As long as you are a US Citizen/Permanent Resident/possibly DACA-recipients or long-term Green card processing times, no, it will not preclude you from receiving FA—it’ll only delay when you’ll receive your award (the deadline’s so you will receive an award on admission day, but you’re still more than welcome to apply after being admitted, as the Ivies are need-blind for domestic students.) There’s nothing stopping you from applying in future years as well.
The only exception would be for international students at the need-aware Ivies, as they have set budgets that they cannot exceed.
"Q: Can families apply for financial aid in future years if they do not apply the first year?
A: US Citizens, Eligible Noncitizens and students residing in the US without legal citizenship or residency – You may apply for financial aid in future years. This request must come in writing from the student directly."
This is not true at every school for institutional aid. Some schools have explicit policies that do not allow for qualification for institutional aid if the student has not applied for institutional aid as an incoming student. This is why the best advice is to check with each school the student is interested in to verify what the school’s policy is. Note that government student aid is a different matter and is based on different policies that are not school specific.
Columbia College and it’s engineering school do offer that guarantee. Barnard College, also Part of Columbia University does not. If you apply to Barnard College without applying for financial , and are accepted, you no longer are guaranteed to get full need met for subsequent years. Just one example of a well known School that is need blind and meets full need for non international first year applicants. There are others, yes, not a lot considering there are so many 4 year colleges and universities in this country, however many schools that come up often on this forum. Barnard is a school that happens to be need blind as well; those schools that are not but do meet full need for all admitted students tend to fall into this category.
You are always welcome to complete FAFSA and get your federal entitlements, and possibly some state aid , even if you do not apply for aid with your college applications. But unless you qualify for PELL, we are talking about some subsidized loans and qualifying for work study if the school has any such jobs open.
I can’t imagine any need-aware college lumping all the “needs financial aid” applicants in one pile. So full pay gets a boost. Fine. However, even among those needing aid, there is a big difference between needing $10,000 to make attendance affordable and needing $60,000 in order to attend.
Wrong. There are a handful of colleges that DO restrict applications for institutional need based aid in subsequent years in some way…if you don’t apply when you are a freshman. This is for US citizens and permanent residents too.
From Skidmore
Obviously, if you don’t apply as an incoming freshman, you won’t get grant assistance.
Folks should make sure there is nothing precluding applying for institutional need based aid in the future, if needed. It’s a simple phone call to the college financial aid office to ask.
"Kid is applying to a few Ivies, and also some flagship state U’s where he will probably get merit aid…Kid is applying early action to one Ivy, and one flagship state U - the rest of his applications will be regular time frame. I don’t want him to say “Yes, I will be applying for financial aid” at this point. I think that if he gets into his early action Ivy, he can always tell them in late December, “I changed my mind. I do want to apply for financial aid”.
I never said that was true for other schools, nor did @parentologist ask about other schools—only about the Ivy that his kid’s applying to EA.
@cptofthehouse Barnard, while an affiliate in-name of Columbia, maintains separate administration, admissions, FA etc, which may be why it does not guarantee FA in later years. Technically, it is not a part of the Ivy League as it refers to the sports league, of which Barnard is not a part of.
Kid is applying to a few Ivies, and also some flagship state U’s where he will probably get merit aid…Kid is applying early action to one Ivy, and one flagship state U - the rest of his applications will be regular time frame.
Also – this is one of the times when a clarification can benefit the wider community of CC readers, and not just the person who started the thread.
@BelknapPoint The only 2 flagship state universities that meet full need are UVA and UNC, both of which do not qualify as schools where anyone will “probably get merit aid.”
The “rest of his applications” refers to the “few Ivies, and also some flagship state U’s” earlier in the sentence. While I agree that the distinction may be useful to others reading this thread, I never asserted that the Ivies’ FA rules are the same as other schools.
I stand by my previous post, with particular emphasis on the last sentence. And UNC and UVA are not the only state flagships that meet full need, at least for a segment of the applicants.