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On the other hand, if we did not check of yes to FA, might they not look at that and say in order to attract D to school, perhaps we should offer merit so isn't looking at paying full boat.
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<p>That rationalization backfired on friends of ours. They felt that would not get much financial aid. They wanted to give their son the best chance at his first choice school. He was not borderline in terms of stats either. He was accepted without merit aid. They are paying the full boat. They really thought that if they did not show their financial situation, their son would have better chance at merit aid. Didn't happen.</p>
<p>We applied for financial aid. Only one school that did not offer merit aid, offered financial aid instead (equal to an average merit aid award). My son received merit aid at 5 other schools. Oh, and the one that offered the financial aid without merit was not a reach school. It was a safety/match school.</p>
<p>northeast.. do you think it really backfired or does is perhaps indicate that the "yes" or "no" to FA on the common app is meaningless in the world of merit aid. Why would an institution intentionally not offer merit aid to a well-qualified student, (I guess I must ask at this point if they are known to be generous or not with their merit aid).</p>
<p>And different question to anyone out there. If you say "Yes" or "No" to applying for FA on the common app, can you change your mind after it is submitted and then apply (or not apply)?</p>
<p>We said "Yes" to the financial aid question, and my d got merit aid (which in the case of her schools was independent of need or FA applications) to almost every school to which she applied. The one that didn't offer merit aid didn't offer FA either.</p>
<p>RatedPG, I am repeating really how they felt. They did regret not applying for FA. They thought that if they did not show their financial picture, the school would be more inclined to offer some lure to get their son to martriculate there. To be honest, I think that he had the GPA, but just missed an academic merit award based upon his SAT scores. That is not to say that there are not other merit awards that he might have been eligible for (ie:a departmental award, leadership award). Unfortunately we don't have 2 identical apps. (one applying for FA, and one not applying for FA) to really know.</p>