<p>Son submitted his Common App to Columbia ED. I've been struggling for months on whether to apply for financial aid or not, and after much coaxing from my sister-in-law, I had him check off the Yes box. I surmised that it was more for the Stafford Loan than financial aid itself, since I'm almost 100% positive we won't qualify for any aid. Husband makes $130,000 a year, I'm a stay-at-home mom and I have another son heading to college in 2 years. I think what will truly hurt us are our savings, home equity and rental properties. I think it's safe to say we can cover first year's tuition without going broke.</p>
<p>At this point, should we contact Columbia and tell them we decided not to apply for financial aid? Can we even do that? The CSS profile is due by Nov 16, but I haven't started it yet. My fear is that there is truth to what some CC'ers say about how applying for aid lessens an applicant's chance for acceptance, even if a school does say they are need-blind. </p>
<p>Thanks for any advice. I thought the Common App was headache-inducing. This is worse!</p>
<p>Would Columbia allow your family to apply for financial aid in future years if you don’t apply this year? Your financial circumstances could change. Also, colleges may consider other siblings in college for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>need blind usually means literally, mechanically need blind. Don’t worry about it. As to receiving financial aid, if your yearly income is 130k/year you would need substantial assets in order not to qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree. It’s fine to apply for aid. You are right that you may not get it, but it won’t hurt you to apply for it. You won’t be eligible for federal need-based aid, but Columbia will apply its own formula for their own institutional aid. It’s hard to say if you’d be eligible for anything from them, but it’s only sensible that you’d want to inquire about that by applying for aid.</p>
<p>Fill out the paper work! For three reasons:</p>
<p>1) You may qualify – even when you think you don’t.<br>
2) Filling out the FAFSA/Profile may get your student into a scholarship consideration for some obscure scholarship. If the school has an alumni who wants to give money to a left handed tuba player majoring in French then the school wants to make that alum happy. Lucky you if you happen to have that tuba player. Filling out the paper work is how you say “here we are!”<br>
3) As miserable as the paperwork is, it will make you take a snapshot of your financial life. You may realize that you really should be making that IRA contribution this year – or that it’s silly to have that lingering car loan. You may also have a wake up and think “Ye Gods, next year we have to have a new roof AND tuition money” – and that will help get you going on what needs to be done. </p>
<p>I’d fill out the paperwork. And I would also trust the word of the school. If it says “need blind” then I would believe them. </p>
<p>If you get to the point that the kid is on a waiting list, then it might be worth a phone call or email to say that you realize you could be a full pay family. There is a slight chance that (in that particular scenario) it might help with the wait list.</p>