<p>I think the angst is that we have good, committed parents on this board who were either:</p>
<ol>
<li>told they were not eligible for FA and had to stretch to make it work</li>
<li>have students on the waiting list solely for FA reasons.</li>
</ol>
<p>So applying to a school as a full pay when the family can only manage the cost a single year - may have knocked out a more qualified student whose family was honest up front about needing aid (even partial aid) at the time of application.</p>
<p>I can say that I’ve seen full FA students hit much harder at admissions than families who offered to pay a portion. The latter allows the committee to spread the limited dollars among more families. Which is why the OP would have been better off filling out the PFS and offering to pay $13-15,000 a year, than hoping for substantial aid after paying the full $50,000 in the first year.</p>