<p>Hello......i'm a student from India.</p>
<p>Does applying for financial aid affect yor chances of admission? If its true.... that sucks.
I mean... i don't mind paying the full fee if i'm not offered any aid, but i would at least like to try and get some aid.
How does it make sense for that to affect your application? If they think you're a good student asking for aid, and theres another student B who is nearly as good as you, but is not asking for any aid, shouldnt they just say they'll accept you, but without any aid (i mean you SHOULD be given preference...).......later if you say no u really need the aid.....then the seat can go to B.</p>
<p>someone please explain this to me .......i can't decide whether or not to apply for aid.
Also can someone explain the term need-blind</p>
<p>It depends on the schools. Harvard, Yale and many other schools practise need-blind admission, i.e. financial aid is considered independent of admission. Other schools consider both factors and often favor those needing less aid. </p>
<p>Check the school's admission or financial aid website for their policies.</p>
<p>"If they think you're a good student asking for aid, and theres another student B who is nearly as good as you, but is not asking for any aid, shouldnt they just say they'll accept you, but without any aid (i mean you SHOULD be given preference...).......later if you say no u really need the aid.....then the seat can go to B." </p>
<p>I guess it just doesn't make sense for the college to accept a student knowing that the student probably doesn't have the financial means to attend. By accepting all the qualified poor international students with aid who will in the end either go somewhere else which gives them aid or are unable to beg/borrow/steal the 40K/yr (i.e. not matriculate), it will not only pose double work to the admission officers, it also will kill their yield rate - which was once a time a number as sacred as admission rate or avg SAT scores (no. of accepted students matriculating / no. accepted), until USNEWs dropped it as a scoring criteria for its college ranking.</p>
<p>Almost all of the aid awarded by American universities is Need Based Aid. If your family income is above some cutoff level(~55K$ for Harvard) they will make you pay the full fees.
Merit Aid is awarded by some universities but it rarely exceeds some thousand dollars, so if you can pay the full fees DON'T APPLY FOR AID in Need aware Universities.
In need blind universities you could apply for aid but given your financial situation your EFC is expected to be high(you said that you could pay the full fees).</p>
<p>"If your family income is above some cutoff level(~55K$ for Harvard) they will make you pay the full fees." </p>
<p>I think you are mistaken, abhishiv. That figure is more like the cutoff figure for Harvard not requiring ANY family contribution, rather than requiring you to pay full fees. In fact, you gotta be really quite rich not to qualify for any financial aid at all. Though, of course, if you only qualify for 10K aid, you are better off not applying for aid at all considering the high trade-off in admission chances (at non-need-blind unis that is).</p>
<p>Sorry woebegone, i must be drunk when i typed it.
You are quite right, that figure is for no EFC.</p>
<p>Although my family can quite comfortably afford to pay the full fee, if you look at it purely in terms of salary, my family's income would be around 45k/year.</p>
<p>any place i can get a list of which colleges are need-blind towards internationals?
Are these colleges actually going to be need blind or is that just for namesake?...since all the points woebegone mentioned still hold good</p>
<p>The schools don't just look at salary, most look at you're family's assets as well. If you can afford to pay, why are you applying for aid. Most people really can't afford to pay!</p>
<p>Top Schools with Need-blind finaid for Internationals: </p>
<p>Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Williams College, Middlebury College, Grinnell College(some aid, but still relatively generous to int'ls), Georgetown, and probably a few other Liberal Arts schools. However, do note that the extent of competition for admission is also very high, because they always receive a surplus of other international applications also seeking aid. </p>
<p>"Almost all of the aid awarded by American universities is Need Based Aid." - I fully agree with this quote ONLY if you are applying as a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. In fact, FEW schools in America are willing to offer "need-blind" aid to International applicants. Most are "need-aware" or "aid-not-available" to international students (like UC Berkeley).</p>
<p>Grinnell College and Georgetown aren't Need Blind.
[quote]
In fact, FEW schools in America are willing to offer "need-blind" aid to International applicants. Most are "need-aware" or "aid-not-available" to international students (like UC Berkeley).
[/quote]
I never said that most colleges are need blind. Need aware colleges most of the time award Need Based aid and not Merit aid.</p>