How much does applying for financial aid hurt you at a need aware college

[Jakelolno8]

I am looking to apply early to U of M and I have to decide if I am applying for financial aid. Would it hurt my chances in a meaningful way if I chose to apply for aid. I am OOS and it is a reach/hard target school for me so I don’t know what to do.

[tsbna44]

Define u of M. Miami ?

In general, applying doesn’t hurt. Having need could hurt but other than if you need a near full ride, probably not too badly.

Good luck.

[circuitrider]

It hurts less than not applying at all. And not every college rejects you when they run out of aid (which is why they are need aware in the first place.) Some - and Miami may be one of them - give aid on a “first-come-first-serve basis” which means you might get accepted but have to find a way to pay full freight by yourself.

[DadOfJerseyGirl]

@Jakelolno8

U of M

M = Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri or Montana?

Regardless, none of these schools are need aware and none of them will provide you with financial aid as an OOS applicant.

(I’m assuming you’re referring to a public school because you mentioned being out of state).

[happy1]

–What college are you talking about?
–Have you run the net price calculator for that college to determine if it appears affordable with aid?

[thumper1]

@DadOfJerseyGirl

M = Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri or Montana?

Regardless, none of these schools are need aware and none of them will provide you with financial aid as an OOS applicant.

Are you an international student?

[blossom]

If you need aid to attend, then you need to apply for aid. Where are the magical dollars coming from if you get accepted with no aid?

[Mwfan1921]

OP’s chance me thread is here, OP is a domestic student:

Chance Me Chem E U Mich and more [PA or DE resident, 4.0 GPA, 1560 SAT]

Demographics Gender: Male Residence: Pennsylvania/Delaware (50/50 parental custody) Income: Not gonna say exact but upper middle class Grade: Rising senior Intended Major(s): Chem Engineering Academics GPA/Rank (or percentile): 4 UW and a 4.28 on a 4.5 weighted scale. No rank but top of my class is 4.3 12 APs after this year Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Stat, rest is stupid electives/study hall Standardized Testing SAT/ACT: 1560 (800M, 760R) AP/IB: 5 (AP Bio, Euro, Comp Sci, Micro, Macro, Calc AB) || 4( AP Lit) Extracurriculars/Activities: FBLA - PR (12th grade) I am PR for my FBLA chapter and this year I’m tasked with raising thousands for our SLC and running a committee. STEM Club - Treasurer (12th grade) Help put together in-house events and manage money STUCO– Event Chair for Charity Drive and MORP (reverse Prom, 11th grade) and HOCO (12th grade) Ran committees and raised over 2500 food/toiletry items and HOCO obviously the whole …

OP, U Mich is need blind.

Regardless a school is need blind or need aware, you have to run the NPCs to see if they would be affordable. Does your family qualify for any need based aid? If not, and your budget is lower than a school’s COA, you will need to apply to schools that give merit.

If you do have any need aware colleges on your list and have financial need, that may impact the admissions decision. These schools decide which applicants they will ‘invest’ in.

Also, you will get better answers/more help from posters the more you participate in your threads.

[Momofthree24]

@Mwfan1921

Does your family qualify for any need based aid?

This appears to be a no as Michigan does not meet need for OOS students.

[Mwfan1921]

@Momofthree24

as Michigan does not meet need for OOS students.

I didn’t say that Michigan meets need for OOS students. I was asking OP if they qualify for need based aid…not necessarily school specific. Note that Michigan does provide some need based aid for some OOS students: Non-residents | Financial Aid | University of Michigan

[sinkor_swim]

Where do you find out if a school is need aware vs blind? I looked at a few CDS and could not find anything. Is this something that would only typically matter at highly competitive schools (vs schools with high acceptance rate)?

[DadOfJerseyGirl]

@sinkor_swim

Where do you find out if a school is need aware vs blind?

Check the financial aid section of their website.

If they are need blind they will say so. If they don’t say anything they are very likely to be be need aware (with the exception mentioned below).

@sinkor_swim

Is this something that would only typically matter at highly competitive schools

Not necessarily. AFAIK all public schools are need blind (although they typically don’t specifically say so on their website). But that does not mean they’ll meet your financial need.