<p>Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not colleges
a) accept someone first and then calculate financial aid
b) determines financial aid for ALL applicants and then only those accepted will be notified about their financial aid
c) other</p>
<p>Please explain to me because I am VERY confused.
Happy Holidays~</p>
<p>Most colleges compute aid for accepted students only. So…as admissions accepts students, the finaid office completes their financial aid awards.</p>
<p>However, a friend financial aid officer at a small school told me that once the financial aid office receives all of the application requirements from a student for their school, the financial aid department begins the process of calculating need based aid. They do the final polish once the students are accepted.</p>
<p>I would imagine most schools operate similarly. Otherwise they would really be on a crunch if they did ALL the work after ALL the acceptances were completed.</p>
<p>It’s usually two different groups…there’s the adcoms who decide admission…and the FA office who decides aid.</p>
<p>as thumper suggests, as the Adcoms put kids’ files in the Accepted pile, the FA office probably starts pkging.</p>