Average indebtedness between schools

[Lokhtar]

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So I am looking at MSAR, and I'm noticing very wide disparities between the average debt of two private schools.

One school has an average debt of almost $200,000 while the other is less than $140,000. They both show, according to MSAR, about the same % of students receiving financial aid.

I have a few questions: what does that mean? Does one school have students who are significantly wealthier (e.g independently or via parents)? Or does the school itself give out more financial aid on average? If its the latter, then it seems to be that it should play a huge role in my decision to attend.

Is there anyway to find this out? I'll be paying for it all myself (e.g through loans).

 

[NickNaylor]

First, what are the two schools? People might be willing to give specific info about the schools you're looking at.

This could be due to a variety of things: variation in class size, lower cost of attendance, more significant/aggressive merit aid or other scholarship programs... who knows. There are some schools - *cough* *cough*, the Ivies - that give out virtually no scholarships, and the students are expected to pay the full sticker price (though, to be fair, many of them DO give out grants and other awards to otherwise reduce the price). There are other private schools (Pritzker, Vandy, and Mayo come to mind) that give out substantial scholarships and merit aid so that even though they have a high sticker price, very few if any students pay that price.

 

[4ksibe]

First, what are the two schools? People might be willing to give specific info about the schools you're looking at.

This could be due to a variety of things: variation in class size, lower cost of attendance, more significant/aggressive merit aid or other scholarship programs... who knows. There are some schools - *cough* *cough*, the Ivies - that give out virtually no scholarships, and the students are expected to pay the full sticker price (though, to be fair, many of them DO give out grants and other awards to otherwise reduce the price). There are other private schools (Pritzker, Vandy, and Mayo come to mind) that give out substantial scholarships and merit aid so that even though they have a high sticker price, very few if any students pay that price.

seems to me though that a lot of the ivys have lower average debts below 100,000 mark (hopkins Harvard...)

 

[Lokhtar]

Well, for example, Albert Einstein, private, Total Cost of Attendance: $66000. Average indebtedness: $134,000.

vs.

Rush, private, Total Cost of Attendance: $66,000. Average indebtedness: $163,000.

vs.

Drexel, private, Total cost of attendance: $70,000. Average indebtedness: $202,000.

 

[wanderer]

There are too many variables that are not being reported to know anything useful. COA is clearly important, but a particular school's debt could potentially be low because they have a lot of upper class students (perhaps that school gives strong preference to legacy....), a disproportionate amount of military students, give a lot of merit aid, or give a lot of need-based aid. Also a school could give aid to 100% of its students by giving them all $100 scholarships so that number is meaningless.

 

[Lokhtar]

Between two private schools of roughly equal cost of attendance, a difference in average debt of almost $70,000 surely tells you something.

The two options I think would be that one attracts more students who receive help from their parents, or are themselves financially able to pitch in for the cost....or the school helps them with the financial aid package.

Are there other options?

 

[Beta Cell]

seems to me though that a lot of the ivys have lower average debts below 100,000 mark (hopkins Harvard...)

HMS does unit loans so they calculate financial aid in the following way:

1) Total cost- EFC = Need
2) Need-Unit Loan= Grant amount, if 'Grant amount' < 0, 'Grant amount' = 0.

So if the total cost is $66k (which is pretty close to what I remember) and your family is determined to be able to contribute $16k, your need is $50k. I believe the unit loan amount is somewhere around $24.5k and the difference is the $25.5k grant amount which HMS gifts to you. Not all schools are able to give that much money away. I'm not quite sure about Hopkins (which isn't an ivy league school btw).

 

[wanderer]

It's clear that the more expensive school gives little to no aid. You can only find out why AECOM's debt is relatively low either from extracting info from their website or checking the school specific threads. I wouldn't automatically assume that it would cost a lot less for you. I know they give some scholarships but I don't know if it's generally significant.

Also you only see the average debt. There's no standard deviation given, and median would the more useful number in any case.

 

[4ksibe]

HMS does unit loans so they calculate financial aid in the following way:

1) Total cost- EFC = Need
2) Need-Unit Loan= Grant amount, if 'Grant amount' < 0, 'Grant amount' = 0.

So if the total cost is $66k (which is pretty close to what I remember) and your family is determined to be able to contribute $16k, your need is $50k. I believe the unit loan amount is somewhere around $24.5k and the difference is the $25.5k grant amount which HMS gifts to you. Not all schools are able to give that much money away. I'm not quite sure about Hopkins (which isn't an ivy league school btw).

my bad hopkins is not one of the 7 ivy!!!! I guess i meant top schools