<p>Laurie, I think the opposite is true! They just might admit your child because they know that if she attends, you will be paying the FULL cost of attending. </p>
<p>As I said earlier, congratulations on having the resources.</p>
<p>As an FYI, we also felt comfortable sending our kids to any college without worries about the cost. They both applied for financial aid anyway.</p>
<p>No, thumper1, that’s exactly what I did mean!!! I meant that if we applied for aid, with our 290K income out there for all to see, they might wonder if we, in fact, intend to pay full freight. It might look like we were fishing for aid because we had no intention of paying 50K+ for college. If we state at the outset that we are paying full freight, admissions might look more favorably on her as a candidate. And thank you for the congratulations. Sometimes I have felt like a chump for socking away this kind of money when all around me people are getting aid. But it does feel good to know that we did it and our options are much broader. Did your kids get aid?</p>
<p>Doofdad, schools that are Early Action(EA) do not require a matriculation decision before May 1. Early Decision (ED) schools do. In our experience, both EA and ED schools have some sort of financial aid application with a November 1 priority deadline…either a Profile or a school form.</p>
<p>Laurie, they won’t wonder AT ALL. They will think you are paying full freight whether you apply for aid…or not. Your application for aid will simply verify to them that you really ARE full pay.</p>
<p>Remember, some families complete a FAFSA for the Direct Loan.</p>
<p>And like I said earlier, others apply as incoming freshmen so that if they need to do so in subsequent years, they will be able to.</p>
<p>Thumper1, I see what you’re saying. So even if we do apply for aid, the obvious fact that we have significant financial resources might tip the balance in our daughter’s favor?</p>
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I just wanted to give you a high five for how you’ve saved. Saving roughly a year’s gross income is no small feat, and there were undoubtedly times when it was tempting to do something shorter-term and more indulgent. At some level, and perhaps not consciously, your children will notice and appreciate it. They quite likely have classmates whose families earn in the same ballpark, but whose college choices will include more concern about financials.</p>
<p>Aside from the financial aspects for the school, I think it should count as a plus for an applicant that the family has saved for college. If the family values education, some of those values most likely were absorbed by the applicant. Those families whose income is less than yours (or ours, for that matter) can still have saved what they could, and I believe that should be factored in as a plus.</p>
<p>I don’t know what weight adcoms give to any number of factors, but I always hope that they take such things into account. Will they notice that my son’s SATs were one and done, without superscoring a handful of tests? Will they notice that we’re perfectly happy to pay full freight because we saved for this? I don’t know. I hope that those will be pluses, and that they will be sufficient to swing any close calls.</p>
<p>Anyway, sorry for being long-winded. High Five.</p>
<p>Thank you, Ixnaybob!!! And congrats to you and your son for your family’s achievements. We’re not there yet with our daughter–we still have a shortfall–but I’ve been cautioned against “oversaving” several times. It’s all such a gamble, isn’t it?</p>
<p>I doubt there would be much of a difference in admissions between not applying for aid and applying for aid with the resources that would show no need. But being full pay can provide an admissions advantage for “not need blind” schools.</p>
<p>My family was in a similar situation and chose not to apply for FA or fill out the FAFSA when my kids applied for colleges. Based on the online calculators we were unlikely to qualify for aid, so I avoided the hassle and the privacy issues. </p>
<p>My D did slightly better on admissions than I had expected, and I think that being full pay helped for schools that were not need blind. She was not accepted to some “need blind” reaches but was accepted to a “not need blind” reach. She was also accepted to all of her “not need blind” high match and match schools. She was given merit aid at several low match or safety schools.</p>
<p>@lauriejgs - I have posted this anecdote previously on CC. My sister in MA lives next door to the ex-Head of Admissions for a top LAC, one that is referred to all of the time here on CC. When her daughter was applying to college he advised her to NOT check the box on the application asking if they would be applying for FA. He told her if she has the scores her probability of acceptance goes up dramatically.</p>
<p>kmrcollege–wow…food for thought. So this ex-Head of Admissions was saying that NOT checking the FA box gave her a better shot than checking it but letting them see that her family had resources? Interesting!</p>
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<p>Note also that having a second home is generally a voluntary expense. Many wealthy people do not own second homes.</p>
<p>Can you see why many non-wealthy people, who may have trouble affording their first homes, may not be too sympathetic to complaints about the expense of maintaining a second home?</p>
<p>“My sister in MA lives next door to the ex-Head of Admissions for a top LAC, one that is referred to all of the time here on CC. When her daughter was applying to college he advised her to NOT check the box on the application asking if they would be applying for FA. He told her if she has the scores her probability of acceptance goes up dramatically.”</p>
