I’ve gotten the impression from reading this forum that applying for financial aid could reduce one’s chances of getting into certain schools. We are in the position where we might not qualify for anything, or maybe just a small amount. While we will find a way to pay full tuition if we have to, it will be a stretch and I’d hate to “leave money on the table”.
We will not be applying to top tier schools. My son has some learning disabilities and the right fit is what is really important to us. He is a good (but small) baseball player and I’m not expecting stellar SSAT scores (might even be <50%). Although he is very bright, at times he struggles in school and needs support. He attends a Montessori school, so there are no grades to report, but we will have recommendations and a detailed narrative of what he has done each year. On the other hand, adults seem to be enamored with his personality, “quirkiness” and intellectual curiosity. He has taken on (and even created) a number of leadership roles but also works really well as a group member. He has shown initiative by creating his own car detailing business, spearheading fundraising activities, starting a debate club and independently signing up for online college courses.
I’m hoping that there are schools out there that will see some special qualities in him and value his interpersonal skills rather than just looking at what he has done academically. He is an experiential learner and I can definitely see him doing well at some of the schools we are starting to explore. I’d hate to limit his options if applying for FA will have an effect on admissions.
Can anyone give me anymore more information on the effects of applying for FA ?
It depends on the school. If the school is need blind, then no, applying for FA or how much you need won’t hinder his chances. It may be a factor at need aware schools
Financial aid is even more important in the mid and lower tier schools. The top
schools have lots of financial aid money. But applying for FA at most schools will make it harder to get in but not impossible.
What type of support does your child need? The schools with learning support programs generally don’t have huge FA budgets.
The schools that we are looking at don’t seem to have huge endowments so my guess is we’d get next to nothing. As far as I know, none of them are need blind. Is it better to just not even apply for it?
So far our list is:
Foreman
Trinity Pawling
Proctor
New Hampton
Cushing
Brewster
Winchenden
Vermont Academy
Hebron
Kimball Union
Sallisbury
South Kent
Kents Hill
If you truly don’t need it, the FA application process, which produces your EFC (expected financial contribution), will make that clear. If you know ahead if time that you can swing it, however painful, there is no point in applying as all schools will expect you to be full pay if there is any way you can.
Andover is the only school that still claims to be need blind.
Although we qualified for FA my child was accepted at Proctor with no FA, so applying didn’t hurt our chances of acceptance and even though we had a demonstrated need there was no FA available for us.
I think that for some schools they will accept people with no FA as a more “soft” rejection. My son had one of these as well and that’s how we took it. They were clear in the letter that the gaining admission with FA is much more competitive than simply gaining admission.
This is our first time applying to BS as well as for FA. I finished the PFS this weekend but haven’t clicked on the Submit icon to make payment and submit it. I already know that our EFC will be high, and that in all likelihood we will show as FP. We are not a high income family, but we have significant assets that will most likely disqualify us. A good portion of our income is due to dividends and capital gains, so our actual income fluctuates a bit from year to year. Initially I had thought that we should apply for aid because our income level is one where you would see families qualifying for aid. But when you look at our assets and also see we have no debt outside of a mortgage, I see a high EFC in our future. When I am brutally honest with myself, I know that we could afford to be FP if that’s the way it had to be.
My son is applying to 3 hidden gems and 1 day school near us. He does well in his private school, he’s into a variety of sports and drama, but has no real hooks. We’re hoping for higher SSAT scores in January. I’m considering pulling the plug on the FA app altogether, with the understanding that it means we’re committing to 4 years of FP. I hate to leave money on the table if there is money a school would be able / willing to give, but I don’t have high hopes about that. When I answered the question about how much aid I was hoping to receive, my figure was about 10% of total tuition. For us, just that small amount would help offset transportation costs, books, and tuition insurance. However, that small amount (that we probably wouldn’t get) would not make or break us in a given year.
If we submit the PFS at all, is it appropriate to write in the comments section that being full pay is an option we would consider? Or should I have those conversations with the directors of FA at each school? If a PFS is submitted and the EFC shows FP, do those kids still go in the more competitive application pile?
I realize no one has a crystal ball and can tell me how FA officers will react to those things, but just curious to know who has experience with a high EFC and whether you think its even worth applying for aid if the EFC says FP. Thank you.
@GoatMama thanks for the suggestion. I’ve been looking on the sss website trying to figure out how to do that, but I will just have to call them and ask when I get home.
You want a good school to take care of your good student with some learning disability. I am sure there will be many schools willing to do that. Now if you want them to also pay for it with often very small endowment they have (unlike colleges), that will be probably several times more difficult.
They need the little FA fund they have to admit URM, those with sports for their teams, academically high performing ones so they will have some national merit scholars, and other exceptional students to maintain their average quality and rankings, etc. etc.
^ It depends on the school. If the school is need blind, then no, applying for FA or how much you need won’t hinder his chances.
There are very few need-blind schools with extremely competitive admissions. And some people don’t believe that they are really need-blind anyway.
^ I think that for some schools they will accept people with no FA as a more “soft” rejection.
True but it’s not common. Unless you just need a little bit of FA, they will just deny or wait-list.
If you don’t seem to get much anyway, or you are willing to pay the remainder to significantly boost your kid’s chance, which will be boosted significantly, then why talk to the schools about FA at all?
We were high asset lowish income and our EFC came back at full pay, one school qualified us for approx 30% FA due to our high NJ taxes but then was unable to offer any FA to my daughter (who had no real hooks but was someone they really wanted) because they had many kids who filled a niche and needed significant FA. Another school WL her I suspect because of FA. I would recommend you not apply for FA except at schools where your child will be a top applicant well above the average scores, grades etc. College money may be easier to come by. Some families also take out a line of credit on the equity in their home to help finance tuition - that might be an option. I also found Lawrenceville’s calculator overly optimistic based on our EFC.
Talk to folks in the admissions and FA office at each school. I’ve gone through several admit cycles and based on my experience there is substantial variation between schools. DS1 and DD were both admitted to some schools as FP and received ~50% FA from others. The folks in admissions and the FA office will help you understand the chances you will receive FA and the impact it may have on the admit chances. The challenge with the calculators is that they really are not calculators at all, what I was told by folks at 2 different schools is they compare the financial information enter to the existing student body and results are the FA awards of existing families most similar to you. The big problem is that one of the pieces of information the calculators do not request is the number of children in tuition paying institutions. This has a massive impact on FA awards - your EFC is across all children in tuition paying institutions.