Does being full pay give you an admissions bump?

Parents Forum
21

Every school is different, so read their policies carefully. Need-blind can mean something different, even. For example, sometimes it doesn’t apply to wait-listed students.

Note: Merit aid is essentially a discount coupon off full-pay tuition. The schools hand them out liberally to the students they want the most. But what you really care about is the number you write on the check. It’s flattering to get an offer for a $30,000 per year merit award, but if the total cost of attendance will still be double that of a school you like equally, the choice is clear.

22

Come on this is obvious.

If for schools that are need blind, there is no advantage to being full-pay, then for schools that are not need-blind there is obviously an advantage to being full pay. Otherwise, they would be need blind too.

Schools that don’t have large enough endowments to be need-blind need tuition to make their budgets.

23

Based on anecdotal (many many years’ worth and many family member + friend experiences) and one official “off-the-record” discussion with an admissions officer), for UK schools SPECIFICALLY, full-paying US student applicants have a LARGE advantage over UK/EU-based students because of the higher fees the schools collect for US/international students. Also helps with their demographics and distribution models. This is not exactly an apples-to-apples answer here, but I thought it might be useful regardless.

24

We were in a similar situation last year and checked “no”. If you don’t qualify for any other FA, then the Direct Loan amounts that you list would almost certainly be subsidized. That’s not something that I consider to be FA, and it’s definitely nothing that the school has to budget for.

Did it help D get accepted? It’s really hard to say. She wasn’t interested in any of the schools with <10% admittance and her stats were in-line with every school she applied to. The only possible bump for her may have been her acceptance into GaTech. We are OOS and her test scores were within the 25-50 percentile. She was admitted for the summer 18 term, but chose another school.

25

@shortnuke I believe you meant unsubsidized instead of subsidized

@3mamagirls Direct Unsubsidized Loans are not need based and are only limited by the COA at a school (any aid + loan can’t exceed COA). I believe all the student has to do is contact the FA office at the school and tell them they wish to get the loan. Of course I guess it’s possible a school could have some weird policy so you could just email a school(s) and ask them your question.

26

It’s all more complicated with holistic colleges than who checks what box. I don’t think OP meant is it a hook. It isn’t. You don’t get into a selective college just based on your bank account.

27

@shortnuke @Dolemite Thank you. Don’t you(kid) need to fill out the FAFSA in order to get those loans though? This is my confusion.

28

@3mamagirls You can tell the college you aren’t applying for aid. Once admitted you tell the FA office that you are applying for student loans. They need to know so they can pull the application in for their approval. No problem.

29

In a conversation for alumni with the dean of admissions and financial aid at my alma mater (a need blind, meets full need school), she was talking about how hard the college is working to recruit kids from families with low income, fund them through financial aid, and support them once they get to campus. An alumna asked, “What about wealthy kids? Is there any advantage for them?” The dean seemed a bit surprised at the question, and stated that no, there was no special admissions edge for the wealthy.

That makes sense. There are many more full-pay applicants than the college can accommodate. There is no reason to give any applicant an edge based on that, because there will be plenty of full pay candidates who will be admitted based on other factors!

And then there are factors that ensure there will be plenty of full pay kids.

First, there are all the indirect benefits that wealthy kids have had from birth through high school. These may play a role in making them strong candidates based on all the other factors that influence admissions.

Then, as noted in The Gatekeepers about Wesleyan, certain private high schools maintain personal relationships with certain admissions officers, making it likely that certain wealthy kids will be brought to the attention of admissions officers.

At many of the top need blind/ meet full need colleges, something like 40-55% of kids are full pay. So being full pay is certainly not a disadvantage for admissions! But colleges are working hard to broaden opportunities.

At a need aware college, being full pay may be more of an advantage. As others have stated, this is true mainly for the borderline or last-reviewed candidates. At a need aware college, if I were an applicant, I would not apply for need if I were pretty sure I would not qualify based on the net price calculator, as one poster describes. Then checking the “applying for aid”could pose an admissions risk without being likely to provide any financial benefit.

