I always wondered whether we can use activities and requests by the FA office prior to acceptance decisions to gauge acceptance. Does the FA office compute awards for all students regardless of acceptance, or do they just calculate financial aid for accepted students? Does this vary between schools where admissions decisions are need blind and not?
I know not being requested anything additional does not mean rejection. It could simply mean they have everything they need. However, if the FA office requests more information, leading up to (within a week or two of) the release of admissions decisions, can you infer a positive outcome from such request?
I was under the impression that the FA and Admissions offices act independantly for most schools, so FA contacting you for more details just means that they wouldn’t have sufficient info to put together an award (if you were accepted). Even if FA and Admissions were acting together then being contacted in the last few weeks could just mean that they
hadn’t yet made a decision.
I may be completely wrong, but it’s better not to read into it too much because you could just get your hopes up.
No, you can’t infer a positive outcome from a request from the Financial Aid office for more information.
At the university where I worked, the Financial Aid office computed awards for all applicants and did not wait for an acceptance from admissions to start the process.
That’s why you pay the application fee. They charge the same $75 for the kid who is an automatic no as an automatic yes, the same for the needs a full ride as ‘nothing coming your way’ millionaire.
For most people at most schools, as long as the correct paperwork is filed, a computer is calculating the need based aid.
No, my D was asked to submit more information for financial aid by one of the Ivies and was rejected a few weeks later. And it was one of only two rejections.