<p>I have heard conflicting reports about how applications for financial aid may or will not influence admission decisions. We were told clearly at both Andover and Milton that admissions are addressed first and entirely separately and only once you're accepted is the file examined re aid. Then I was told by a professional advisor in this field that you can't necessarily believe this kind of statement and so it would be smart to ask for the very smallest amount of money you could manage with. Or ask for none at all if there is any way possible to get through with loans, family gifts, etc. We have another child starting college in 2 years and are applying for 9th grade for this one. By stretching and pushing we could probably get through without the aid but - boy - it would be hard. What do you know and what do you think? Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>From my experience they don't have enough money to go around for aid to the degree that everyone requests it. I know that for Andover the statement about seperate admissions and aid is probably close to true. I got accepted, but did not get any aid. My family could manage without too much stretching. The next year the only change in our financial situation was that my brother was starting college. I got a nice amount of aid that year.</p>
<p>Of course this is for a school with a very large endowment. I think that schools with smaller endowments have to factor aid into admissions if they don't think a student has any way of coming without it. Since it sounds like you wouldn't need a very large percentage of the tuition, I don't think it would affect the admissions all that much, but it probably will some. There's no way to tell because it is a very hush hush topic around many schools.</p>
<p>I don't think you ask for an amount. You have to fill out fin aid forms and send them to Princeton new jersey. The Priceton company ( not sure of the nam) will then recommend to the school how much you qualify for. When the school accepts you, then they look at what the princeton company has recommended and the school then makes an offer. They don't nenecessarily match what PC recommends, they may offer more or less. If you are a highly desirable student they will probably offer more.</p>
<p>Prepparent is correct, you cannot request an amount of aid, but I do think I recall the financial aid forms do have a line where you write what you think you can pay....each school will interpret your "need" or lack thereof differently.</p>
<p>S applied to 5 schools, got in 5, got zero aid at 2, 2 schools thought we could afford to pay about 30K per year so offered a small amount of gift aid plus a small loan, and the final school thought we could pay 20K and gave him a very nice package--no loans, and even $ to pay for books. FYI--the Princeton company that does the calculation of EFC thought we could pay 35K.</p>
<p>In my experience, it is true that schools with bigger endowments can offer more money and it is clearly true that they will offer more based on how much they want your kid to attend</p>
<p>If you ask 100 people, you will get 101 answers to that question. </p>
<p>As much as admission may be blind at any school, if you check the box indicating that you are applying for FA, there is a slightly different process that goes on. </p>
<p>Yes the admissions people will give you the thumbs up or thumbs down based upon the application, but then they send the list of accepted applicants to the FA office, with prioritized in a certain way. For example, if they need an oboe player and there were no qualified full-pay players they wanted, that person would probably get full-funding of whatever the school's policy is for FA grants (usually a percentage of match to EFC (expected family contribution) with the better endowed schools giving 100% match). </p>
<p>Beyond these special case students, most schools have a fixed FA budget and try to manage it to get the best quality yield of students. If there are X number of students who are sure bets to be in the top quartile of their student population, they are also likely to get priority funding of their FA.</p>
<p>Beyond these individuals, it varies from school to school. Some may give FA to people who round out the population if they don't present a significant risk of failure. Some give partial aid to a few people just to fill seats (if they are a school that needs the revenue to offset their primarily fixed costs.</p>
<p>Some give $0 FA offers to kids whom they might want to keep on a higher priority than their waiting list, but can't fully fund.</p>
<p>I believe you can file your SSS immediately on New Years and get the EFC calculation before FA deadlines to see what the schools may have to offer. If you have a high EFC (as compared to the tuition), and need only a small amount of aid, some schools may look at this as more of a discount if that amount is not going to make them lose money on your kid.</p>
<p>Personally, comparing my SSS generated EFC to the College FA calculators, the SSS's EFC for a child going to prep school is a lot higher than the EFC for a child going to college, in my case. YMMV. I think SSS taxes your assets more than FAFSA Fed formula.</p>
<p>BTW, SSS calculated our EFC to be almost 25% of our AGI.</p>
<p>Right goaliedad--I think the EFC that SSS calculated for us was about 35% of our AGI. We do have a good deal of home equity though and I think some schools count it and some don't</p>
<p>Ouch, MoaK!</p>
<p>We have the home equity problem as well.</p>
<p>Yea, but you gotta live somewhere and if I tapped all my home equity I could not afford the monthly payments</p>
<p>Alas!</p>
<p>So you went with the $20K offer, eh?</p>
<p>You got it and it turned out that it was the best academic school the dear boy got in to as well----sometimes things work out for the best</p>
<p>i was reading some past posts but is it true that your acceptance rate goes down because u apply for FA??</p>