<p>I am wondering if anyone has experience applying for financial aid at a few of the schools on their list but not the others. If you are wondering why I would want to do this, it is because a few schools have claimed that a request for aid has no impact on the admissions decision, while other schools have said that the expect more from their financial aid candidates, or have indicated that they give financial aid to the top part of their applicant pool. </p>
<p>We do have need, but I would consider private loans rather than applying for aid at a school where it might hurt my chances.</p>
<p>Is this possible? Or can the schools see that you applied for aid at other schools?</p>
<p>yes – you can choose where you can apply for aid. Unless you send them information, they have no way of knowing whether you applied for aid at other schools.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you don’t apply for aid, most schools will not grant you financial aid for future years unless family circumstances change drastically (loss of job, death of parent). So you would be committing to taking out those private loans for all four years of boarding schools. Add that to the four years of undergraduate education you will need to pay for (they don’t take into account the consumer loan debt you will have accumulated for boarding school) and you may find you are over your head in debt.</p>
<p>If you need is minimal, it is unlikely that you will get much, if any, financial aid anyway. They really do expect you to pay quite a bit.</p>
<p>just to get a general idea of what you might be expected to pay, go to this link: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml)</p>
<p>choose institutional methodology, for number in college – put the number of kids in both college and tuition charging schools, and fill in the numbers as accurately as you can.</p>
<p>This gives you a general idea of what colleges will expect you to pay each year and can be pretty close to what boarding schools will expect you to pay (most schools will be a little higher).</p>
<p>Yes, SSS allows you to select exactly which schools your report goes to (and by omission which do not get your report). You can also choose to send it to these schools later, if you change your mind.</p>