<p>-- what REALLY occurs in the admissions process (vs what is SAID on a web page, for example)? My son's GC said with a straight face, simply, that the applicant's financial worthiness or lack thereof doe snot matter in the admissions process. period.</p>
<p>I naively think that it would since , if admissions is evaluating persons A and B -maybe roughly equal academically - and B means that much more money has to be let out of the institution's coiffers, wdn't person A get preferential treatment, or , alternatively, person B's app might get demerits?</p>
<p>Does this answer depend on the kind of school? How deep are the pockets?</p>
<p>Depends on the college. Some colleges clearly state that they are need-blind in admissions; others clearly state that they are need-aware. In the latter case, students on the bubble are admitted if they are full pay.</p>
<p>Most schools (especially since most are public Us) are need blind for admission. They will admit but “gap” a student. Need aware schools tend to be those that try to meet need.</p>
<p>Search the school’s website & see if they have an “Enrollment Manager”, a person who works with Admissions & FA. The “Enrollment Manager” has a primary objective: to determine how little they can give you & still get you to enroll.</p>
<p>The colleges with smaller endowments and smaller financial aid budgets can’t give away much financial aid unless they know they have a certain percentage of students paying full sticker price. They use much of their financial aid for their best applicants, but the lower income people on the margin get left out of admissions or get so little aid that they cannot seriously consider attending.</p>
<p>From what I have read, the issue particularly arises with waiting lists. Many colleges have used up their financial aid allocation before they get to the waiting list stage. They then look for students on the waiting list who they think can pay full sticker. Some colleges have been known to consider the wealth of the zip code of the applicant. </p>
<p>In most cases, the best way to max out financial aid is to apply as early as possible (typically Feb. 1), to apply to enough schools that you can compare FA between them, and to consider a couple colleges where you will be towards the top of the applicant pool (as opposed to just barely getting in).</p>
<p>True, but “most” colleges are ‘public’ and yes they are need-blind in admissions – just gpa+test scores. I do not think that “most” private colleges are need-blind, however.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Need-aware just means for admissions purposes only. Some need-aware colleges will meet full need IFF admitted (Tufts and Colgate come to mind)… OTOH, most need-blind colleges will gap.</p>
<p>There are ~25 colleges that are both need-blind AND meet full need (as defined by them), and yes, they are the most selective.</p>
<p>“gap” means that a college does not meet full need even though they will admit you. For example, Cornell is need-blind in admission to internationals, but does not meet full need for internationals. In contrast, Stanford is need-aware for international admissions, but will meet full need of those that it admits.</p>
<p>Public colleges typically gap bcos they do not have the resources to cover everyone’s need. The UC’s for example, expect $9k of cash out of pocket even for those with zero income. UCs are need-blind in admissions, but gap the financial aid. The same student, if admitted to Stanford or HYP, would receive a full ride – zero out of pocket – no financial need “gap”.</p>
<p>For the list of need-blind and meets-full-need colleges, just start with USNews Top Unis and Top LACs and go down the list. But don’t go to far!</p>
<p>So this is how it might be cheaper to go to (some) privates than to your own In-state U.</p>
<p>When you pointed me to USN, does USN have this financial data (extent to which the college might not gap ya? Or do I have to contact each college -not going down the list too far- to determine this? </p>
<p>is there a report listing college endowments in decreasing size and also including endowment per (UG) student?</p>
<p>Question on endowment: for research UNis, is this endowment for everything that the Uni does, UG, grad, maintenance and operations, and everything else?</p>
<p>Rather than looking at a list which may or may not be complete and up to date, you will be better off choosing the schools to research first, and then checking those schools’ policies. It does you no good to know that Harvard is need-blind and meets 100% of need without loans, if you don’t want to go to/can’t get into Harvard.</p>
<p>If a school says it is “need blind,” the school does not consider financial condition in the admissions process.</p>
<p>If a school says that it is “need aware,” it does consider financial condition in the admissions process, but only in terms of how much aid the students on the lower end of the admissions pool will require. Applying for aid is not a detriment even in a need aware school. It’s a question of how much need.</p>
