I’m curious what everyone thinks about this box on the app that we have to check if we are filing for FA. Our EFC is above the cost of one year of college even for the most expensive college. We have saved and may decide to be full price for the right school. That being said, our S19 could receive merit scholarships at some good schools and we will take that into account when making a final decision. For schools that do not give aid, we are considering having him take the minimum federal loan just so he has skin in the game. In that case, I believe we have to fill out FAFSA and in some cases the CSS Profile.
So, my question is this, do AOs look at that box and consider it in ANY way when making admissions decisions? I’m assuming that, at need-blind schools, they do not. If we do file the forms, then do we have to check that box “yes”? Does checking that box in any way affect him getting or not getting merit aid? And, lastly, if we do not check it, is it in any way a bump for a full pay family for private schools that are need aware?
You can file a FAFSA and apply for the federally funded student loan AFTER your kid decides where to go to college.
There are some schools that require the financial aid forms even for merit aid consideration...so check your college websites for that info...or call.
If a school is need blind for admissions...it doesn’t matter that you have or have not checked the box. And really in your case....I’m not sure it matters even for need aware schools. You are full pay, and a need aware school will see that.
If your child is a competitive applicant for a college, it might be a bump to be full pay at some schools.
There are a handful of colleges where your kiddo can’t apply for institutional need based aid in subsequent years if they don’t apply as incoming freshmen. And a couple where you can’t apply for two years or something like that. I believe Skidmore is one of those schools.
Davidson, Carleton, Kenyon, Grinnell, William and Mary, Denison, Dickinson, Lafayette for sure. Still thinking about Vanderbilt, Williams, Amherst, Midd, Claremont McKenna, Pomona as some reaches. He is competitive for all with scores and grades in the top 25th percentile of all of these schools. Not a lot of hooks going on though. From the Midwest and a boy (obviously) so that may help at the NE and south schools that don’t have large percentages from the Midwest. He’s an athlete and an artist. Both of which might help but we are waiting on track times for this spring. He will submit a portfolio and that’s the main thing that will help him stand out I think. Lots of other ECs with volunteering and leadership as well. Such low acceptance rates at these schools. Can’t wait to see how this all turns out. Part of me wants to leverage the full-pay scenario but I also don’t want to hurt his chances at merit.
Well…Amherst, and Middlebury don’t give merit aid. Except for Denison, the others have very competitive merit aid. Some give mostly need based aid, as you know. You would have to check to see if they require financial aid form completion for merit consideration.
Nice list! Sort of top heavy…but if he loves Denison…than it’s fine!
We did not mark the box for DD#1 (although we did fill out FAFSA and CSS). We did mark it for DD#2. Our EFC makes us ineligible for federal aid. Neither kid seemed to be hurt one way or the other in the merit department. Although I think DD#2 had fewer merit offers despite having slightly higher stats than her older sister. Not sure if that was a function of the schools she applied to or the fact that our FAFSA was flagged this year for verification because we had to file an amended tax return. Which was a huge pain in the booty, so we did not even bother because we knew our EFC was still going to be higher than the tuition at most of DD#2 schools. In the end it didn’t matter for DD#2 she has picked our in-state flagship school where she wouldn’t be receiving any merit anyway.
@thumper1 Yes I know which ones don’t give merit. And that most have very competitive merit. Believe me, there’s a major spreadsheet going on over here with how all of the financial could break out for each school. Our high school has very good stats on which kids get the competitive merit at some of these schools so we are hopeful that he will get some merit at more than Denison and Dickinson but we will see.
I just don’t want to hurt his chances of admission at places with competitive merit if we check that yes box. And, if I thought it made a difference in actual admissions, then I’d like to know that ahead of time. If we check it for one college, I’m assuming it’s checked for all colleges. It wouldn’t make sense to have it checked for the need aware schools with no merit scholarships. They may as well know that we would be full pay. That’s what I’m getting at. Is there any bump in admissions if they know would we would be fully pay?
Is there any strategy around whether to check the box “yes” or “no”? Or do need aware schools even look at that? And is it weird to check it if they can see our financials and know we can be full pay? I’m not trying to game the system. Just trying to understand what the AOs see and if it ever affects admissions.
Maybe his list seems top heavy but, according to our GC and Naviance and our school’s relationship with a good handful of these schools, he should have choices come next year. At least that’s what our GC told us. Fingers crossed.
We checked box no but still filed FAFSA so that merit aid that required it would be available. We weren’t applying for aid in that we expected no federal aid nor institutional need-based grants. That may have helped with admissions at a couple schools because we will be full pay but also allowed them to apply for competitive scholarships that require filing FAFSA. It’s funny that it’s a requirement for some scholarships that say they are not need-based (did not apply for any that stated financial need was required).
I’d also like to hear more about this. A friend had to file the FAFSA for a competitive merit scholarship at a public college and I believe that was for the purpose of making sure the student was not Pell-eligible. However I think the school requested the FAFSA only after the student was already admitted, during the scholarship competition process.
We are not planning to file FAFSA at this point, though I will need to re-check websites when the list is finalized for any indications that FAFSA would be necessary for merit eligibility. Often it’s not exactly clear.
Our EFC was $63 or $65k (I forget) so we knew need big need $$ was not in the cards. But we checked the box at every college, partly b/c I think it also could send a signal you’re looking for $$ period – including merit $ (which often require FAFSA, CSS) .
