<p>If i am not mistaken, the calculator (FAFSA) generates a EFC for you. So it would take into account that your parents are unemployed.</p>
<p>OP…Need blind schools will consider what your parents have in non retirement holdings such as a second or third home, stocks and other accounts. If your parents do not have any large assets than you will likely receive alot of financial aid or full aid. Many kids in your position do far better at top schools because they are need blind. </p>
<p>You will be required to fill out both the FAFSA and CSS and considering that your parents are unemployed right now the schools would take into consideration that they are going through some savings right now. Good luck and don’t let the current financial situation deter you from selecting schools that you want to attend.</p>
<p>On a side note if things are very tough right now speak to your GC and ask her about fee waivers for your applications. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is… Will your parents be able to afford the school that you gain admission to once they are employed again? You need to discuss this with them and consider that as a very real situation. You may not want to attend a college with a $50,000+ price tag and a year from now your parents will need to pay $40,000. Remember that the very top schools provide aid with no loans with incomes that many consider to be above average.</p>
<p>*Will your parents be able to afford the school that you gain admission to once they are employed again? You need to discuss this with them and consider that as a very real situation. You may not want to attend a college with a $50,000+ price tag and a year from now your parents will need to pay $40,000. *</p>
<p>Very good point. Typically, when families are getting back on their feet after unemployment, they can’t pay out a lot towards college (which their college may expect once income returns.)</p>
<p>You need to protect yourself and apply to a variety of schools…Reaches that give great aid (like HYPS), some UCs, and some financial safeties that will give you huge merit for your stats. </p>
<p>Did you make NMSF?</p>
<p>These are very helpful responses; thanks to the op and the responders. </p>
<p>Here’s a slight tweak and more blunt version of the question, that may have appeared elsewhere:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do self-labeled need blind colleges lie about their need blindedness? And if so, what signs and/or data would reveal it?</p></li>
<li><p>Students in my D’s public school are told, point blank, to avoid filing for financial aid unless it’s absolutely necessary, because doing so will lead to rejection. We live in a small state with undistinguished public universities. Seems like bad advice to me. Is it?</p></li>
<li><p>How might you communicate the following: “I may not look rich to you, but if you accept me, my parents and I will figure out a way to pay for your school.” Not saying that’s a good idea, or necessary. But is it even possible?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ chnews…Schools that claim to be needblind ARE needblind. This would include Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Brown, and the other ivy league schools. These are not the only ones as I could assure you that MIT is also need blind. There is a big difference from need aware and need blind. No student should apply early decision to NEED AWARE schools in my opinion, if finances are a consideration. I do not know why anyone at your school would tell you such a thing because there is absolutely no validity to that statement where need blind schools are concerned.</p>
<p>There was another discussion on the same topic here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/769387-harvard-other-ivies-really-need-blind.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/769387-harvard-other-ivies-really-need-blind.html</a></p>
<p>Schools that claim to be need blind generally have endowment large enough that they can comfortably accomodate the financial needs of its students. </p>
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<p>On the contrary, being low income or having overcome obstacles as a result of one’s family’s financial circumstances may occasionally bring a slight advantage if you are applying to highly selective schools with huge financial endowment: these schools actually look for low income student to add diversity to its student body.</p>
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<p>Wait, I thought the OP was talking about putting down $0 for income, not EFC :o. The latter is determined by the federal government, exactly as you said. And it is in fact possible to be paying less than your EFC, though I’m sure that is very rare.</p>
<p>I want to emphasize the point about going to a school that give you merit aid based on your stats might be a good long term plan. Since your dad now has a job, for your sophomore year, your dad will have a full year of employment, so you might not qualify for need based aid in that year but as your family will be getting back on your feet and might not really be able to afford what the college say. With merit aid, all you have to do it is keep a certain GPA, it doesn’t matter what the income is.</p>
<p>American University is another school that gives great merit aid- it varies by your scores. There are a few kids my son knows who have complete full rides.</p>
<p>Lookingforward - yes different schools calculate it differently, no diasagreement. On top of that, however, I don’t trust that the finaid department is completely walled off from the admissions department. At some schools, they are the same department. I’m a skeptic, that’s all.</p>
<p>1. Do self-labeled need blind colleges lie about their need blindedness? And if so, what signs and/or data would reveal it?</p>
<p>Most schools are need-blind. Virtually all publics are need blind because they don’t consider income when accepting. They really only consider stats. They would get into mega trouble if they started considering income…it could be considered some kind of twisted racial discrimination.</p>
<p>I think what you’re concerned about are schools that are need-blind and meet need. You’re concerned that THOSE schools might be really “need aware” and reject someone who needs aid.</p>
<p>Some would argue that need blind schools might have a tendency to assume that kids from poor zip codes or from poor schools might need lots of aid (and vice versa).</p>
<p>*How might you communicate the following: “I may not look rich to you, but if you accept me, my parents and I will figure out a way to pay for your school.” Not saying that’s a good idea, or necessary. But is it even possible? *</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Wouldn’t the way to communicate that is by not applying for aid???</p>
<p>BTW…anyone who only needs a little aid, can not request aid, but then file a FAFSA after acceptance for a $5500 student loan. That is kosher.</p>
<p>Apply widely. Look for schools with scholarships like the Hays Scholarship at Hendrix, scholarships that cover tuition, fees, room, and board.</p>
<p>And it is in fact possible to be paying less than your EFC, though I’m sure that is very rare.</p>
<p>Actually, many people pay less than their EFCs but not because of need-based aid. Those with high EFCs often pay less because their kids go to less expensive colleges, they commute, they get big merit scholarships, etc.</p>
<p>We don’t pay anywhere near our EFC. Both kids got big merit and we probably only pay about $9k total for both, yet our EFC is $99k.</p>
<p>However, if your EFC is X and the school costs X+ and your child isn’t going to get merit, expect to pay at least X.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful replies, people! Feeling more positive about this, but yeah looks like I’m going to add in a couple more safety schools. Would you guys say I have a good chance of getting a full ride/Regents scholarship/whatever from a high-tier UC?</p>
<p>Need-blind means that students are admitted without regard to what aid they may need. It doesn’t mean that the full need , as calculated by the school (using , usually, FAFSA and CSS) will be meet with grants and scholarships. It may be met with loans and oncampus jobs as well. And, what FAFSA/CSS calculate may be different than what your family calculates.
