<p>I am strugging with the decision to fill out the documents required by first daughter's college. I am pretty sure that we would need to live in a cardboard box to qualify. I opted out for her soph yr, but as of next yr will have two in college.
1st college requires :
FAFSA,CSS profile, business and farm supplement and non-custodial parent's forms/ it didn't work very well for us, and we had to have out accountant prepare it..putting us in the negative for just applying.
We are hoping that daughter 2's college works out better in that department than what we dealt with first time around</p>
<p>Mountains, if the schools your child is applying to are need aware just call and tell them. This is especially important if your kid was deferred. Some of the deferral letters actually say to let them know if your financial situation changes.</p>
<p>If you checked yes and the schools are need blind it's probably too late. FA won't make a package for you but they won't "uncheck" it for the committee because according to them, it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Search for old posts by Mini where she explains in great detail.</p>
<p>mini is a she?:rolleyes:</p>
<p>ceebrown, I'll call both need-aware and need-blind colleges. I'm curious at this point, more than anything, as to what they have to say.</p>
<p>"Need-blind a practice, not policy"</p>
<p>An article with the above title from Bowdoin states very well the balancing act colleges, even need-blind ones, have to deal with:
[quote]
Though the College's belief in the importance of need-blind admissions appears firm, maintaining this practice continues to be a balancing act.
[/quote]
In another part of the article:
[quote]
For the last decade, Bowdoin has been able to maintain need-blind admissions for U.S. applicants. But officials say this is not a guaranteed policy, but a "practice"—and not apply to students applying from outside the country.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Because of budget constraints, there appears to be very few colleges that are truly 100% need-blind when it comes to admission (makes sense).</p>
<p>While this article addresses mostly the international students it still reflects the school's practice.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Joyce said that at schools that have firm need-blind policies, students receiving aid can be overburdened by work-study obligations and loan repayments .</p>
<p>"It is better to be a school that has a quality financial aid program rather than to be need-blind," he said.
[/quote]
I agree this one.</p>
<p>A lot of top private schools who practice 'need-blind' admission only to domestic applicants. </p>
<p>As far as I understand now, usually the same amount of fund could cover more domestic students than international students. In a sense that most domestic applicants addmitted to those top privates are eligable for Pell Grant, and different Federal FA program. So college usually dose not need to pay the full tuition for them. While for international students, most of them from humble surroundings, college need to pay the 'full tuition'.</p>
<p>Some top schools may not admit it publically, because of different reasons (such as hope more high quality international students applying), but they practically limit the % of international students in order to control the funding. MIT is one of them, AFAIR, there was this parent asked the question about international students in info session. We got answer like they've seen more qualified international students but because of funding, they only limited international student body to 8% or 10%.</p>
<p>Not giving full aid to international students is not just "to control the funding." It's also that even private colleges and universities receive significant taxpayer money - they're tax exempt, they get research funds, etc. Internationals have retrictions on the basis of immigration law (which changes fairly often.) And school charters generally make their primary purpose to teach US students - international students have other choices in their own countries.</p>
<p>I called the finaid of a need-aware school and asked that we (they did not care if student or parent did it; they just want it in writing) email both the financial aid and admissions (they were very specific about sending to both)to let them know that applicant will no longer be applying for finaid. I asked if he can still apply in the future if financial circumstances change, and she said "absolutely."</p>
<p>I then called a need-blind school, and they requested the exact same thing (again, did not care who sent the email as long as they have it in writing) but this time to email only the finaid office. I asked if I should copy the admissions office and she said, "If you'd like to do so." I asked the same question about future financial aid application and she said that as long as the student is a US citizen, he could do so.</p>
<p>Both schools emphasized that NOT applying for finaid in the freshman year will not jeopardize future finaid applications.</p>
<p>If your kid's dream school is a need-aware school, then it's best not to apply for financial aid if your EFC is close to cost. It is also not necessary to fill out FAFSA now in anticipation of taking out student loan later on in the summer.</p>
<p>"Because of budget constraints, there appears to be very few colleges that are truly 100% need-blind when it comes to admission (makes sense)."</p>
<p>Actually, none - other than the service academies and Cooper Union. There isn't another college in the country that practices need-blind admissions - the only question is what information they have and how they make use of it.</p>
<p>Let's call it for what it is: a lot of them lie. (whether it is in knowing that daddy gave $10 mil, or that another is the son of former sharecropper who couldn't afford a suit for an interview, need-blind they ain't.)</p>
<p>Don't forget Olin - it also gives full tuition scholarships to every student.</p>
<p>Well, so does Berea (but correcting for the small percentage of students who can even apply, they are about as selective as Harvard -- on the other hand, their screen is totally need-based - if your father is a multi-millionaire and gives money to the school, you definitely CAN'T get in.)</p>
<p>Berea has income limits for admission, not just for room and board. If your family earns too much, you are not eligible for admission at all. Not exactly "need-blind"; more like "need only".</p>
<p>One of my S' need-aware school encouraged him to apply for finaid even though he does not qualify because if he does not apply during his freshman year, he will not be considered again for finaid until his junior year.</p>
<p>Each school is definitely different.</p>
<p>I filed a preliminary FAFSA today. Our EFC is ridiculously high (emphasis on ridiculous!), but at least S can get unsubsidized Stafford loans, so he will have some "skin" in the game. The schools he applied to don't use the CSS, fortunately.</p>
<p>Going back to the concept of "need-aware" schools...if you're high-EFC and they have your financials, how would that hurt? They can see that your EFC is above cost and that you won't be getting grant aid from the school. Why should that put a student in a different category from someone who didn't apply for aid?</p>
<p>It won't put a student in a different category, but why would you disclose your financial if you are not getting anything for it? It's only when you are on a borderline qualifying for FA (based on different calculations), then you should make a decision whether you want to apply for FA. It may have some impact on your kid's acceptance to the school</p>
<p>Update re: NYU financial aid. Had a long talk with a very helpful woman in NYU's financial aid office today. I explained that I was certain we would not qualify for financial aid this year, but wanted to know what would happen if circumstances ever changed. She said that if you do not qualify for need based aid given from NYU directly as a freshman, you will not get aid from the school later, even if you apply with changed finacial status as a sophomore, junior or senior.. You can appeal this, but it is very possible that you might not get anyaid through NYU. You could still qualify for aid from the federal gov't in the form of loans and work/study, but if NYU hasn't granted you a need-based scholarship as a freshman, you may never get anything even with a new EFC of $0. </p>
<p>So, as you can see schools have very different policies re: financial aid in future years. And filing for the FAFSA this year (when we don't qualify) will not make any difference.</p>
<p>^ Wow. Did she say what their reasoning is for that policy? Let's hope your circumstances don't change.</p>
<p>Which colleges are need-aware from the following list</p>
<ol>
<li>HYMPSC</li>
<li>Columbia, U Penn, Brown, </li>
<li>Cornell, Dartmouth, JHU, Northwestern, Duke, U. of Chicago</li>
</ol>