<p>I was admitted into Barnard College for spring 2010 admission, but on my application I specified that I was not applying for financial aid. At the time, I felt like this was a good idea because I thought the school would reject me solely because I needed financial assistance. I realize this was a very bad move, but I wanted to know if I can do anything to rectify this problem.</p>
<p>Is there a way I can still ask for financial assistance or is there anything else I can do at this point? I really want to go to Barnard, but I am afraid that because I cannot afford the full price, I will not be able to.</p>
<p>You should call asap and ask them if they will consider awarding financial aid, it’s up to them to decide whether they will or not but you certainly won’t lose anything by asking. This was a bad plan, as it always is, but students persist in doing this. Btw, unless Barnard changed their policies, they’re need-blind for admissions so it probably didn’t help you at all.</p>
<p>How did you think that you were going to pay for Barnard w/o FA?</p>
<p>Colleges do not like it when students apply saying that they don’t need FA and then later say that they do. If all applicants did that, it could be a huge mess.</p>
<p>Barnard says that they’re need-blind, but they ask whether you’re applying for financial aid on the application for admission. I did not know why they would even ask this if it they were need-blind. According to my advisers, there was an article in the NY Times about Reed, who was supposedly is need blind, rejected students who applied for aid and then accepted those who did not (even though some were not as strong applicants as some of those who needed aid).
Thank you for your kind suggestions, I will call them tomorrow and explain that I did not calculate my funds correctly and desire to apply for aid, if they would allow me to do so.</p>
<p>“I did not know why they would even ask this if it they were need-blind.”</p>
<p>They must in order to make funds available.</p>
<p>“Reed, who was supposedly is need blind”</p>
<p>Reed has been need-aware since 2002, but they didn’t meet full need before that (they do now), so it was moot. The story did not say Reed was need-blind, and they were not, and are not.</p>
<p>Barnard uses the CA. The CA is a general form used by both need-blind and need-aware schools, thus the form must contain information that covers either situation.</p>
<p>Ah, alright. Thank you for clearing that up, vossron.
Entomom, the information about financial aid is located in the “future plans” section, which differs for each college. For example, Cornell’s “future plans” section doesn’t ask this question at all, while Barnard’s does. This is what really threw me off.</p>