<p>Do you think i have a better chance to be admitted to Yale if i do not require a financial aid ?I know Yale is need blind school but i ve heard that people who dont mark the ''need financial aid'' box actually DO have an advantege</p>
<p>It won't affect you at Yale. I understand that some allegedly need blind institutions really do care who's applying for FA, but Yale isn't one of them. It's got the second largest endownment in the US and the financial downturn won't be affecting its FA.</p>
<p>So it doesnt matter AT ALL if i can pay all the money or if i cant pay anything ?</p>
<p>It doesn't matter at all.</p>
<p>My dad just doesnt want to believe .He keep telling me ''what would the college win if it admitted you for no money'' and ''if it doesnt matter how much you can pay ,who pays at all and why there is a fixed tax of 36k $ for tuition'' ...</p>
<p>The college is hoping that it will admit students that will eventually become successful and bring recognition and/or later donations to the school.</p>
<p>Less cynically, it is trying to attract a variety of students from disparate backgrounds that enriches the culture of the school.</p>
<p>But then,who actually pays 50k per year if ''it doesnt matter how much you can pay'' ?</p>
<p>I've actually met a few students who actually did pay the full tuition. Speaking of which, did y'all know that your FA package is also dependent on your area code?</p>
<p>it won't make any difference.</p>
<p>Ivan--I'm a little confused by the question about who actually pays 50K. There are people with lots of money who can afford the full tuition. And they are happy to pay full tuition for the Yale experience. While Yale could let everyone go for free (although it would take money away from capital improvements, faculty hiring, etc.), if you can afford it, why shouldn't you pay a "fee" to attend a college so it's not spending down its endownment on people who can pay?</p>
<p>BTW, Yale officials will tell you that every student is subsidized about 50K per year--tuition, room, and board do not cover the full cost of what the college provides.</p>
<p>hellosail is right on target about why people who cannot pay full tuition are admitted. Yale wants the best people and the best people are not exclusively members of the upper middle class and above.</p>
<p>@ Mr. Fitzpatrick: What do you mean by that?</p>
<p>AA, while I do believe what you have said is correct, I have always believed that the only people who actually know how every bit of information is processed and valued are the admissions officers and committee themselves. Maybe you have proof that Yale, pays no attention to the students financial situation when deciding, but if you are just going off of the Yale webpage, then... how do you know it's true? </p>
<p>I wouldn't be surprised if it was true at Yale, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if it was "95%" true. I can't say I know people on the admissions committee of HPYS who has confided in me the truth, but unless you have, then you really can only guess at what happens behind closed doors. While Yale does pick people from all socio-economic classes, I think it is perfectly reasonable to guess that they see whether you have checked the fa box and they don't do this ideal blind, looking at merits only process that they say they do. Just like we don't exactly know Yale's process if determining how many they want to cherry pick from each city/school, or if they even think about it that way. </p>
<p>The fact is, OP, no one really knows if and if so, in what direction, checking the fa box will push your application. And Yale's never going to tell you anything besides their heavenly need blind shpeal. And it is because of the fact that you dont know how your application will be affected if you check the box that you should just check it as honestly as possible.</p>
<p>It would be kind of weird if i get a full financial aid package ,and then my dad buys me a 30 000 $ car ...</p>
<p>Ivan, do you understand how qualifying for financial aid in college works? If you check that you need FA, you will then, following on the heels of your application, be sending in a document through FAFSA, based on data from your parent's tax form, which will calculate their EFC (expected family contribution.) Yale (and all other colleges) will then make you an FA offer.</p>
<p>If you have not checked the box, you will not send the form and FA discussion with the college never takes place. The full bill comes in July.</p>
<p>You can find EFC calculators by googling it. You'll need to know a few numbers from your parents' tax form. They may want to run the calculator if they don't wish to discuss their finances with you. </p>
<p>If your parents have legally declared income over about 50K, Yale will be expecting them to pay a little something. If their income is over about 200K, they will be expected to pay the whole bill. Sliding scale. There are other factors, but thats the general idea.</p>
<p>Having been involved w/Alumni affairs and in my work w/admissions, I would say that "penny-pinching" isn't an operational tone w/yale in general. When they say they want the best, they go after the best. Period. </p>
<p>They spends millions on recruiting every year. If Yale shut down its website, ceased all admissions officers trips and just kept a mailing list of prospective applicants, they'd still top 20K applications. But they still fund trips to rural and urban schools -- some who have NEVER had even an APPLICANT to Yale, much less a qualified one. Why? They dream of the "diamonds in the rough" like Benjamin Carson and others.</p>
<p>They have dropped the FA student's term-time contribution from about $4500 to $2200 -- which can be made through a 7hrs/week on-campus job. They basically want no Yalie to have to take out loans.</p>
<p>Certainly most universities don't operate like this. Y is blessed to be in a very tiny league of super-rich ($22B endowment (pre-meltdown of course)), super-reputation universities.</p>
<p>OP perhaps your dad can't believe this. My family is very working class (dad a cook, mother a waitress) but I've seen it for me and now I see it even more vivid for future Yalies. Also follow riverrunner's info about calculating yours and your family's contribution. It's not that FA students pay zero and everyone else pays full price.</p>
<p>Ok ,so if i check the ''need fanancial aid'' box ,they make sort of ''revision'' and find out how much we are capable of paying.THey make an offer via e-mail how much they expect me to pay .
But checking or not checking the box doesnt affect my chances of being admitted ?</p>
<p>Whether or not you apply for FA will not affect you.</p>
<p>However, the information about your parents that you provide on the common app will probably be used, along with your school, to get a general idea of your socioeconomic status. It certainly isn't like they're clueless. How they would use that information is rather difficult to infer.</p>
<p>@sunshineyday</p>
<p>A Yalie was explaining to me how his area code, which corresponded to a rather large median/mean income, hurt his FA prospects. Apparently they use it to estimate the value of your home or something like that? It's complicated. I don't know the full story...sorry.</p>
<p>Ivan: by your question, it's clear that you don't have all what you need to know about the FA process in general. you need to get to your GC's office and get the FAFSA information and get your parents to fill it out. ALL your target colleges will want/need this info to get you the best possible offer (financially).</p>
<p>As for who should apply for FA? A Yale admissions officer said this: if your parent can tonight go and write a check for the full year's tuition/costs from the savings account, then NO, don't apply FA. Everyone else should apply for FA.</p>
<p>Yeah,I see now.One last question :Do you think Yale considers students who have graduated from private highschools better than these who have graduated from public highschools.I am asking about the international students.Obviously in the US prvate ones are considered more prestigious.</p>