Does Financial Aid affect Decision?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am in a fairly low-income family, and most of our money has been going to my sister in college now. What I was wondering is whether financial aid from colleges affects acceptance; for example, if person A and B were exactly identical except that person A requested financial aid, then would person B have a slight advantage? I understand that schools must set some kind of maximum amount of money to be given to students. I know that the ivy leagues (Harvard especially emphasizes this) say that financial aid does not lower chances of acceptance, but what about other schools (ex. UT, Cal, Mellon)? Also, if anyone could point me towards some scholarships, that would be nice as well. :D</p>

<p>Thanks,
Student</p>

<p>tl;dr - I don't have money. Will colleges take this into consideration when I apply?</p>

2

<p>Most of the time it will not matter. Sometimes in some cases it will matter. This does not mean that all schools will give you enough aid to attend. Some will and some won’t. You should get familiar with basic financial aid terms and then you can check how each college you are thinking of will approach your application and aid. There is a Financial Aid forum and you can read the threads pinned to the top and learn.</p>

<p>Most schools are ‘need blind’ and don’t take finances into consideration. Some schools are ‘need aware’ - this usually means that they will admit you if they can give you enough money but if they are filling up and the money runs out they might have to take a full payer.</p>

<p>Also some schools ‘meet need’ so they will give you enough aid to attend although your family will have to pay a family/student portion and you may get up to 5 or 6 thousand in loans you are asked to take out each year. That is only about 70 schools out of 3,500. The rest of the schools do not meet need so you may get in but not be given enough aid to go.
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So let’s take your examples.</p>

<p>Harvard - meets need and gives super aid - low income won’t get loans. They will meet need to the mex.</p>

<p>Berkeley - if you are instate and low income they will meet your need but some will be in the form of loans and you will be expected to contribute summer earnings. If you are out of state, you may or may not get much, but you will definitely have to pay 23,000 extra each year as OOS supplement tuition.</p>

<p>UT - doesn’t meet need for instate or OOS. If not a Texan, ou will pay OOS supplement. You will get loans.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon - does not meet full need. You may or may not get aid to cover. You will likely get loans. But if they really want to be sure you come you may get need met or merit aid. You have to apply to see.</p>

<p>Go to the financial aid forum to see the scholarship forums linked at the very top. But unless you win a super scholarships that pays some for all 4 years, most of the money will be from the college.</p>

3

<p>You should investigate the questbridge.org option – for high performing low income students. Good luck</p>