I’ve read some articles and they’ve said that colleges are looking more into kids who do not need financial aid especially when it comes down to Ivy League schools.
Not necessarily. But if the college of interest is a private school, they have the freedom to let the admissions evaluation process be however they want it to be.
You’re completely mistaken. The 8 Ivies are need blind for domestic applicants. Indeed, HYP are among the most generous schools in the world.
Now if you stray away from those eight, you’ll have to identify which schools are “need aware” vs. “need blind” – some are indeed, need aware.
But most schools are need blind and will evaluate applicants w/o regard to fin aid need – but simply can’t offer much fin aid so it doesn’t matter.
Ultimately, you should apply for fin aid should you need it. If you’re asking, then I guarantee that you should apply for Fin Aid. The only ones who don’t need to apply for fin aid are the ones who can ask mom/dad to pay for a year’s tuition & fees right now from the checking account. Everyone else should apply for fin aid.
If you do not apply for financial aid, are admitted, and then ask for aid, you will not get any freshman year. Colleges are aware of this trick.
You have several types of colleges:
- need blind/meet full need: the Ivies, Amherst, Pomona, other top universities are in that group. They are among the most generous universities, too, so that most people making less than 125K would pay less than they would attending their state university.
- need aware/meet full need: they pay attention to how much financial aid you need when they decide to admit you, especially if you’re in the bottom 25%. However, if they decide to admit you, they’ll meet your full financial need as they determine it. Being wealthy is an advantage provided you meet their criteria. Some meet need for all students except the bottom 5% of admits.
- need blind: they don’t know about your financial circumstances one way or another because they don’t care. If they admit you and you can’t pay, it’s not their problem. Many instate and almost all out of state public universities fall under that category.
- need aware/don’t meet full need: it means that if you’re middle or lower income your odds of admissions are lower and even if they admit you they’re likely to “gap” you (they know you need X amount to attend but they don’t give you enough.)
Even for the need blind schools I think there is some wiggle room. The admissions people can tell a lot from your application even without knowing if you applied for FA: zip code, parents occupation, high school (private vs public), etc.
I’m sure they have a pretty good idea of who the full pay vs FA kids are even though they are blinded.
Even rich schools like the ivies don’t have a FA budget large enough to have 100% of students on aid. So, even unknowingly, they probably accept a fixed percentage of full pay students to maximize the FA budget for those who really need it.
So I take it with a grain of salt when schools claim they are need blind.
Don’t the schools look at your application which asks if you are applying for FA? I have to assume they will see if you are or aren’t. We don’t qualify for FA and I do hope it gives a slight advantage knowing we will be paying full cost.
Being full pay doesn’t give any advantage for the most part at most schools unless you are an international @greeny8
I can only hope @anxiousenior1
@greeny8 At need-aware schools, it’s indeed easier to be admitted as a full-paying applicant, e.g. WashU, Tufts, GWU, and many LACs (Carleton, Wesleyan, Bates, Colby, Smith, and others).
Isn’t going to help you at need blind schools, though. Don’t count on any admission boost at all for it.
Here’s a list. http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds
Except that at most of those schools, I’m betting they are only need-aware for the bottom 5-10% of the admitted pile, which means your chances would have to be pretty crappy to begin with.
Thanks for all the feedback 
@goldenbear2020 @intparent @anxiousenior1 @circuitrider
Yes, Carleton states that they are need aware only for a small slice of students.