If you apply for aid, but the institutional formula indicates that you don’t qualify for aid, then you are treated as a full-pay applicant. The aid application itself isn’t the problem at places that are need-sensitive. Actually needing aid by their calculations is what matters.
Three reasons to apply for aid if it looks like you are likely to be considered to be full pay are:
- Some places will require that you file at least the FAFSA in order to qualify for merit-based aid. They do that so as to make certain that students who do qualify for federal money get it as part of the total package. The aid office can tell you if this is their policy.
- Some places will not consider a student for aid in any future years no matter how severe the family’s financial reversal if the student doesn’t apply as a freshman applicant. The aid office can tell you if this is their policy.
- Some parents want their kids to be eligible to borrow the standard federal student loans, so they need to file the FAFSA.
Can you readily afford the costs of these places? That is what really matters. Decide what your real number is, and work from there.