Claremont McKenna College is among the top 10 colleges selected by The Princeton Review for its 2012 Financial Aid Honor Roll. The list includes institutions that received the highest possible financial aid rating score of 99.
In this instance, the Review surveyed administrators and aid recipients at 613 schools, scoring the colleges on a scale of 60 to 99. The institutional survey included questions on: the percentage of the school's students determined to have need who received aid, the percentage of need met, and the percentage of students whose aid was fully met. The rating tallies also factored in data from the Company's surveys of students attending the schools about their satisfaction with their aid awards.
Currently, about 51 percent of CMC students receive need-based financial aid. "That speaks to the core of the College's mission: our ability to provide need-blind admission," says Georgette DeVeres, associate vice president of admission and financial aid. CMC's financial aid program, she says, enables the College to attract academically motivated students from diverse backgrounds and populations. "Our students are given the freedom to attend a world-class liberal arts college without the often overwhelming financial challenges that accompany a private education."
In addition to the College's need-blind admission policy and meet-all-need financial aid policy, three years ago CMC adopted a no-packaged-loan policy. "That policy allows our students the opportunity to graduate from CMC with no student debt whatsoever," notes Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard Vos.
The 10 colleges landing on The Princeton Review's 2012 Financial Aid Honor Roll are, in alphabetical order:
Carleton College (Northfield MN)
Claremont McKenna College (Claremont CA)
Columbia University (New York NY)
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham MA)
Pomona College (Claremont CA)
Princeton University (Princeton NJ)
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)
Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula CA)
Vassar College (Poughkeepsie NY)
The ratings are also reported in the profiles of the schools in the new 2012 editions of two Princeton Review guidebooks: The Best 376 Colleges and Complete Book of Colleges, which went on sale Aug. 2.