Another poster asked about merit aid. At some colleges, you need to file a FAFSA to be considered even for merit aid. At others, you do not. Of the 5 colleges our son considered that offered merit aid, only one of those required the FAFSA. The others automatically considered all candidates for merit scholarships regardless of need. So check the websites or call and ask each college.

At a need blind/meets full need college, there is no reason not to apply for aid other than not wanting to fuss with the paperwork/waste your time. There is no danger to your admissions prospects.

30

It definitely opens up schools as possibilities. Attending a specific school requires 2 things, you get accepted and you can afford it. I can’t speak to an admissions bump but you can certainly apply to schools knowing that if you are accepted the school is an option. Many students apply with the contingency that the university must provide a certain level of financial aid for them to be able to attend (hopefully they know this in advance). Applying knowing that finances aren’t a restriction means half the stress is off. I think I can speak for many who aren’t full pay that needing aid severely limits the schools a student can seriously consider. Having to wait for the financial aid package in late March is at least as stressful as the acceptance/rejection emails.

31

This is probably the biggest factor in why college attendance skews toward those from wealthy families, and even more so at the most selective colleges. The kids in wealthy supportive families are much more likely to be able to achieve to their highest potential through high school, while those from middle income and (especially) poor families are more likely to face barriers and limitations that keep them from reaching their full potential through high school.

32

@thegreyking I assume you are talking about Williams, but regardless, did the dean discuss how they target low income students, since they are need blind? Are they using zip code data, high school profile, looking at fee waiver requests? It seems important to get accurate data, say for example, if they want to increase Pell grant students, but it has always been unclear to me that wholly accurate data exists if need blind.

Williams (and some peer schools) is not need blind with regard to recruited athletes (in a given year 80-100, maybe as many as 120 students in certain years). Nor are they need blind when (if) they go to the waitlist. I do struggle somewhat with colleges that say they are need blind and yet, for something in the range of 15%-25% of the incoming class (athletes, waitlist, development cases) they aren’t. Of course, I do support the overall goals of increasing access for lower SES students and there are a number of ways to do this. IMO more transparency would be better, knowing full well that this transparency is not coming :wink:

33

Here are the need blind/ meet full need colleges:
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission

• Amherst College
• Curtis Institute of Music
• Harvard College
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Minerva Schools at KGI
• Princeton University
• Yale University
• Barnard College (need-aware for transfer students)
• Boston College
• Bowdoin College (need-aware for transfer students)
• Brown University (need-aware for transfer students)
• California Institute of Technology
• Claremont McKenna College
• College of the Holy Cross
• Columbia University
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth College
• Davidson College
• Duke University
• Georgetown University
• Grinnell College
• Hamilton College
• Harvey Mudd College
• Johns Hopkins University
• Middlebury College
• Northwestern University
• Olin College
• Pomona College
• Rice University
• Soka University of America
• Stanford University
• Swarthmore College
• University of Chicago
• University of Michigan (in-state students only)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Richmond (also applies to transfer students)
• University of Southern California
• Vanderbilt University
• Vassar College
• Wellesley College
• Williams College

Does OP really mean colleges outside of this list?

34

Those lists in the Wikipedia article are far from exhaustive, since there are numerous colleges which are need-blind for admissions, but do not make any promises of good financial aid (or make only limited promises), and are not listed in any category in that article.

35

So basically, all top colleges are need-blind.

36

This is OP’s question -

“Other than at colleges that are “need blind” do full pay students have an advantage in admissions and how much of an advantage is it?”

Nowhere is OP asking about top colleges or schools that say they meet full need. Op is asking if there is an admission benefit to being full pay at need aware colleges. I think the answer is yes, of course, or else they would be need blind! How much of an advantage? Hard to say - but someone gave the example of equal/similar stats/EC kids - full pay gets the edge.

37

Agree, the OPs question has been answered. Closing thread.