<p>If a school says that it meets “100% of need,” it means that if you are admitted, you will be awarded sufficient aid (which can include loans) to meet the “need” that the school determines you have. Aid does not eliminate the Expected Family Contribution, and how the need is determined will vary among schools.</p>
<p>Schools may have different permutations of these policies: They may be need-blind and meet 100% of need; they may be need-aware and meet 100% of need; they may be need-blind and not meet 100%; or they may be need-aware and not meet 100%.</p>
<p>If a school does not list any of these policies, then yes, financial considerations will apply in the admissions process, and the school will not meet 100% of a student’s need.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how Questbridge Finalist status fits into all of this?</p>
<p>At need blind colleges, what impact would Finalist status have (as a listed award)? At colleges with smaller endowments, could listing QB finalist possibly hurt the applicant?</p>
<p>Certainly for colleges that are Questbridge participants, being a finalist is a major plus. I have no idea how other colleges would treat it. I’m guessing that most would treat as an honor. </p>
<p>The colleges that use financial aid as a basis for admission would already have your financial aid info, so the Questbridge wouldn’t make a difference.</p>
<p>The best place to start to compare financial aid availability is the CollegeBoard.com website. For each college, they list percentage of need met, average amount of need based grants and loans, as well as info on merit aid. From there, you can also do a google search for the “common data set” for each college. Sometimes that is buried on their website, which is why the google search is used. That typically provides great detail on many matters, including financial aid. You want to find the latest year’s information.</p>
<p>In answer to an earlier question, endowments are the reported market value of investments, not including assets such as college buildings. Endowments can be deceiving because many colleges also have huge debts that they don’t publicize. In any case, if you google - colleges endowments “average per student” 2009 you should find comparative tables. The average per student matters much much more than the total.</p>
<p>Even among the relatively few schools that claim both to be “need blind” in admissions and to “meet 100% of need,” certain categories of students—internationals and transfer students, especially—may be treated differently, either admitted on a need-aware basis or not guaranteed that need will be met. This both limits the school’s financial exposure on the FA side and creates some room to manipulate enrollment so as to maximize tuition revenue. Transfer students are especially attractive in this regard as their GPAs and SAT/ACT scores don’t get reported in the school’s freshman averages. Quite a few schools quietly increased transfer admissions after their endowments tanked; you can be sure that a large percentage of those additional transfers are full-pays, admitted because they’re a convenient “cash cow,” producing more tuition revenue than a comparable number of additional freshman admits while not diluting the school’s “selectivity” profile by reaching deeper into the first-year applicant pool. </p>
<p>For similar reasons, many schools are now aggressively pushing to expand international enrollment. A large international enrollment is an attractive marketing tool even among prospective U.S. applicants because it adds the cachet of global engagement, cultural diversity, and cosmopolitanism. But it also helps pay the bills, because in most cases the colleges will either admit primarily international full-pays (including some who may be supported by their home governments), or at a minimum they won’t make the same kinds of FA commitments to internationals that they make to domestic admits.</p>
<p>I think there are actually 8 relevant permutations, to expand on your 4:</p>
<ol>
<li>Need Blind, 100% need met, Little or no Loans included in Package </li>
<li>Need Blind, 100% need met, Significant amount of Loans included in Package </li>
<li>Need Blind, don’t meet full need, Little or no Loans included in Package</li>
<li><p>Need Blind, don’t meet full need, Significant amount of Loans included in Package </p></li>
<li><p>Need Aware, 100% need met, Little or no Loans included in Package </p></li>
<li><p>Need Aware, 100% need met, Significant amount of Loans included in Package </p></li>
<li><p>Need Aware, don’t meet full need, Little or no Loans included in Package </p></li>
<li><p>Need Aware, don’t meet full need, Significant amount of Loans included in Package </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Clearly permutation (1) is the ideal for an applicant, and the most rare and difficult to obtain because it is the method generally followed by the top 10 Unis and Top 8-10 LACs, plus a smattering of schools ranked further down the rank orders.</p>