I just called Sarah Lawrence, Hofstra, Hobart, Fordham and Wagner Colleges admissions offices.
SL. Need Aware
Hofstra. Need Blind
Hobart. Need Aware
Fordham. Need Blind
Wagner. Need Blind
All straight answers. All just with last few minutes.
You think the SUNYs and CUNYs and the many other state universities are need aware in admissions? Most are not. In fact very few are, and if they are it’s fir international or OOS applicants. Other categories subject to need awareness even at need blind schools are wait lists and transfers. But for first year applicants, The vast majority of colleges are need blind in admissions.
Do you think Eastern New Mexico State is need aware in admissions? Or D’Youville College ? Or Dominican College? Or Iona College? There are more of those type of schools, far far more than the schools with name recognition like Sarah Lawrence or Hobart William Smith or Colgate, which are need aware
If a school is need blind but doesn’t meet need, it’s no skin off their back to accept kids with high need. Need aware only really comes to play in admissions for schools that meet need. It’s a very small amount of schools that take into account socioeconomic status.
Not true.
Again, not true.
To be fair, schools that are need blind tend to want to crow about it.
Not really. It’s taken as granted in many schools that have pretty much open admissions. I could not find it on ENMS ‘s web site. I called them and they say they are 100% need blind in admissions and I believe them
Look, saying “not true” doesn’t add value, unless you can provide support for your position.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter to me – I post on this thread so subsequent readers can educate themselves and plan accordingly. If you disagree with my assessment, that’s fine – how you make application decisions is up to you, and obviously my point of view shouldn’t matter.
I would urge people, though, to read that NY Times article, it summarizes the landscape well, and accurately, in my opinion.
I guess also the issue of “need aware” comes into play really in 2 scenarios. One, where you need FA, and then the “meets full need” aspect becomes really important. The other scenario is where the applicant is borderline for a selective school, and is full pay. That is where knowing Bates, Oberlin, Macalester, Carleton, Skidmore etc etc etc take ability to pay as a factor in deciding to admit a kid, or not.
It’s exactly the situation described inthe article profiling Trinity College admissions (again, NY Times).
Curious why the adcoms at need-blind colleges would need to see parent’s job titles (or zip code) as part of the total applicants package? Why not keep this information separate from the review file as to not influence the admissions reviewer?
There are over 3000 4 year colleges in the US. Almost all of them are need blind in admissions is what I believe. Most of these colleges are hardly discussed or mentioned on this forum or on any national platform. Most discussions on colleges focus on the 10-20% with the most name recognition except on a local basis.
If you want to randomly call a portion of those college, the ones that are hardly known, not the ones listed in the NYT article or come up in the google lists as need aware or need blind , you’ll see what I mean. Most of these schools will auto accept anyone who meets their admissions standards before the FAFSA is even submitted. Getting any aid from them other than the entitlements is a whole other story. Most of them simply have very little of their own money for financial aid so it’s a moot point whether their students have need.
I won’t even get into the for- profit on -line schools. If you want to attend, you pay, somehow , whether you have need or not. That’s where loans come into the picture for these schools as well as the non profit school where most of the students do have need but the school has very little in funds to meet it other than loans.
What I should have said that schools that are need blind and *meet need * tend to want to crow about it.
A school needs to be careful about accepting students who can’t afford the school because it would impact their yield and it is used by college ranking.
Can someone confirm what @twogirls said on page 1? That admissions officers cant even see whether you clicked yes or no for the “are you planning to apply for financial aid” part?
Coalition App doesn’t ask for such information, but Common App does. This information shouldn’t be necessary and an applicant with such concerns should try to use Coalition App instead.
@cptofthehouse,
Yet it’s not always that simple. From the school’s FAQ page,
This isn’t true either. Even need aware schools that don’t meet full need have a budget they are trying to watch.
As noted above, these schools also don’t want to accept too many students where the school will be totally unaffordable.
You wrote this: “Schools do not say they are need aware…”
I replied saying this statement is not true.
Here is some support for my position:
Colby aid packages contain grants and work-study aid—but not loans. While our admissions process is need-aware…
https://www.colby.edu/admission/admissions-and-financial-aid-requirements/
Need Aware/Sensitive and Meets Full Need: All admitted students will receive a financial aid package that makes attendance affordable, but some otherwise qualified students may be denied if the institution cannot afford to offer the aid they need. This is the scenario at Tufts and many of our peer institutions.
Smith meets the full documented need, as determined by college policy, of all admitted students who apply for aid by the published deadlines. Because Smith follows “need-aware” policies, a small fraction of admission decisions may include an assessment of the student’s level of need.
https://www.smith.edu/admission-aid/criteria
While not all schools that are need-aware publicly state that they are (at least not in a clear way that is relatively easy to find), the examples above show that there are need-aware schools that do indeed say they are need-aware.
All schools want to put a best spin on their FA policies, at least publicly on their websites. If it doesn’t say it’s need-blind, you can bet either:
- it’s need-aware; or
- it could exercise its option to become need-aware on some applications; or
- its admissions and FA office functions aren’t segregated properly to make the claim to be need-blind; or
- it’s been changing its policy back-and-forth (e.g. CWRU); or
- it’s a public school so it can’t discriminate on the basis of applicants’ finances.
International students, waitlisted students, transfer students and OOS students for some public universities are often excepted even at schools that say they are need blind. They often do caveat the need blind statement with those exceptions, sometimes they do not.
Many of the schools that are need blind don’t mention it on their website. If you call some of those schools, the reaction can be amusing. From asking what the hill is “ need blind” to “who doesn’t have need” to “does a bear go in the woods”. It doesn’t occur to a lot of these schools to be need aware. They aren’t going to sift through the applications figuring out who needs what until it’s time to talk about paying.
Also, some schools do not state they are need aware on their websites. I had to call and ask a few. I have no doubt that if I called enough, some would demur from an answer.
And sadly, yes, there have been schools, and well could still be schools that are not being forthright about their admissions policies.
You all are fussing this to death.
If you aren’t sure about a target college, call and ask. The end.
@nomood I work for one. It isn’t downloaded on reader files. you don’t know if that neurosurgeon is underwater, the CEO had market losses, or that blue collar family is “The Millionaire next Door.”
^The college you work for doesn’t but not all colleges have such clear policies. Why should a parent’s occupation, or lack thereof, even be asked on child’s college application, other than for financial reasons? Some colleges obviously find such information useful, precisely for financial reasons.