I recently got deferred from UPenn, which I ED-ed to… Could this be partly because I requested for about 10k in financial aid?
I’m not sure if the need-blind policy would still be in place, because it seems kind of unreasonable to force a qualified but not-wealthy applicant to accept a less-than-stellar financial package through the binding agreement.
How is any school forcing you to accept a less-than-stellar financial package? You can always say no if the offered aid is not sufficient. How much less was the aid package than the results of the NPC?
No. Need blind means the admission office makes the decision based on your application, not based on your need for financial aid. If you are admitted, you’ll receive the aid you need based on their determination, not on what you ‘asked for.’
The OP was deferred (based on the evaluation of the application, not the FA that might be needed). No FA was offered yet.
I meant that I was asking for quite a lot in terms of financial aid (on the form it asked me to list the maximum I was willing to pay and I put in a REALLY small sum). I know you’re allowed to decline–I just thought that was a rare thing that nobody ever did, and I assumed the admissions would have had to either offer me a great deal of FA with my acceptance, or just defer my app. just wondering if the admissions office ever simplified the situation by just passing an applicant to the regular decision round. Anyway, my question’s been answered pretty clearly haha thanks!
Was U Penn your first choice school - and you were only willing to pay a very small amount to go there?
You don’t request an amount of financial aid. You APPLY to the school for financial aid, and the school computes what your family can pay (according to their formula) and makes a financial aid award accordingly.
So…while you think you “need” $10,000 in aid, it is very possible that the amount Penn calculates will differ.
But none of this has to do with admissions at Penn (unless you are an international student). Their admissions are need blind…meaning your financial need was not considered when your ED application for admission was reviewed (unless you are an international student).
And that amount you put on the form…never is shred with admissions. And more important…it has nothing to do with the calculation for need based aid that Penn will do. In other words, if you say you can pay $2,000 a year…and Penn computes that your family can pay $60,000 a year…the Penn calculation will be what is used to,determine your need based aid package.
What is your annual parent income? That is the primary driving item in determining need based aid…and financial need.