<p>Should i tell my college i need financial aid/scholarships? Does it matter if its a public/private school?</p>
<p>If you need financial aid to attend college…what GOOD will it do you to apply and say you do NOT need aid? If you need aid, you need to say you will be applying for aid. If you do NOT need aid, the decision is up to you.</p>
<p>It sounds like you need aid to attend. Is that correct? If so, how would you pay the bills without aid if you indicate you don’t need aid?</p>
<p>Yeah but i feel like it may affect my acceptance chances. What about my family’s income should i make it low or high to increase my chances to get in to that college?</p>
<p>Apply to need-blind schools. Ideally you should shoot for a school that meets full need without the use of loans but these are difficult to get into. :(</p>
<p>“What about my family’s income should i make it low or high to increase my chances to get in to that college?”</p>
<p>If you’re applying for fin aid, you can’t really just make up a number. If not, then I guess you could put down whatever you wanted. I still don’t understand though…unless your parents are making BANK, how are you not applying for any aid? Even if you do get in, is it worth going if you’re paying full tuition?</p>
<p>You seem pretty desperate to get into this school…I would reconsider.</p>
<p>It might increase your odds of acceptance to not apply for aid - but it will decrease your odds of being able to actually go to college. What is the point of applying to college, just to be accepted and then not be able to go?</p>
<p>If you need aid, just apply for it. Choose a variety of schools for your list. I taught my kids how to look up schools they were interested in on Collegeboard.com. For example, search for a college and click on the cost & financial aid tab:</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Smith College - Cost & Financial Aid](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>In this example, if you scroll down a bit to the financial aid statistics. Look for things like:</p>
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<p>$20K in debt is roughly the amount in federal loans, and when you see that this is average that tells you that this school doesn’t add a lot of extra loans to their packages. So this school meets 100% of need without adding a lot of extra loans. 100% of need does not mean free, however. It means that they decide what you can pay, and they will cover the rest. </p>
<p>You also need to compare your grades and scores with the averages of kids who were accepted, which you can see under the SAT, AP AND CLEP tab.</p>
<p>Choose a variety of schools that you think you have the scores to be admitted to, and you also will be able to afford. Visit them and make sure that you like all of the schools you are applying to. Don’t waste your time on a school that you will not likely to be able to afford, or one that you would never attend.</p>
<p>And also, you have to be completely honest on the financial aid forms regarding your parents’ income. The numbers have to come right off of their tax returns.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>You cannot put some random number down for your family’s income. The number needs to come right off of the TAX RETURN. </p>
<p>If you aren’t really a competitive applicant for a school, being a full pay isn’t going to MAKE you one. There are plenty of other full pay students applying to schools.</p>
<p>If you need aid, it will do you NO GOOD to be accepted to a school without it. You won’t be able to attend. </p>
<p>If you need aid, apply for aid. Remember too, that there are schools that will NOT allow you to apply for institutional aid LATER if you initially indicate that you didn’t need it.</p>
<p>Just be honest.</p>
<p>Read up on FAFSA and gather the information needed to complete it. You can use an estimator for starters, but you do need your family’s actual tax return numbers before the money is actually given to you and any discrepancy can change the results. By using the estimator, you can see what FAFSA gives as a number that your family is expected to pay, the EFC (Expected Family Contribution). That determines eligibility for government funds. If your EFC is under ~$5K or so, you may get some PELL money which is all that is really guaranteed, up to a maximum of about $5K. Any other monies is determined by the college and your state of residence. </p>
<p>It’s also important to talk to your parents as to what the family can afford to pay for your college. If you want to go to colleges that cost more than they are able/willing to pay, and it looks like the EFC is in the range where you may get financial aid, getting aid is the only way you are going to be able to afford to go there. Getting accepted isn’t going to move the financial aid office to give you the money. The college funds will be dispensed by then and you’ll just be told to try again next year. I know kids to whom that has happened. If you are even late in getting the paperwork to the schools, you can miss out on funds. More kids need/want money than what exists, so it is a fight to get the funds, especially grant money. You can also look for schools where you stand a decent shot at merit money and for outside scholarships. If you need the money, you gotta work for it.</p>
<p>Most schools are need blind for admissions. They just don’t meet full need for most of their acceptees. There are only a few schools that are need aware for admissions and they tend to guarantee to meet full need for those they accept IF their paperwork is done on time, AND IF these kids meet need by THE SCHOOL’s definition. Most of those schools require additional paperwork, usually in the form of PROFILE, another form that goes even more deeply into your family finances. You can get a low EFC from FAFSA, and the school PROFILE could come up with a whole other number, as many kids have learned. If accpeted to one of these schools, and, oops, you forgot to apply for financial aid, you may be asked to reapply next year. They are very aware of that game.</p>
<p>Can you clarify?</p>
<p>Are you an int’l student? or a domestic student (citizen/green card)</p>
<p>Are you a junior in high school?</p>
<p>What schools are you considering?</p>
<p>What is your situation? Are you low-income and you think you won’t get accepted because you have a lot of need? If your parents won’t pay much, then what good would it do to get accepted and then not have the funds to pay?</p>
<p>By not applying for financial aid, it is possible to increase one’s chances of acceptance at need aware schools. Then borrow the money the first year to go there, and apply for financial aid for the next 3 years.IF the school is one that guarantees full need, they can get the money for most of the time there. Sounds like a good idea except a lot of those schools are wise to the tactic and have rules that make this strategy useless. </p>
<p>Many such schools will not honor financial aid requests without a certain even occurring after the initial application. Some have specific periods that a student has to wait out applying for financial aid. They also often do not extend their 100% need met policies for those students who do not apply for financial aid when initially applying. </p>
<p>There may be some schools that do not have such rules spelled out, but you better check each school on your list if you are contemplating such strategies so you don’t waste your time and money. But there are schools that have such rules in place even if they are need blind in admissions, i noticed which is strange. Or perhaps, it is old information. Anyone contemplating any strategies has to check for specific current policies at the colleges considered or you can get a nasty surprise in what you get.</p>
<p>Believe me, these schools run financial aid and merit awards like a business. It is not like the manna runs like water in a stream. I saw several school turn into snarling monsters after extending the warm welcomes when money was needed. My closest friend went through this nightmare when her very talented, daughter was accepted to a number of college who were ever so eager to have her. When her father, my friend’s ex refused to pay, and requests for aid were given, every single door slammed shut. She ended up commuting to a local state school—those colleges truly lost out as she was an exemplary ug student who is earning 6 figures right out of a top law school. She’ll always have a bad taste in her mouth towards some of those schools with the way she was treated. </p>
<p>But I am wandering off point here. The point is that if you are considering trying to get the aid after acceptance, it is a shopworn strategy that the schools already know.</p>