How to answer “are you seeking financial aid”?

Paying for College
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So our EFC puts us in the full-pay category, but we definitely want our student to be considered for merit aid and potentially a work-study job. The merit aid offered will factor heavily into final decisions, I expect. We might be willing to stretch our budget for the right school, but that doesn’t include every school on the list.

We also know that being “full pay” may help in admissions at some schools.

So when an application asks “are you seeking financial aid?” — what is the best way to answer?

If we say yes because we want merit aid, will that eliminate any “full pay” admissions edge even if our FAFSA will show we are “full pay”?

If we say no, are we effectively inviting schools to reduce any merit aid?

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  1. Federal work study is a need based financial aid award. If your student doesn’t have financial need at their college, they won’t receive this award.

Some colleges have their own form of work study money…but usually even that is need based.

Also, your student can apply for regular jobs that are not funded with work study funds.

  1. In most cases, merit aid does not consider your financial need. You need to check whether your colleges require the financial aid forms for consideration of merit aid. A few do. Most don’t.

  2. If a school is need aware, and you are full pay, all that admissions will see is that you won’t be requiring any need based aid from the college. So…checking that “yes” box likely won’t matter…IMO.

@Mwfan1921 your thoughts?

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If you have to “stretch” your budget and are relying on merit aid, check yes.

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That was my inclination, but I didn’t want to send a signal to a top 20 school that, even though we are in the full pay category, we are absolutely unwilling to pay it (so the school sees no point in extending an offer).

In most situations that is true, but for the perfect school and situation, it is not out of the question.

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The answer is yes.

It simply means they should expect a fafsa and css. If they are need aware it won’t matter. They can’t make that call til they see your need and you won’t have any so it won’t impact admissions chances.

If you have no need, you won’t qualify for federal work study.

That said you should still apply because you never know. It can’t hurt…it can only help. And some schools now will give aid even to people whose Fafsa meet full need - they have their own merit tables.

It shouldn’t impact merit at all but we’ve seen through a few CC posts that there are a few schools that won’t do merit if the student didn’t do a fafsa.

If you do plan to do the fafsa and css at schools that require, answer yes. And don’t overthink it. It’s not impacting your admission chances whatsoever because it does not mean you are receiving need based aid. It simply means you are asking for it.

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The question “Are you seeking financial aid?” really means “Are you seeking need-based financial aid?”. There’s no need to ask any applicant, with or without financial need, whether s/he likes to receive some merit-based aid. The only reason a school would give you merit-based aid is because it thinks you may go elsewhere without it, not whether you ask for it.

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I could be wrong (and if so, someone on this thread will correct me), but T20s don’t usually give merit aid. If you need merit aid, you will probably need to aim lower. It might be worth narrowing you student’s list to T20s you’d be willing to pay full price for, plus sub T20s where s/he would be happy to attend and is likely to get enough merit aid that the price matches what you’re willing to pay for that particular school.

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@JAF09 there ARE some top 20 colleges that give merit aid which is highly competitive. Off the top of my head…Vanderbilt, Duke, Johns Hopkins and University of Chicago.

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Back to the original question….if you plan to file a fafsa (and css at schools that require) answer yes.

Many with EFCs over the COA do. I did for my daughter at all schools.

This will not impact your decision in any way. This is simply meant to inform the school you will need an aid folder in the fin aid dept, etc.

What you are concerned with is that at need aware schools you decision can be impacted. While this is true, that determination isn’t made off this box check. That determination would be made after the review of your file.

Since your EFC would be high, it would have zero impact.

Some colleges give aid to people making even $200k+ so it’s certainly wise to file.

And in your case by checking the box you will have zero negative impact.

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Thank you — that makes sense and is comforting.

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I know merit aid from a Top 20 is unlikely.

The most likely scenario is that our student ends up at a lower-ranked school with a strong merit aid offer.

But if we get an acceptance from the highest ranked reach school on the list, it would make us pause and at least consider paying full price. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would be at least theoretically possible and worth a second look at the numbers. So in that sense, we don’t “need” merit aid.

I just didn’t want to reduce the already slim chances of that acceptance coming through because we checked “yes” to seeking financial aid.

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You are me. I have one at Alabama where my OOS tuition is $3k a year or so. He got into Purdue with $10k merit but chose Bama…for engineering. I’d rather he went to Purdue but he is saving me $20k a year. And Purdue is affordable whereas the $80k a year schools to me aren’t.

When I asked WUSTL when they pushed ED and I asked what if I don’t like the offer and they said if you can’t afford it we’ll release you. I asked…it’s not whether I can afford it…it’s what if I don’t want to afford it ? Sounds like you.

My daughter is at College of Charleston. She is on free tuition (OOS)….not all would get but they can get aggressive beyond the $12k they publish. She got into Washington & Lee which is $81k COA vs her $16-18k it’s costing me for the Dorm and other stuff. No doubt W&L is more prestigious and may lead to better outcomes but I didn’t have to even suggest it was off the table after we didn’t get merit.

