Unfortunately, my experience has been that a college touted as literally the #1 "little ivy" school for financial aid (hint: the President of the school just resigned today and the school is spelled "Swarthmore") did not offer my family enough aid for us to attend. Instead, finding a co-signer for private loans was suggested when my parents could not qualify for a DirectPlus Loan because of income issues. Unbelievable! Another school I applied to candidly admitted that that they could not meet all of a student's demonstrated need, but Swarthmore simply defined "need" to mean an arbitrary gross income. A little Internet research revealed my experience wasn't isolated - students with absent fathers, parents who had lost jobs, families with huge medical expenses - Swarthmore declined to offer more aid to enable them to attend or even return for a 2nd year. Touting promises they don't keep - you expect that from a business, not a selective college. Oh, wait - I guess it really IS about business after all. . . .
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