<p>I was having a discussion with my friend the other day and decided to post the question here. How much does NOT asking for Fin. Aid or a scholarship help? I know that with more and more colleges becoming need-blind it's starting to matter less and less, but how much does coming from an upper-middle class, High-Def TV, full tuition at private school, "guaranteed to give annual donations" family matter these days in admissions?</p>
<p>Here's what the Director of Admissions at my alma mater told me: if it's down to the last several candidates (or deciding who to take from the wait list), and all of the FA money has already been handed out, who do you think they're going to choose? Right, the kid who doesn't need FA.</p>
<p>The Head of Admissions at a LAC open house told us: If you don't require a need-based GRANT to attend our college, check "NO" in the financial aid box. You'll still be considered for merit money and you can still apply for loans. But the college only has $X dollars to give out in need-based grants, and admissions knows this, so they have to take that into consideration.</p>
<p>I was sort of surprised he admitted this to us in a public forum!</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, which LAC was it, Lafalum?</p>
<p>for need blind schools, it matters not. For need-aware schools, it's like SpringfieldMom said....a student on the bubble who is obviously full pay will likely be admitted over one who need finaid.</p>
<p>I understand that when most decisions have been made, kids in need of FinAid will be less likely to be admitted, but in the general admissions process, wealth will not way in heavily, right?</p>
<p>It was Union that said when they get down to the final decisions, if they only have $x left, the kids that need FA might have a harder time. Now that I think about it, I can't remember exactly if that was what was said at the Open House, or if I read it in an article later, but either way it was a Union person being quoted. I do know that Union said we should only check "yes" if we needed a grant; checking "no" still left us eligible for loans and merit money.</p>
<p>I believe Union's website says they have "needs-blind" admissions and will fully meet the need of students who are admitted.</p>
<p>It totally depends on the school. In some schools it may even hurt, since they give special consideration to lower-income students. However, at some colleges it helps a lot to not ask for financial help. I would look up my schools on princeton review to see.</p>
<p>Only a few handfuls of colleges are truly need blind, and I'm not sure that many institutions make their policies very public or clear for understandable reasons. The two schools that I've heard about first-hand have policies similar to the ones described above: financial-aid status only makes a difference as they get down to the marginal candidates (of course how wide that margin is depends on the overall resources they have for financial aid).</p>