some of your college expenses. But please, before doing so, make sure you understand the different types of loans to get the best deal for you. And almost always, the best deal will be to use federal or state loans before using any private loans.

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I recently read yet another article about businesses that advertise free seminars to learn about financial aid that actually turn out to be sales pitches for their paid services. These businesses have been around for many years and I have written about them before.  No legitimate group is going to give you a high pressure sales pitch so if you are feeling pressured, just get up and leave the presentation.

But, what I really wanted to comment about was the statement of the college financial aid official quoted in the article. The gist of the comment was that if you want free advice on financial aid you should just contact the financial aid office at any college. Honestly, I think that this comment is just as misleading with the potential to harm students as the financial aid firm charging thousands to complete a FAFSA.

Most financial aid people are good people who try to provide as much financial aid for each student attending their college as they have available resources.  But colleges are businesses and they can not afford to give more financial aid than they have. And most colleges, including the one where the comment came from, practice gapping in their financial aid. This means that they do not fund all of the student’s need as determined by the FAFSA. Do they advertise that fact in their dealings with students? Almost never.

To say that students should rely on free advice from colleges whose main interest is to preserve as much money by not giving complete financial aid funding out is a disservice to the student.

So what is the student to do to learn about the complicated world of college financial aid? The first step is to learn about the basics of college financial aid.  This is a free article and my only concern in making this information available is to help people understand financial aid.

Want more detailed information? You want to read “Paying for College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany. This book from the Princeton Review is a fabulous resource for detailed information on both the financial aid process and the best way to complete the FAFSA and CSS Profile. The book sells for about $20 although it is available at many public libraries.

Don’t be pressured into buying a service you don’t need. But also don’t be misled into thinking that a college financial aid office is only concerned about you.

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Several people have asked me how financial aid works for BS/MD programs. Basically, financial aid is no different for students in these programs than for other students.

During the college portion of the BS/MD program a student may qualify for grants, loan and work study just like other college students.   The amount of aid you will receive depends on many factors but primarily your family income, assets and on how your college handles financial aid.

When a student begins the medical school portion of program they are treated like typical medical students.  At most medical schools there are limited grants and mostly loans to pay for the education. The financial aid would be no different for the BS/MD students.

So, the cost of a typical BS/MD program is no  better and no worse than the typical approach of 4 years of college followed by 4 years of medical school. For those BS/MD programs that are 6 or 7 years in length, the cost may be less since the number of years of undergraduate education may be reduced.

One other consideration for those applying to BS/MD programs where financial aid is a concern. The application process can be more expensive if you apply to a number of BS/MD programs and are asked to interview at the medical school.  You will need to be able to afford the cost of traveling to the campus where the interview will take place.  If money is a concern then you should consider applying to BS/MD programs within a reasonable driving distance of your home.

Here are all of the articles in the series on BS/MD programs.

BS/MD Programs

BA/MD or BS/MD

Admissions to BS/MD Programs

BS/MD Admission Requirements

Applying to BS/MD Programs

Interviews for BS/MD Programs

BS/MD Programs and Financial Aid

BS/DO Programs

BS/MD Programs for International Students

BS/MD Programs for College Students

Summer Activities for BS/MD Applicants

6 Steps to Make Yourself the Best BS/MD Candidate

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