Weatherby

My understanding of need blind admissions is simply the committee does not know whether the candidate applied for financial aid or not. If the candidate is acceptable for admissions, the financial aid factor then comes into play. Depending upon the schools endowment, the candidate's FA needs could be met but there is not guarantee.

The bottomline is applying for financial aid at almost any school (save two) lowers chances of admission and why would this not be so?

blueisbest

Here is how Andover explains its need blind admission policy:

1. "Andover … extend[s] its resources to offer admission to every qualified young person regardless of their families’ ability to pay the cost of an Andover education and we are proud to say that we meet 100 percent of each admitted student’s demonstrated financial need. Andover’s commitment to 'youth from every quarter' is truly representative of its historic effort to provide a world-class education to the leaders of tomorrow regardless of their families’ economic circumstances."

2. "The reason we broadcast that Andover will support 100% of a family’s demonstrated need is to help families understand that Andover does not engage in a common financial aid practice known as “gapping.” Most NAIS member schools “gap” their financial aid awards by not fully funding the level of financial need demonstrated through the financial aid process. Many schools attempt to stretch their financial aid budgets by allocating smaller grants to more students, which restricts some families' ability to return year after year in the wake of partial funding. Also, the practice of gapping creates more pressure on the school to consider those who can afford to pay more, over those who can pay less, making ability to pay a partial factor in the enrollment decision."

3. "Andover awards financial aid scholarship grants based upon demonstrated financial need … We evaluate the financial need of each family based on the total cost of attendance rather than on tuition alone."

For further information, see, Phillips Academy -

SevenDad

As one of more outspoken advocates of St. Andrew's here, I wanted to note that SAS seems to have revised the language on their website so that it no longer includes the phrase "need blind".

However, they still have language that states "The School's policy of fully meeting a family's demonstrated financial need is essential to the realization of our Founder's mission to serve "bright students of good character regardless of their ability to pay." The copy goes on to state that "This year, 46% of our students receive need-based grants totaling over $5 million. The average grant is $38,000."

SOURCE:
http://www.standrews-de.org/data/fil...lance_2012.pdf

So, similar language to Andover in terms of fully meeting demonstrated need, without the "need blind" part.

I was curious about this change in language and reached out to the admissions office. Based on their explanation and my understanding of it, I think their reasons for taking out the "need blind" wording are very sound — and may surprise you. I encourage anyone who is interested in this great school to make their own inquiries.

GMTplus7

I think there is way too much fixation on the term “NEED BLIND”. Generous FA is absolutely moot if you do not have the resume to get admitted into the school in the first place-- Andover may be one of the few schools that explicitly states that their admission is need blind, but it also has the MOST applicants.

To approach the FA process strategically, you need to balance the probability of your admission with your probability of receiving FA. You should seek out schools w more forgiving admit rates, which also have LARGE ENDOWMENTS that permit generous FA awarding, regardless of whether there is an explicit “need blind” policy.