Is need blind really need blind?

When net price calculators at all colleges of interest show list price, and there are no merit scholarships that require be an FA application.

Actually, most schools are need blind for individual applicants. But most of them do not promise to “meet need” (which is a weaker promise than people here treat it as, since “need” can be defined however the school likes).

Most schools do pay attention to aggregate FA need of the class.

I don’t know, curious me. But I do know ‘some’ merit scholarships can prioritize kids with need, along with the merit qualifications. Don’t think that applies to NMF or NHRP.

It looks like BU doesn’t need FAFSA and Profile for NMF and NHRP; the forms are “recommended.”

http://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/first-year-merit/

A possible clue as to why:

*Should you apply for need-based aid, too?

Although most merit-based scholarships don’t require it, we strongly encourage you to complete the applications for need-based aid if you think you may need financial assistance beyond a merit award. That way, whether or not you receive a merit-based scholarship, you’ll be considered for any aid for which you qualify.*

http://www.bu.edu/finaid/types-of-aid/scholarships-grants/merit-based/

I never looked at it as not needing being a plus. Rather that at a Need Aware, needing might put you at risk, as their $ pool runs low.

@cinnamon1212

Please tell us where you got this information?

I think most colleges are actually need blind. Their financial aid offices and their admissions offices have no communication at all. This includes probably all public universities, community colleges, and some private universities as well.

BUT…regardless…

If you need financial aid to make a college affordable…then complete the financial aid application forms. It won’t do you any good to get accepted to a college and not be able to pay the bills.

If a college asks for any forms to be submitted for any kind of aid…and you want that aid…submit the forms. Otherwise you won’t be considered for that aid.

Choice is yours to make. But they aren’t going to make an exception to their requirements for you…so adhere to the requests the colleges make.

You’re right. I know you are. Although I hate the idea of giving College Board MORE money to send the CSS profile, and the form itself is terribly intrusive, if I want to play the game (and chase merit $) I have to follow the rules.

I do believe most schools are need blind. Most accepted students are gapped, simple as that. My kids went to high schools where a lot of families were not eligible for financial aid, and I did not feel that there were a plethora of acceptances from the need blind schools as compared to when we had lived in areas where financial need was more prevalent

I know many families on the cusp of financial aid get acceptances for their students and denied aid because they did not qualify. I also know many who got just a bit of aid, some subsidized loans, a small grant. It’s worth the effort, IMO, most of the time. I do believe that those on the borderline of acceptance at need aware schools have a greater hurdle if they need financial aid., and a better chance for admissions if they are full pay, and are even likely to get a sweetener in the form of merit money

.
I don’t think that any system is 100% reliable, and am willing to believe that there are instances when need might creep into the picture at schools that claim to be need blind along with the possibility that there may be schools systematically gaming the system. But overall, I believe what the colleges proport are the case. I think anyone who is even on the edge of possibly qualifying for a small amount of financial aid should go on ahead and apply for it, unless they truly have the means to pay for the cost of college without struggling, and truly want a shot at a need aware school.

My SIL worked in a well known university financial aid office for a couple of years. She didn’t have much good to say about the job. Hated it. But she did begrudgingly day the process was fair.

I came to the same conclusion in my short stint many years ago at a financial aid office.

@thumper1 a Google search will turn up lots of sources, but here’s a good one, citing lots of “name brand” colleges:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.amp.html

Another source I found lists only 100 colleges that are need blind in the US, and of those, 64 meet full need. The others admit regardless of need, but do not meet all need.

There are probably over 3000 need blind colleges in the US. Like most of them. Most of them give very little aid other than federal and state entitlements.

Need awareness is a rarity. Meeting full need also rare among colleges.

There are over 100 community colleges in California, and they do not consider FA need in admission (they are open admission). Of course, there are more community colleges in other states. So the claim that there are only 100 need blind colleges in the US is false.

Thanks for linking the article, @cinnamon1212 . A good number schools on my child’s list last year were mentioned as “need aware” in the article, but never gave that impression in the info sessions when they talked about FA.

Don’t treat google searches as definitive. Colleges review, and sometimes revise, their FA policies every year, especially those whose finances aren’t stellar. If the college doesn’t say it’s need-blind on its website, don’t assume it is, even if it was. Call its FA office to make sure it still is.

But let’s point something out. Getting an admit is about more than NB or NA. It’s about match, first.

When your kid picks a list, make sure he’s a viable candidate, knows enough to write a solid app. Cuz if he doesn’t, he won’t get as far as $ considerations. Same applies for MFN colleges.

How do need-blind schools determine when and how much to implement a tuition hike when they are “blind” to how much tuition revenue they take in? Just genuinely curious about how these decisions are made.

One of my children’s schools jumped by a lot one year, citing the need to increase the FA pool (which is roughly the same %age of students on FA every year.) How do they know how much that pool will increase bc of those paying full tuition? There’s a big endowment but I know they don’t like to draw from it, or wouldn’t over the long haul.

The real question is where is the list of schools where being full pay is a hook? It would be a more honest look at all this nonsense. I am amazed by the sheer confidence people have in this area.

The schools that are need aware are where being full pay is a hook. And there aren’t all that many of them.

That is not to say, that at some time, some AO won’t take need into some consideration when making a decision. Can’t read the minds of any individual making a professional judgement. Most schools are need blind in admissions in that they have no systematic way that they filter out students who need aid. There are schools that do, and those are the need aware schools. It has happened that schools have been caught lying about this.

If a school says it meets 100% of need but does not specify that it’s need blind in many cases the school is partially need aware. The way it works, as described by a NESCAC Dean of Admissions, is that most of the class is composed need blind. At that particular school at that time that was about 75-80% of the incoming class. Admissions does not see how much, if any, financial aid students are applying for. After the 75-80% threshold is reached (and I would assume the specific percentage is determined using enrollment management software) the financial need of applicants already on the admit list is calculated by the FA office to determine how much is left in the budget and the need of further applicants under consideration is unmasked and considered by admissions. What that means is that if you’re in the top 75% of students likely to be admitted how much financial need you have will not be considered. This is not the top 75% of applicants. It’s .75 x the school’s acceptance rate.
If you’re in the bottom 25% and need substantial aid you could be at a disadvantage, and if you’re in the bottom 25% of those likely to be admitted and you need no or little FA you could be at an advantage relative to your full-need peers.

It sounds like you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the term “need-blind.” It doesn’t mean that a school can’t see how much tuition revenue they take in. It’s an admissions term that has to do with what kind of family financial information an admissions officer sees when reviewing an application.

Need aware schools have different ways they assess their applicant pool in terms of ability to pay.

Though a school may not be need aware in admissions, they may well be need aware in how they give out financial aid and merit awards. In many cases, it’s tantamount to a denial to accept high need students without giving them funds to make attendance possible.