You need to be sure to apply to a school that is an academic and financial safety if at all possible.</p>
<p>^ Not really. If the OP have excellent stats he has a chance at getting accepted to schools with large endowments. He would do far better financially at these schools (if he has a low EFC) than he would at most other schools even with merit aid (unless they give him a full merit scholorship). I have seen a couple kids lose merit scholarships because they set the GPA very high to maintain them.</p>
<p>**** I just saw your stats and I would guess you would be very competive for some very nice merit aid. What are you interested in studying?</p>
<p>No one can say if you will get Regents at top UC’s you will just have to apply and see how it goes. Be sure to apply to many UC’s to increase your chances. Don’t scoff at any UC. I know a girl who had a Regents at Riverside who got into a tippy top law school.</p>
<p>Have you sat with your family and done and EFC calculation yet? Also realize that you have to fill out the FAFSA and CSS each year, so the amount awarded will change each year. If your dad is now employed, run the EFC with the full year’s income to see how the contribution will change, so you and your parents are aware. If your mom then gets a job that will increase EFC too. </p>
<p>In order to get the best suggestions, people have to know if your EFC is do-able for your parents. Get on that.</p>
<p>Also, you don’t necessarily hand the EFC over to the school. If it is low, the grants/loans may cover the tuition. So the EFC is expected to be given to the student for some of the allocated expenses, like food if they are not on the dining plan, rent if they are not in a dorm, airfare home, laptop. So if the student is able to cut costs, they won’t necessarily need all the EFC.</p>
<p>If I’m a college I would be curious if your new found poverty matches your EC’s. Seems incongruent to list equestrian as an EC and have parents unemployed. If I were a college and saw that both of your parents were unemployed, I might wonder why you didn’t have a job to support family.</p>
<p>Amherst would do good by you! Debt free, no loans. Kind of the best school FAid wise…amirite?</p>
<p>Have you thought of applying for scholarships? I know there’s a lot of scholarships out for children of immigrants. And, also coming from a low income family, I’ve talked to reps for Yale, UPenn, Penn State and NYU and when I talked to them about financial aid, they were all very confident in their aid programs to get me through college. Colleges, Ivy Leagues especially, with very strong alumni, think (and know) that if they help you out and you keep your grades well and are successful, that you will donate to them.</p>
<p>apolohno - The issue here is financial need calculations, not financial aid policy. If Amherst decides that the OP’s parents can pay $10k/year from assets every year, while nonetheless unemployed, having a no-loans FA policy won’t be much help.</p>
<p>FYI, Penn State and NYU (especially the latter) are not known for generous need-based aid. Every college or university you talk to will assure you that their financial aid will help pay for college–but don’t just assume that statement will apply to YOU!</p>
<p>You have the stats for the Ivy’s where the financial aid is wonderful. Just remember once your parents get back on their feet, providing they earn very substantial incomes, you will no longer be entitled to full financial aid. This can be tough on families who are recovering from a difficult year or two of no income. </p>
<p>I have four children. When our first went off to college (husband was unemployed and I had started a new business) we received excellent financial aid. We were able to manage the remaining EFC without too much hardship. The following year my two middle kids went off to college and the financial aid was again excellent. Three kids in colleges at $50,000 a year…total $150,000 per year. At this point all three of the kids had loans and were paying a portion of their tuition with earnings made throughout the summer and year. The EFC took all three in school into consideration, and we were extremely grateful. Year four our daughter attended a private LAC where she was probably in the mid range for, and we received very little in grant money. By the third year, of son1’s and the second year of sons 2 and 3 year their schools stopped the loans for students. My three sons were each contributing all of their summer earnings to their tuition and they each had jobs on campus. My daughter took out loans (about $8,000) and so did we. She also worked and contributed her summer earnings to tuition. The moral of the story is that we had four schools but the top schools being MIT and Cornell University were the most generous with aid. Our circumstances were different than most in that we had four kids in college at the same time for one of the years, but it was a wake up call that students who can make it into the top schools will do better financially than those attending less selective schools. The top schools have the funds to make financial aid packages very enticing. My husband had lost his job the year before son1 went off to college and we were panicked that tuition was around the corner but MIT made it possible for him to attend. We will be forever grateful. The same goes for Cornell. When we got back on our feet financially the EFC went up for each of our kids but we were not expected to pay $200,000 per year for the four kids. It has not been easy but we all did our best to make it work. The school that really seemed to care less was my daughters LAC. It had been her 1st choice school at the time so we choose to go with it. The other schools that she had applied to offered very similar packages (not much) with Ithaca college offering the least. </p>
<p>Op I would still suggest that you apply to many of the top 15 or 20 schools where the endowments are large and the financial aid policy is clearly defined on the websites. You will probably get very good aid at your state school because your SAT scores are high but check and see if they will include room and board in their grant money. If I would have listened to the advice of many my three sons would have attended our state schools instead of MIT and Cornell. As it turns out my daughter did end up leaving her LAC and attending CC for a year before transferring to our state school. We are still paying almost full price for her even with three kids in college. You are a great candidate that shows promise for a top school so give it your best and I would like to wish you so much luck.</p>