How much will FA hurt admissions chances?

Prep School Admissions
1

My parents are upper middle class (~200-250k/yr), and they can pay full price to boarding schools, but it will put them under a lot of financial strain.

They told me to only apply for FA to my safeties and to Andover, but I’m wondering whether we should just apply for FA to all the schools I’m applying to, to ease the financial pressure on them. How much will FA impact admissions rates at schools like Choate, Hotchkiss, L’ville? Is it a small difference, like a 1% decrease in admit rate, or is it a significant detriment on your application?

Thanks.

1 Like
2

The simple act of applying for FA won’t dramatically hurt your chances. Needing FA will hurt chances at need-aware school.

A distinction to note is that schools calculate what you need; what you want to pay is irrelevant. So if your parents can afford boarding school, they should expect financial strain as many parents here will attest to.

3 Likes
3

Exeter is also need-blind, I believe.

4

If you think you need FA of some sort you should apply for it everywhere. It may hurt your chances somewhat(ONLY if you need it) but a school that wants you will take you. Plus, if your family can’t afford BS without FA, doesn’t even matter whether you get in or not unless you applied for aid. If your family can pay for it but it would put a strain, be prepared to get very little/no aid at all. It is very common for families in your income range to live well below their means when sending a kid to boarding school. Like previously mentioned, it won’t hurt to apply everywhere just in case.

Tldr, In hopefully less messy wording, apply for FA everywhere if you think you need it, but be prepared to receive little/no financial aid.

1 Like
5

The schools will determine how much financial aid they will award your family based on different inputs. Some may award none while others might be more generous. Since you are not likely going to qualify for a full ride or even most, I do not think it will hurt your chances. Only a few schools are need blind. You need to apply if you think at any point your family might need it over the course of being a student at the school.