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If you can’t pay for college, and you don’t receive enough aid (even though you have a brilliant SAT score)

Do you:

a) Not get accepted – you can’t pay
b) Get accepted and are allowed to study at the university, just you graduate with a huge amount of debt

By Drusba (Drusba) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 02:19 pm: Edit

Colleges accept those who need aid and then provide the financial aid package, in the form of grants and loans, they believe the student should get (based on all the forms submitted showing assets and income of student and parents). Thus, it is not a barrier to initial acceptance. The difference between the aid provided and the actual total costs has to be made up by the parents or student (either out of their assets or by taking private loans). All school bills for each semester must be paid when due and if not paid colleges won't let you sign up for another semester or graduate.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 02:32 pm: Edit

Some schools are need blind and some even are need blind and meet 100% of need.
Some schools aren't need blind but meet 100% of need, some dont meet all of need but may provide merit aid, obviously all kinds of combinations of this.
Most students who have financial need have a combination of loans, grants and workstudy. Students are also expected to contribute summer earnings/savings.
If need is a problem, best bet is to apply to range of schools, public and private including instate public and compare packages.
ED you will have no opportunity to compare packages.
My daughters school meets 100% of need, only need based aid is given, although they reward more attractive ( academically) students with a larger percentage of grants to loans.

Many students with "brillant" SAT scores. Best shot for aid would be at a school where you are in the top ranking rather than in the middle, other factors have been and often are considered besides test scores and GPA