<p>Our daughter got an email today from the financial aid office of one of her top (small LAC) schools. They were asking us to re-send tax information that had been misfiled. To date, we don't think the school has sent any acceptance letters (their site says notifications begin in late March).</p>
<p>However -- not that we're counting on anything -- we wonder if this request suggests our daughter might be getting a "yes" very soon.</p>
<p>In other words, do LACs typically delve into individual financial aid considerations before rendering an admission decision, or do they generally begin the process only after the ("need-blind") decision?</p>
<p>Our experience last year was that the Financial Aid offices made sure that all the necessary documents were filed and entered appropriately for all applicants so that, once acceptance decisions were made, the financial-aid offers could follow quickly.</p>
<p>Well, last year we got a request for more info from an Ivy that we thought our son had little chance of getting into. H thought it indicated that they would accept him, but I poo-poo'd that notion. 3 weeks later S was accepted! So it may be a good sign.</p>
<p>My experience with my son last year was that every college that contacted us for additional or missing financial aid information were colleges he thereafter was accepted to.</p>
<p>My opinion at the time -- before the acceptances came in -- is that the finanical aid offices would waste an incredible amount of time checking to see if financial aid applications were complete for every single applicant. It would be an absurd exercise, especially for schools that only accept a small percentage of applicants.</p>
<p>I turned out to be right as far as it went for son.</p>
<p>But I remember when I told my son that Cornell asked for additional information, and that was good sign, he waived me away and said "I can't rely on that."</p>
<p>He is a freshman at Cornell (and loves it).</p>
<p>"the finanical aid offices would waste an incredible amount of time checking to see if financial aid applications were complete for every single applicant. It would be an absurd exercise, especially for schools that only accept a small percentage of applicants."</p>
<p>Yes, that "waste of time" argument certainly occurred to us, too. I guess we'll find out soon enough.</p>
<p>Funny, but our daughter seems a lot more relaxed about all of this than we are. Like so many parents, we've turned into information fiends and web-surfing obsessives, whereas D is content to see how it all pans out. (FYI, her twin sister has been relaxing since December, after getting a "yes" from her early decision choice.) What an experience!</p>
<p>We found last year that my daughter was accepted to every school that contacted her at the last minute for financial information. Of course, this "test" doesn't help someone who timely turned everything in that was requested, but our apps were a post-Katrina mess. My theory was that financial aid was getting a list of acceptances and was working on those applications to try to get offers into the packets.</p>
<p>Well, I hate to be a wet blanket but we got a request a few years ago for additional financial info and son was waitlisted. So I don't know if you can assume an acceptance. They probably want to have things in place for waitlisted kids as well.</p>
<p>The letter D received from William and Mary asking for our tax returns was careful to say, "For entering students, this request is being sent prior to admission decisions being made and is not meant to indicate you have been accepted."</p>
<p>I have to assume that the school included that line for a reason!</p>
<p>Purely anecdotal, I know, but our experience a couple of years ago was exactly the same: Request for additional financial info was followed (thankfully!) by accpetance into Barnard.</p>
<p>Here's wishing the same result for you!</p>
<p>Note: Any financial aid person I have ever asked about this flatly denies what we are assuming here. I do wonder, though, what else are they supposed to say? It makes no sense to me that they would be spending that much time on applications (for aid) that will not be used...</p>
<p>The request for the tax data came via email from someone in the financial aid office, not via a letter (form or otherwise). There were no qualifiers, explanations, caveats, hedges or hints of any sort in the message, so it was impossible to draw any conclusions or inferences -- not that we haven't done the latter, as this thread, and the various responses, would suggest.</p>
<p>I suppose we could be really pushy and pose the question directly to the person who sent us the email... but we've tried to stay at arm's length from that degree of meddling, preferring instead to let the process play out.</p>
<p>(Thank goodness for CC, where we can indulge in all the speculation and guessing we want, with no fear of consequences! It sure beats sitting around and letting our imaginations run amok.)</p>
<p>We have been told numerous times that admissions and financial aid are completely different departments that do not communicate. Considering the strange letters we've gotten from one place or the other over the years from our sons' colleges, we're inclined to believe them! :)</p>
<p>But part of that is meant to reassure us that admissions decisions are made completely apart from need for need-blind schools. That makes sense to me. If financial aid has no bearing upon admissions, but financial aid packets need to go out at the same time, then the financial aid dept has to make sure that all info is ready to go for all applicants.</p>
<p>Just to further clarify, we weren't asked for "additional" info, just the same tax data we'd already sent, which the fin. aid office apparently mislaid. Not that this would have any bearing on the subtext (imagined or not) of the request.</p>
<p>"We have been told numerous times that admissions and financial aid are completely different departments that do not communicate. Considering the strange letters we've gotten from one place or the other over the years from our sons' colleges, we're inclined to believe them!"</p>
<p>I am sure that is true, but at some point AFTER admissions accepts (or as one poster experienced above) or waitlists, admissions then contacts financial aid. That could happen before acceptance notices go out but after admissions has made its decision.</p>
<p>Obviously, some have had the experience where an inquiry from financial aid did not mean the student was accepted, but it also appears from the responses above that the opposite experience may be somewhat more common.</p>
<p>Certinally, it is probably best not to read it as a guarantee of admission, but certainly it may be a good sign.</p>
<p>We got similar request a two years ago, and D was accepted 2 or 3 weeks later. I remember when I first read that letter my heart leapt and I thought: "Harvard is preparing to accept her!" It turned out to be true.</p>
<p>As I general thing, I tend to view it as a positive sign but not a guarantee. I think it all depends on the school. At some schools it may be that they are going through the stack of acceptances and making sure all the finaid info and awards are in order. But at some other schools it may simply mean that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.</p>