Hi
S25 applying for school now and had him apply for financial aid “just in case” we might qualify for low interest loans etc. Regardless, I have enough assets to pay for school if I had to liquidate some stocks. My question is will it affect admissions for the following schools. UIUC, U Wash, NYU, BU, Northeastern, Michigan. We live in CA so these would be OOS applications.
I’m aware that some of these institutions claim to be need blind but something tells me that this isn’t quite the case? (NYU?), I called Northeastern and they actually told me they are need aware.
When AO review the applications, do they actually review whether or not the applicant would qualify for FA prior to rendering a decision? ie, if the applicant does not qualify, are they placed in the same pile of applications where the applicants were preparing to pay full tuition/room and board?
I’m debating if I should pull all the financial aid applications to increase my sons chances of getting in, especially since its unlikely I’ll get any significant aid.
Can you afford what the colleges own Net Price calculators are telling you it will cost? If not, you’ll need aid so go ahead and apply for aid. If yes, then applying for aid is likely a waste of time. Colleges don’t care if you’re selling your Microsoft stock or writing a check out of your money market account- the asset is worth what it’s worth.
Can you clarify? Getting admitted to a college you cannot afford can be a depressing and dreary experience-- especially if your kid assumes that when you said “We can make it work” you meant it.
Like pretty much all public schools, UIUC and Michigan are need blind, so your applying for financial aid won’t impact chances (but don’t expect to get a dime either, since you’re OOS).
Most schools do not have an unlimited financial aid budget, so absolutely they must be need aware when making admissions decisions, if they pledge to meet full need.
As a rule state schools do not pledge to meet need for out of state students, which is why they don’t consider need in deciding whether to admit.
There are very, very few schools that both are need blind for admission AND meet full need.
The lowest interest loans are the federal loans, you need to fill out fafsa to be eligible, total of $27,000 over 4 years. Federal parent plus loans and private loans will have higher rates. All US students are eligible.
Ok,
let me be more specific. I am only interested in knowing how applying for financial aid will impact the universities decision to offer him admission or decline him. If applying for financial aid puts him at a disadvantage then I will withdraw the financial aid portion of his application. I’ve already assumed 400k for a 4 year education and I’m ok with that cost.
Even for domestic students, there are relatively few schools that are both need blind/meet full need. Both Emory and Trinity (CT) are in print verifying they are need aware, eg.
It’s only when you get to schools whose endowments are in the vicinity of $1 million/student that there’s a chance that they are need blind wrt admissions. And even then they may not be.
Answer is NO. Applying for Financial Aid doesn’t mean one will need it. Some merit aid requires FAFSA, therefore doesn’t hurt to fill out the application and check the FA box in college application.
If colleges consider FA for admission decision, they will only consider it after FA calculation result come back, not just because you check the box.
And you can apply for fin aid after having been accepted. So if all you think youd get would be the fed loan, dont check the box, and apply for fin aid after acceptance.
Some schools will require you to fill out the financial aid form when you apply to request financial aid for ANY year. I specifically asked this question of Macalester College once and they said that if you anticipate ever needing aid that you needed to basically apply when you’re submitting your original application for admission and then apply for aid every year even if you don’t get it in case you eventually do qualify for need aid.