<p>Finan aid is really broken into two parts:
1) Need-blind: They do not consider your need when they decide to accept you or not.
2) Need will be met: If they do accept you, then they guarantee that you will be provide with aid so that you can attend.</p>
<p>Having 1 without 2 doesn't help you. In my opinion, 2 is better than 1 even though you may have less chance of being admitted. In actual practice, finan aid is very good at colleges, especially elite colleges. You can judge #1 by the % of students receiving aid. You can judge #2 by the size of the average grant. Although the general situation is pretty good, colleges don't necessarily want to lock themselves totally in either #1 or #2. The colleges that do are at this website:</p>