<p>*My mom told it is not polite to doubt someone’s financial ability. *</p>
<p>Yes, in normal social situations, we don’t ask such questions…especially in face to face situations. </p>
<p>However, here it’s rather anonymous and students NEED to consider whether a school would be affordable. As you said yourself, applying to a bunch of schools takes time and money…so why not avoid wasted time and money by not applying to schools that won’t work?</p>
<p>We can’t assume that money isn’t an issue, because many kids either wrongly assume that their parents will pay or they wrongly assume that the schools will give them large amounts of money. No one wants these kids to have a handful of unaffordable acceptances in the spring.</p>