I recently read several online articles claiming that need-blind admissions is a complete farce and need definitely factors into the process (Just google “Are college admissions really need blind”).
So who do we trust? 
What difference does it make? If colleges are lying and they deny you b/c you can’t afford it, you can’t change the fact. If they’re being truthful and admit you, but you still can’t afford it, you still can’t attend.
Finally, colleges can be need blind in admissions yet still be financially prudent – thus no need to lie.
Just because they’ll admit you w/o regards to your ability to pay, does not mean that they’ll offer you generous fin aid. “Congrats! Please be a member of our Class of 2020! But here’s the $300 fin aid award towards the $45,000 tuition and room/board costs!” This is MOST colleges.
The number of colleges that are both need blind and promise to fulfill the admittee’s demonstrated need is very small.
Even though I am one of those people who think “need blind” is a farce, I think what @T26E4 says above is largely true. There’s not anything you can do about it if you need aid, so it’s not worth worrying about.
However, if you are going to need significant financial aid, you do need to do your research to find the schools that are the most generous with financial aid - research the Common Data Sets, use the IPEDs data, and look at Net Prices, loan policies, etc… It does you no good to get into a school that you won’t be able to afford to attend.
You ask the question like you have another option. Believe them or don’t believe them; it will make no difference.
Your situation is complicated by the fact that you’re an international applicant. Very few schools are need blind for admissions for internationals. The few that are and are generous with Fin Aid – are EXTREMELY difficult to obtain admissions.
Thank you for your inputs!
I am international, but I am a US Citizen. So all admissions decision in relevant universities will be need blind for me
OP’s question does make sense…what if there are applicants who probably can pay the full tuition but would still highly prefer aid
- either the school is so insidiously linking need to decisions that they’ll sniff you out or 2) they won’t care either way. I recall a Yale rep telling a very well-heeled crowd of students “Unless your parents can write a check for the full year’s tuition and fees tonight, you should apply for fin aid. It can’t hurt.”
As a US citizen, you would not be an international student with associated admission and financial aid disadvantages. However, if you are living in a non-US country, you may have issues with foreign high school records, and have no state residency for state universities.
Getting back to the original question, it is likely that schools that say that they are need-blind actually are need-blind. However, that does not prevent them from setting their admissions process and criteria to favor applicants from wealthy families so that the incoming class is biased toward lower-need students, even if individual applications are not considered in context of their financial aid applications.
In my experience (13 years doing this full time), yes, schools that say they are need-blind really are need-blind.
I hope that’s true, @marvin100, because articles like this can be discouraging! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bev-taylor/need-blind-admissions-is-_b_5615698.html
That article, while rhetorically delightful, is devoid of evidence and relies on pretty tenuous reasoning throughout. I can’t say there’s no chance she’s right, but that article wouldn’t be the thing that convinces me, @CCMThreeTimes
I would not trust it in the way that I would always want to apply to schools I know I can afford, not just relying on “need blind” giving me what I need. Need means different things and is given in different ways!
Most colleges are actually need-blind. Trivial examples are those which are open admission (e.g. community colleges) and those with pure-stats-based admissions (many less selective universities). Of course, most of those schools do not give good financial aid either.
@marvin100 In post #9 you say that you have been doing “this” full time for 13 years and you are emphatic that “schools that say they are need-blind really mean need-blind.” But then in post #11 you equivocate and say that there is a possibility that Bev Taylor is right…
Please, is there anyone out there that actually works in an admission committee of an elite “needs blind” university (HYPSM, etc.) that can put this issue to rest??
The central point: is it true is that if the ad comm PERCEIVES that you may need aid then your application could end up in the reject pile?
Sure, if there is a check box for financial aid then it’s obvious. But if there isn’t such a clear indication, do the AOs “read between the lines” about employment, occupation, etc. and GUESS about ability to full pay, and does this EVER affect their decision about an applicant?
Is an applicant ever at a disadvantage if the financial aid question is not asked and it LOOKS as if he/she might need it but doesn’t?
Likely they do not, because the school has already designed its admission process and criteria to get the desired proportion of no-need, low-need, and high-need admits. Such process and criteria to get the desired result need not require anyone reading applications to see whether the applicants apply for financial aid, and/or how much financial aid they would get.
@ucbalumnus How does the “admission process and criteria to get the desired proportion of no-need, low-need, and high-need admits” work if it does not involve reading applications? How can you ensure these proportions without looking at applications for financial aid, or the parents’ employment/occupation information? You can’t hit your targets without data or inferences.
I also think there’s a difference between being “truly need blind” and “actively factoring in need while evaluating an applicant.” The former requires admissions people to have no idea what school you go to, what neighborhood you live in, what jobs your parents have, what kinds of activities are on your resume etc. These things are all estimates of wealth. They’re not perfect, so without looking at the financial aid application (which they don’t) they can’t ever be sure what your need truly is. Hence, they are not “truly need blind” but they do very much avoid using ability to pay as a factor.
Re: #16
Adding or removing application requirements can easily tip the applicant or admit pool wealthier or poorer.
For example, having lots of application items screens out many from lower income backgrounds who attend high schools where few go further than the local community college, because they do not hear of the need for recommendations, SAT subject tests, CSS Profile, etc. from other students, teachers, or counselors too busy dealing with other student problems. See http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17955034#Comment_17955034 for an example of a student (eventually successful in college and graduate school) who did not bother applying to some colleges due to not having all of the application items they wanted.
Heavier or lighter consideration of specific items can also tip the applicant pool:
- Emphasis on test scores: favors the wealthy who know to try more times and can afford more preparation.
- CSS Profile with NCP Profile: screens out those with divorced uncooperative parents, probably more common among the poor.
- Recommendations: favors those from high schools where teachers and counselors are experienced and skilled at writing them. Those at lower income area high schools may not know how to write something that catches the admission reader's interest.
- Extracurriculars: how much weight the school gives to working to help support one's family versus some expensive extracurricular can tip the pool.
- Level of applicant's interest: those from wealth are more likely to know about it, and be able to check the boxes (e.g. be able to afford a visit).
Remember, it is not about an individual applicant. It is about the entire admission class.
Re #17
Then there are, in fact, NO truly need blind universities, because (to my knowledge) they ALL are aware of “what school you go to, what neighborhood you live in, what jobs your parents have, …” It’s all there on page 1!