<p>Good, I am glad I didn’t upset you because I like what you have to say on CC in general. I guess my point is that it is naive to assume that finances are never taken into consideration in admission. That is sadly not the case and saying that everywhere is need blind can be equally misleading. I completely agree that this applies primarily to private schools, and yes, at many other schools it does not matter and is not considered. I got the sense from the original post that s/he wanted to make sure school knew they could pay, so assumed, perhaps wrongly, that they were looking at selective schools where finances could come into play in admission in those borderline cases.</p>
<p>No one said that “everywhere” is need blind. What we said is that most schools are. Most schools Admission’s offices have no idea what the student’s finances are.</p>
<p>And, even having access to a FAFSA (which most schools ONLY use) wouldn’t tell a school much because that won’t reveal what a NCP or grandparent or someone else might be contributing. </p>
<p>Not to mention that most public collleges wouldn’t dare use affordability to determine acceptance…imagine the publics’ outcry.</p>
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It seems to me that even if you have checked the “applying” box on the Common App, they don’t know from that whether you will actually qualify for any need or how much. I have always felt that it is more likely that they can get an idea of a student’s financial situation (should they so desire) from things like what HS s/he is attending, or nowadays, from Google Street View of the neighborhood/home.</p>
<p>Filing FAFSA will enable student to have some “skin” in the game, even if loans aren’t subsidized.</p>
<p>Some schools that have been need blind in the past, are not need blind now, especially if they state they meet 100% of need.</p>