<p>A slightly different twist on another thread.</p>
<p>If you know you will definitely not qualify for need based aid, but are not in that financial category of being able to pay full boat at a private institution, then is there any benefit to checking "NO" on the common app question "will you be a candidate for need-based financial aid?"</p>
<p>Or will it, as some posts have indicated, actually work against you? And if so, why?</p>
<p>Still trying to get into the heads of the merit scholarship committees........</p>
<p>Some schools are "need aware", and some schools' admissions policies are "need blind". Noting on the common application that you are not seeking financial aid can help at a "need aware" school since competition for financial aid funds adds another admissions hurdle for both the school and the applicant. Most merit scholarships are based solely on merit factors such as GPA, SAT or ACT scores, and noteable awards and achievements. Although I have recently come across "merit" scholarships that consider financial need as a factor in determining either eligibility for, or amount of, the merit scholarship. Without researching this issue, I believe that Connecticutt College recently was, or still is, a need aware admissions school.</p>
<p>There have been many discussions about exactly how "blind" need-blind is. No institution can afford to have all its students on huge FA. Check prior threads about this topic. Some parents here believe it's a hook.</p>
<p>I still recall a visit to an Ivy 8 years ago when I heard the term "need aware admissions policy" at the meeting before the tour. You may have heard my eyeballs splat to hit the ceiling. </p>
<p>They described it as a process whereby there's this gray area last pile of folders under consideration (RD round). As they near the end of their vision re: total amount of aid in a year of cohorts that's when they look (imagine someone peeking...) to see if FA will be a consideration on each of those applications.</p>
<p>That might put the phrase "need aware" into perspective, if it's even still true. That anecdote supplies you a different image than being front-burnered right away because you're not in need.</p>
<p>The answer to that question (which wasn't my family's question...) when asked had to do with admission to the college altogether, not specific about merit aid opportunities.</p>
<p>As ejr1 suggests, this sounds like a good one to investigate through the CC archives, too.</p>