Hey everyone,
My parents are about to click the “submit” button for financial aid for Andover and Exeter. However, my parent’s income was very high ($500k +). A few months ago, however, my father was laid off (so now our salary is effectively $0), but we still should be able to pay the tuition if we need to because we can sell a house.
Should I even bother submitting a FA application to Andover/Exeter? Our logic is “they’re need-blind anyways, so there is no harm in submitting.” In fact, one of the Andover Admissions videos I watched stated something along the lines of “We encourage everyone to apply for FA because it can’t hurt you, only help you.”
However, is there any possibility that applying to FA in these need blind schools could hurt my admissions chances? If so, how? If you have any experience with Andover/Exeter FA, I would really appreciate it if you would help me here.
The deadline is tonight, so if you can respond, please do so ASAP. One of the FA questions was, “How much would you be willing to pay,” and we decided to answer $50,000 for now, which is a realistic and reasonable answer for us, although my parents would be willing to pay the full tuition – $70,000 if they absolutely had to. People who have filled out the FA application before / have experience with this – is putting $50,000 fine for this section, or would it make our FA application look even worse because $50,000 is not that far away from the full tuition, $70,000?
Please help. This is my first time filling out the FA application, so I need assistance on what to put and if to put at all. Thank you so much!
I say apply. Need-blind means need-blind.
I can’t really can’t give you advice on what to select. But I’d guess that your parents have never filled out a financial aid form before. Eligibility for financial aid stems from current income plus assets. And you list all the assets in great detail and all the expenses in your life. So regardless of current income, if your family has the assets that an income of $500k general brings (I.e. can sell “a” house) you are likely to be viewed as having too many assets to qualify for aid. So, yeah, sell that extra house if you want the privilege of a $70k/year education.
Schools say need blind but frankly, I think they mean for needy kids. A temporary job loss is just that. I can tell you a good friend who did a PG year at one of the above schools applied for aid with a similar income. One of his kids was in college and he was feeling pinched and the other kid was not admitted. He called and tried to wheedle a spot and they fairly haughty on the phone.
I do know a kid who was full pay and got some aid after a job loss. But, the parents neglected to mention that grandma had pulled back her previous contribution which was actually why they were in a bind.
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Oh, I didn’t know that. Do other factors like family size contribute to the aid eligibility? What do you mean by need-blind only for needy kids? Like having a higher income will factor into admission rather than lower income?
OP, I suggest listening to @SweetBoy1 rather than me, I’m an applicant like you so I don’t know much about the process to a full extent (even though I just went through it 
). There is a place on the Exeter website called “am I eligible for aid?” (Am I Eligible for Financial Aid? | Phillips Exeter Academy) that helped my family. Keep in mind that calculator does not guarantee a certain amount of aid for different incomes!
Sefendipity79 the Exeter calculator only includes income. But to quote my husband, basically, if someone is wondering if that category of asset is going to be counted, honey, they are not getting any financial aid.
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Oy vey this is way more complicated than what I initially thought… sigh can’t do anything now.
If you have a spare house, you are not getting aid.
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