Families need to understand the difference between public and private colleges because of the differences in prices and financial aid.
Public institutions are colleges that operate under the ultimate control of a state or local government (there are some exceptions). These colleges receive a significant amount of their budgets from state appropriations although the amount has been dropping over the years.
Just because a student is paying for all of his own expenses doesn’t make him an independent student for financial aid purposes. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has very specific requirements to qualify as an independent student.
Merit aid refers to college awarded
Net price calculators (NPC) are a way for students and their families to estimate how much it would cost to attend a specific college. All colleges that accept federal funds are required to provide Net Price Calculators on their websites. The
There are very few situations when applying for financial aid could possibly hurt your chances for admissions. For your financial aid application to affect your admissions you would need to be applying to a school with all of the following criteria.