Plus, for the non-merit colleges, their institutional methodology may mean you are surprised with need aid (depending how far above cost your EFC is; we obviously are a bubble family.)
With checking the box everywhere D received big merit $$ offers from: Scripps and Mt. Holyoke (won’t help your son!) and Grinnell. She received only the NMF scholar $$ from Carleton which doesn’t ‘do’ merit. BUT she also got work /study from Grinnell and Carleton which is not to be overlooked – it can cover their spending $ while at school.
At the wealthy reach schools they have so much $$ I really don’t think they are filtering for admissions by the box, but I know some folks think otherwise. I think also it’s possible that even colleges w/o merit aid will use need aid to help entice some students. Curious if others think this might be true??
I think if you’re chasing $$ of any kind (as we were) checking the box puts your cards on the table and might actually increase your chance of merit and you could be surprised by a need grant.
Edited addendum: upon a few minutes reflection, if your EFC is really high (over 80 or 85?) then I might amend my recommendation and say don’t check the box. But obviously file the FAFSA/CSS for merit if applicable.
I think your odds go UP for merit if they see you can afford it. Merit is a sweetener for students they want. They know that families who are full pay are often looking for a price break. I believe schools that are “need aware” generally look at how much FA you need. If they see you are eligible for none or only a small amount, they won’t penalize your kid in admissions because you at least asked. I worried about this with kid 1, but not kid 2.
When my eldest applied two years ago, we did not check the FA box. Almost every college contacted us after admission to make sure we did not want to apply for financial aid. She attends Smith which precludes institutional aid until 64 units are completed if you did not apply for aid initially. However, student loans, parents loans, etc are all available.
She also applied to several less competitive LACs (Sewanee, Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound, Southwestern) and received higher than expected merit aid packages. While I have no proof, I do think that not applying for aid did translate into higher merit aid packages at some of the lesser competitive programs. Her aid was sometimes higher than advertised and greater than the net price calculator.
As far as an admission bump, I am not sure. She didn’t have too many admission surprises (other than a denial at an in-state safety that parchment predicted she had a 99% chance of admission). I suspect that Smith and a few others could have figured out we were full pay even if we did check the FA box. And, as noted above, every college that admitted her contacted us to see if we wanted to apply for financial aid.
For my youngest, she applied mostly to state colleges for music. She received music scholarships but only at the colleges where we sent the FASFA. And these appear tied to financial need. Since she had little need, her scholarships were on the smaller side. If she did not send the FASFA, no music scholarships were offered even if admitted for music performance.
I doubt that merit opportunities will be lost by not applying for FA (generally speaking). However, I would make sure that you know each colleges rules about how it impacts application for future aid, if needed.
EFC is $85k. @intparent you make a very good point. I didn’t consider that schools may know full price parents want a price break. I thought of it more like - if they can pay then why bother with merit? I think you’re on to something and your comment makes a lot of sense.
I assume we can still file both forms and check the no box. We have to file them just in case we want S19 to take the federal loan. Also, we have a D21 in the pipeline and might get a little something when they overlap so thought it made sense to file the forms from the very beginning of S19’s college years.
We’ve told him that we will consider finances after all acceptances are in. He’s asked how willing we are to pay full price if it comes down to some choices without aid and he offered to try to help pay if that school is his first choice come April next year. We were glad that he offered and might take him up on it and have him take those smallish federal loans. That hasn’t been flushed out yet as we obviously have no idea what will happen with acceptances.
I’d love to hear more about whether this financial aid box seems to have helped or hurt in terms of acceptances and merit.
One of my kids got subsidized loans when we didn’t expect it. So that was a benefit from filing. We seesawed back and forth in terms of eligibility for need based aid because my business income fluctuates a lot. Some years we got it, some years we didn’t.
At our school this year all aid candidates received less acceptances than predicted. Counselor flat out said that needing aid hurt many candidates. I don’t think it’s true that all schools calculate the amount of aid needed, esp if it’s a complicated case. If they are on the fence about someone and that box is checked they have so much on their plate they might just move on to the next candidate. Aid is often used to fund kids who add something the school needs: URM, location etc. If you don’t have that hook then asking for aid can hurt at some need aware schools.
Just going through S19’s list. Only a couple of his schools are not need-blind. Super interesting to do that research. Does make one wonder why two very comparable schools would have different policies. Of course, the ones that are not need-blind make it sound like they are only need-aware for a small number of students on the cusp so they are essentially need-blind…but not really.
Even if you do check the box, and do file the aid paperwork, if it is pretty clear that you don’t qualify for need-based aid, then you won’t be considered for it. I really don’t think this is anything to fret about. It’s not like they are putting all of the checkd apps into one pile, and then looking at them after they’ve looked at the unchecked ones.
Checking the “yes” box did not impact my D getting merit aid. Most schools are need blind and will not see that you checked “yes.” It will be blacked out for admissions. For schools that are not need blind… I don’t think it will matter. I would fill out the FA forms if you want to take the loans… and not think about it.
I know my family won’t qualify for financial aid but I am a top student. So I think I should check the " no financial aid" box but still should fill out fafsa because some merit is dependent on fafsa being complete? I think that’s my understanding from earlier posts. Thanks
