Published October 2018. Financial aid and student loan rules change often, so some details may be out of date. Ask us about your situation.
Few students can afford the high price of college without financial aid. So for prospective college students and families, it’s crucial to know which schools award the most aid before applying to college.
The Princeton Review recently ranked colleges based on students’ ratings of overall satisfaction with their financial aid packages at the 384 best colleges in the U.S. According to their analysis, these are the best colleges for financial aid in 2018:
1. Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN was ranked the best college for financial aid by The Princeton Review. [Image by Stablenode [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons] (Photo: Stablenode / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0))
3. Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)
4. Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY)
5. Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
6. Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
7. Yale University (New Haven, CT)
8. Pomona College (Claremont, CA)
9. Williams College (Williamstown, MA)
10. Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
11. Rice University (Houston, TX)
12. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)
13. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
Not only is Stanford University one of the best colleges in the country, it’s also one of the most generous with financial aid packages.
[Image by Jawed Karim. [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons] (Photo: Jawed Karim / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0))
15. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)
16. Lafayette College (Easton, PA)
17. Brown University (Providence, RI)
18. Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY)
19. St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN)
You might not have heard of St. Olaf College in Northfield, MA, but it has great academics and a fantastic financial aid program as well. [Image by Daniel Edwins a.k.a. Webmoof of English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 2.5 ], from Wikimedia Commons] (Photo: Daniel Edwins (Webmoof) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5))