<p>I can see this may be true for EA or RD but I don’t think it applies to ED. My reasoning is this. You can apply to all three today (early) and for RD/EA the FA forms are due by March 1st which is a long time before the admissions team sees the financial information so checking the box yes you need FA may hurt you. Especially in the case of EA because the acceptances are made by mid December so they are blind as to what your financial situation is. However, in RD they can change their mind in time for decisions which is around April 1st.</p>
<p>However, ED is generally due November 1st and it is the SAME date when the CSS profile or other form of FA form is due so the admissions officers will be able to see them both at the same time. So in this case, I believe someone who has the funds, high salary, assets, etc. will definitely be considered over someone who doesn’t.</p>
<p>I completely agree with Thumper and the OP should definitely provide the financial information for ED since in this case it will be extremely helpful.</p>
<p>Definitely an interesting topic! :)</p>
<p>lauriejgs, one factor at work might be yield–the percentage of accepted students who actually matriculate. If a student from a family that isn’t eligible for any need-based aid applies for financial aid from a school that only offers need-based aid, one message that might send is that the family is looking for a deal. They might see the student as one who could be lured away by a good merit offer elsewhere. </p>
<p>Conversely, applying for aid from a school that offers merit or preferential packaging could possibly signal that the family is looking for a deal…which might make the school offer you one. </p>
<p>Pretty much all reading tea leaves, isn’t it? :)</p>
<p>@lauriegfs - But an astute CC’err pointed out to me via PM that maybe this is not the best ED strategy, since Profile and Application are due on the same day maybe it’s best to let the college know the state of your financial affairs.</p>
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<p>[Monty</a> Python - Four Yorkshiremen - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo]Monty”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo)</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>
I also live in an affluent neighborhood, where the initial quotes given are usually 2x too high for the work. I expect that happens because many people here will accept the first quote theyre given. Additionally, and I hope that Im not one of these, many if not most of the people here are spoiled and dont play nicely with others; I can only imagine that it costs extra to service their requests and re-do things that mere mortals can live with in which case the quotes are actually fair if the client is going to be high maintenance. Standing in line at the school pickup, Ive more than once muttered at someone cutting in line or unnecessarily blowing their horn at a millisecond delay: okay, I know that youre the CEO at MegaCorp, but on this school line, youre just another PITA parent, so get over yourself.</p>
<p>Why wouldnt they quote high prices if people will pay them? If youre a capitalist when youre making yours, you should expect to interact with other capitalists also.</p>
<p>We are in your cohort. We have earned every penny that we have; we inherited nothing and have made our money by hard work. </p>
<p>We are in the 1-2%, but we havent forgotten that in addition to our hard work, there is a significant component of being lucky. I have to say that your comments were at least poorly expressed, and that you seem to remember your roots only when its convenient.</p>
<p>My kid’s private school GC told everyone not to apply for FA unless absolutely have to - don’t check off that box. This was especially important when it came to waitlist, most schools only took students off the list who didn’t need FA.</p>
<p>@oldfort: That makes sense. Presumably, by the time they get to the waitlist, most of the aid money is already spoken for.</p>
<p>Most schools also need to fill X% with students who are full pay. This is a very big hook for families who are fortunate enough to be in that position, not sure why anyone would want to throw it away for 0 chance of getting aid.</p>
<p>I suggest running the NPCs for each school and seeing if there is even a shot of getting aid. If your child is applying to HPY, for example, even an income in excess of the quarter million mark could mean some financial aid and I do not believe that applying for aid there is going to hurt a student’s acceptance chances. Most schools will tell you outright if they are totally need blind. Most schools are. They can’t be bothered to cross check need and their admissions picks, so they let the numbers flow without need coming into the picture. It’s really just a small group of schools that are need aware, but those on this board deal with these schools way out of proportion to the general population.</p>
<p>You can fill out FAFSA and not share the info with any of the colleges. Do not put any college codes in there, or just pick the ones you want to get the info. Yes, you can answer “No” on the question of applying for financial aid and still fill out FAFSA and that is fine. It’s all right to do so. Many families fill out the FAFSA after acceptance even. If you don’t qualify for fin aid, the FAFSA is just to gain access to federal loans out there, the DIrect parent and student loans that have no income/asset requirements. But you do need to fill out the FAFSA to borrow. Also states like GA, WV, Florida, for example, with state programs, require the FAFSA to get state merit money even though financial are not taken into account. Some programs do require FAFSA even though financials are not an issue, for screening purposes, for things like citizenship, felonies, identities. It’s a cheap, quick easy way to do cursory screening.</p>