<p>so I was viewing some sites on CC, and I was wondering whether applying financial aid (need base or merit) affects your chance of being accepted to colleges. If so, please make a list of those colleges. (if any knows.....) </p>
<p>also, I have another question about financial aid. My parents do make a lot of money. But as the matter of fact, almost 80% of the income goes to taxes, loans, and debts...... so do colleges just look at my parents' salaries (which will own me very badly), or do they consider these things, too? again, if you know any college that takes the consideration, please tell me.</p>
<p>PS: I'm more interested in applying engineering schools such as UoM Ann Arbor, Northwestern, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Georgia tech, and Cornell. so if the information associates with any of those colleges, please put that in the comment, too.
thanks!</p>
<p>Most schools are need-aware. Meaning that, while needing financial aid won’t kill your chances, it will put you at a disadvantage to someone who does not. If a school doesn’t explicitly say otherwise, it is probably need-aware.</p>
<p>There are some schools, however, that are need-blind. With them, the financial aid and admissions offices do not communicate about students, so your financial aid will not affect your admission.</p>
<p>Colleges certainly consider things other than salary when determining financial aid, so don’t worry that if your parents have high debt you won’t be able to get any. Do realize, though, that a college correctly calculating what you can afford to pay does not mean that you’ll actually be able to afford to attend. Most colleges have no sort of policy that their aid offer will cover the cost of attendance minus what you can afford, and even the ones that do may give you a lot of loans as financial aid.</p>
<p>FAFSA does not consider debt in calculating your EFC. </p>
<p>Schools may consider debt for reasons such as medical expenses but probably will not consider consumer debt (such as credit cards, car payments etc).</p>
<p>so don’t worry that if your parents have high debt you won’t be able to get any.</p>
<p>Uh…not true…</p>
<p>The student DOES need to be concerned. IF their high debts are because of car payments, credit cards, big mortgage, etc, the school is going to consider those “personal choices.” If the big debt is from medical bills, then a school might make an adjustment.</p>
<p>If the family has a high income, the student should not expect much, if any, FA. </p>
<p>Families with high incomes cannot expect schools to give them aid just because they chose to spend their money on other things. If that were the case, all affluent families would do that and expect aid.</p>
<p>I used to subscribe to Amarkov’s opinion on Need Blindness. After reading many posts on CC I think I have come around to the conclusion that most schools (particularly public U’s) are need blind. They’ll generally admit based on the merits of the application but for the FA, you get what you get. Some people consider this an admit/deny: you’re admitted but the FA package doesn’t come near meeting need so you are, in effect, denied.</p>
<p>Snoopy, most of the schools you are applying to are public U’s and most, if not all, will be out of state. You will get no FA from them.</p>
<p>mom2college is correct. You do NEED to be concerned about costs. All kids need to be concerned about costs and talk to parents. Snoopydog for you the best course of action is develop your list with a broad (cost) range of engineering schools that are strong in the area you are interested in. With the exception of two or three engineering schools starting salaries are fairly clustered from all accredited engineering programs so you aren’t very disadvantaged by choosing one college over another. You might want to explore who recruits on the campuses you are interested in, where graduates go, what area of the country you are interested in living after college as you think about the future. Do the research and add a couple engineering schools you can afford or that you have a high probability of getting some merit/scholarship dollars, keep your parents in the loop and you should have a good outcome for your needs and your parents’ financial needs.</p>
<p>Also, the out of state public universities are not necessarily a good choice financially.
We are upper middle income (EFC of $25K) and our worst package was from UC Berkeley which offered $0 in grants (everything was in loans and work study). I guess they are saving their money for students from their own state or kids who are much more needy than we are.</p>
<p>PS: I’m more interested in applying engineering schools such as UoM Ann Arbor, Northwestern, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Georgia tech, and Cornell. so if the information associates with any of those colleges, please put that in the comment, too.
thanks!</p>
<p>Oh…I missed this.</p>
<p>You’re going to have some serious problems with many/most of these schools. </p>
<p>Your strategy is wrong since you’ll have a high EFC that your family can’t afford. </p>
<p>1) Find out how much your parents will pay each year towards your education. That will greatly influence where you should apply.</p>
<p>2) What are your stats? GPA and ACT/SAT (including SAT breakdown).</p>
<p>3) Unless you’re instate for one of the above publics, you need to “get over” status engineering schools. Since you have an unaffordable EFC, you won’t be able to afford to go to those schools. They are not going to help you. Your parents income is too high. </p>
<p>4) You need to identify in-state schools and out of state schools that will give you huge merit for your stats. That’s the only way to overcome an unaffordable EFC.</p>
<p>Edited to add…I see you live in South Carolina. You need to consider Clemson and other schools that will give you merit. P.S. Are your parents residents of SC? I see you mention that you live outside of the country a lot. </p>
<p>*
I haven’t taken the real SAT yet, but my PSAT is 75 math, 47 critical reading, and54 writing…</p>
<p>and SAT II:
Chinese: 800
Physics: taking it in March but expect to get 800
Math:same as physics*</p>
<p>If my EFC is close to COA, is it a good idea to check the FA box or will it hurt my S chances of being accepted at privates. I’m thinking at the most expensive schools he might be eligible for the subsidized loan and maybe work study. At low cost privates he wouldn’t receive anything, so should I apply at all. Does it hurt merit chances to either not apply or apply with a high EFC?</p>