The Top 10 U.S. Colleges for Financial Aid

Updated
Carleton-College
Carleton-College

With the average college student graduating with some $23,000 in debt, many could use a little -- or a lot -- of help.

For those on the money hunt for college, The Princeton Review has come out with its Financial Aid Ratings of 613 colleges based on surveys of administrators and student-aid recipients at the schools. The scores range from 60 to 99, with 99 being the best.

The company considered how many students received aid compared to the number of students who needed it, how much of their financial needs were met and how many students received all the aid they needed, as well as how satisfied students said they were with their awards.

Top Scorers


So which colleges came out on top? The Princeton Review's 2012 Financial Aid Rating Honor Roll gives kudos to the colleges that received the highest possible score.


In alphabetical order:

Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.)
Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, Calif.)
Columbia University (New York, N.Y.)
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Mass.)
Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Penn.)
Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, Calif.)
Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)

Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher at The Princeton Review, offered encouragement for students and parents worried about how they will pay for college. "Always get current information about a school's financial aid offerings and never cross a school off the list because of its sticker price: sometimes, the most expensive colleges are the most generous with their grants and aid," he said in a prepared statement .

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Can You Apply To Different Schools For Financial Aid
Can You Apply To Different Schools For Financial Aid

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