<p>Will applying for FULL FA hurt my chances???</p>
<p>To my knowledge, one can't simply apply for full FA. They need to go through the same process that other FA applicants go through. As to hurting your chances, that depends on where you are applying. School like Andover and Exeter are need-blind, meaning they will admit students regardless of their ability to pay tuition. Other schools that are not need blind, however, may be more inclined to admit students only that can pay full or most of the tuition.</p>
<p>^ Is Deerfield, Taft, or Choate "need-blind"
Thanks for the A/E help. :-)</p>
<p>I do not think that Deerfield, Taft or Choate are "need-blind" sorry. they also do not give out nearly as many scholarships as E/A.</p>
<p>Financial</a> Aid Grants :: Deerfield Academy :: an independent, coeducational boarding high school</p>
<p>There ya go, they say their "need-based" not sure if thats the same thing or not.</p>
<p>I think that may be the opposite (I'm not quite sure though)</p>
<p>I don't think that need-based is the complete opposite of need-blind. Need-based basically just distinguishes itself from merit-based financial aid, something that almost no good boarding schools offer.</p>
<p>FA will not hurt your chance at some need-blind schools. But pay full tuition will increase your chance at most of the schools. Just do what you should do, if you need FA, go ahead apply it.</p>
<p>^^ I agree. I mean you really have no choice...so don't worry about it.</p>
<p>deerfield is needblind</p>
<p>Most schools are need blind, but that does not mean that they will pay your tuition. If you are accepted, they will review your financial aid application and make an offer (or not) of some scholarship money, as determined by your FA paperwork and their FA pool of money. Then it is up to you if you want to accept admission with that FA offer or not.</p>
<p>Think of it as being blind to the relationship between admission and money's offered. They will offer admission to lots of students, who on paper don't look like they have a chance of affording it. (Then grandma or that hidden stash kicks in and the "on paper poor" kid attends.) Slightly more heart breaking is the kid who receives admission offers, not enough FA, and the family has to say 'no." That is a kind of emotional blindness. </p>
<p>At competitive prep schools there is a line of students waiting to take your seat. They may offer you admission, but if you can't commit to the $$, it might take 15 minutes to replace you with someone who can.</p>
<p>Need Blind vs. Need Based</p>
<p>Very simple in actuality.
Need Blind means that if you are accepted they will stop at nothing to get you to come. Meaning that they will may as much money as you need to allow you to come. For Example, if your family can't afford any of the tuition they will pay all of it, if that means you can come. </p>
<p>Need Based is just a fancy way of saying "We will base the FA award we give you purely on your need. Therefore if your family showed demonstrated need of 20,000 paid by thre school they would pay it. Need based is basically the same thing as regular FA. </p>
<p>So in conclusion, Need Blind is substantially better than need based, because need blind basically means that if you get in you will be able to come no matter what because they will pay however much money you need to come.
Need based is going to base your FA award on how much your parents make and the demonstrated need and be much more strict because typically if FA is based on the need based policy, the school doesn't have a huge amount of money set aside for FA awards. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, but feel free to PM me if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>one thing that is important to understand is that even at need blind schools they use the fa paperwork to decide how much you "need". They may say your family can afford a lot more than your family can / or is willing to pay. So there is no guarantee until you see that fa offer letter with your acceptance letter. Unless you make under the published amount for a free boat- then you just need to be accepted....</p>
<p>to abc and toadstool - most schools are not need blind and need blind does not mean that they will cover whatever you need to come - need blind means that the issue of whether or not a student needs financial aide to attend the school will not be a factor in deciding acceptance vs. rejection</p>