Don’t know your academics etc but people act like spending $70 or 80k a year is no problem. But it’s a lot of money with no guarantees, even if you go to a top school. There are so many great colleges that have auto merit, Honors Colleges and more. And no doubt many families strap themselves financially, loan up their kids and for what ? I can’t imagine the stress. And what if investments have gone bad ? I do have a financial problem. I saved too much in the 529 plan…a problem that’s good to have.

It’s an individual call and again I don’t know your students #s or desires but there’s many publics with auto merit (Arizona, Arkansas, Bama, Mizzou, Arkansas, UAH, Murray State to make a few)…many with great merit…U of SC, Miami Ohio. aZ State, Florida State and more……and privates with great merit like Hofstra, Bradley, DePauw. And then more affordable schools at full pay like Florida, Purdue and private such as Elon.

It’s all a personal call but if your student is strong and you want to save money…and think about what that money can grow to over time….you will have opportunity.

If you want to chase pedigree and are comfortable with the spend, then you can do that. But when you say we’ll look at the highest rank what you are doing is falling for marketing because there are Ivy caliber students at just about every flagship in the country. Rankings are a marketing gimmick. I know some schools are better than others but do I know that Vanderbilt will provide a better experience to a child then neighboring and not ranked Belmont ? No.

But if you don’t see the value…and I as a parent don’t…you can save. I’m impressed by the various activity my daughter partakes in at Charleston…they have wonderful leadership, networking, and social opportunities. She’s always busy. I see less of this at Bama but that’s more likely my son is an introvert and as an engineer is always studying and/or hiking. And btw which school has the most national merit finalists in the country…presumably all smart kids….Bama.

Good luck. If you apply to a mix of schools, you’ll buy yourself time before having to decide. We did 21. With the common app, it’s not as onerous as it sounds unless you only apply to high pedigree schools. But the big thing is make sure you choose schools where you are above the average student for your best chance at merit should you apply to schools where it doesn’t happen automatically.

Good luck.

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I tend to agree with you on all points and the schools at the top of our student’s list are less prestigious institutions with generous merit packages. There is only one uber expensive top 20 school on the list, in fact.

Our reasons for giving it consideration are not so much about marketing, except to the extent that it is a name that carries weight all across the country and that can open doors and create opportunities. We are more focused on the fact that the starting salaries are very high compared to other schools and it gets high marks for ROI and good value. Plus there are some of the perks that come with a private school (often easier to get classes/housing; less bureaucracy).

But as you point out, there are no guarantees. What might be a great deal for another kid might not be a good fit for ours. So, no, we won’t pay full price just based on the name alone — but we aren’t closing the door just yet, either.

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  1. Look at the majors, not just the salaries. An English major from Harvard is not going to necessarily have better opportunities.

  2. Make sure your school offers merit - as someone mentioned previously, some do - but some even below the top 20 - don’t. They’re all need based.

  3. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with your statement on geting classes or housing. Many schools are and have overenrolled - public and private. Yes, they’ll get classes - but they might have a Gen Ed and want class A which sounds really interesting and has a great professor - but might end up in class B which fulfills the same requirement but doesn’t sound interesting and you hear the professor is no bueno.

It’s a school by school issue. And even a college by college within the school issue…

One last thing I forgot to mention - whatever the college puts out as a total cost of attendance - add to it - $3K, $5K…whatever. You have transportation, uber trips (like my daughter to the beach), bringing them home if they have an issue from the first year blues, eating out because you tire quickly of the dining hall, social outings, fall or sping break trips. private doctors because you can’t get into the health center, etc. I hear the same issues from other parents at private schools.

It’s great for your student to apply. If they are fortunate to get accepted, then you can make the decision. If you’re lucky (I say kiddingly), she wont’ get accepted and you can breathe a sigh of financial relief :slight_smile:

We all think differently. Many will gladly spend the $$ but I can tell you’re like me - you can afford to do it - but if you do, you’ll second guess yourself every step of the way!!

Good luck.

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I said usually, not none. Since this family feels they need merit aid, it seemed a better use of their time to apply to lower-ranking schools that offer merit to more students than applying for a few highly-competitive scholarships at the top schools. It sounds like they know that, but in the post I replied to it sounded like perhaps they did not.

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Honors college at many schools will eliminate the issues around housing and class registration.

I also agree to look at ROI by major, not the school as a whole.

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It sounds like you understand this, and in some cases it may depend on the school, but you will still get merit offers even if you don’t say you need FA.

FP students are typically the target audience for merit. The family that is willing and able to pay $80,000 at school A may very much prefer to pay $50,000 at school B. And for school B, that’s $50,000 in tuition revenue it wouldn’t have if the student matriculated elsewhere. And they get a student that is likely to bring up their stats. Win win for everyone.

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