Claremont McKenna College is among 13 colleges selected by The Princeton Review for their 2010 Financial Aid Honor Roll. The list, published in The Best 371 Colleges, includes institutions that received the highest possible rating score of 99.
"More than half of CMC students receive financial aid. At the core of the College's mission is our ability to provide need-blind admission. CMC's financial aid program enables us to attract academically-motivated students from diverse backgrounds and populations," said Georgette DeVeres, associate vice president of admission and financial aid. "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 CMC, the list includes (in alphabetical order): American Jewish University (Bel Air Calif.), Beloit College (Beloit, Wis.), Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine), California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.), Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, Pa.), Harvard College (Cambridge, Mass.), Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, Ill.), Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pa.), Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, Calif.), Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Ind.), Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.), and Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.).
Claremont McKenna College has a competitive financial aid program partnered with a need-blind admission process. For the 2008-2009 academic year, 51% of students received financial assistance, with an average financial aid package of $37,450. In March 2008, the College announced that it was eliminating student loans from all financial aid packages and replacing loans with grant aid.
"The cost of college at most institutions is sobering, and the need for financial aid greater than ever in these tough economic times," said Robert Franek, vice president and publisher of The Princeton Review. "But we encourage applicants never to cross a school off their list because of its sticker price, and always to get information about the schools' financial aid offerings, and their award prospects which can be truly compelling."
The Princeton Review an education services company collected and analyzed data from 623 colleges. The Financial Aid ratings scores on a scale of 60 to 99were tallied based on data from its surveys of administrators at hundreds of schools in 2008-2009 and its surveys of student aid recipients attending the schools. School data included the percentage of their 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 also factored in data from The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the schools about their satisfaction with their aid awards.