<p>I am a new parent member. This is my first child applying to college. My child's school urged us to apply for financial aid, although I told them that I doubted we would qualify for aid. Our EFC did turn out high on the FAFSA and on predictor programs for the CSS Profile. We might qualify for loans but I doubt it would make sense to take them, the rates are so bad. </p>
<p>My child did apply for some merit aid scholarships, and at least one required that all the standard aid forms be filled out, so I did them. </p>
<p>However, parent on my child's sports team who's on her third kid going through this said it can hurt kids' admissions chances to apply for aid if they do not have real need. She said the school told her to apply for her first kid, and she did, but she believed it hurt the kid's chances at a couple of schools. </p>
<p>Anyone heard of this? Was this a bad move to apply for aid with a high predicted EFC? </p>
<p>Thanks!!!</p>
<p>There are schools that are need aware which means that financial need is taken into account for admissions. This usually occurs for the "border line" admits that need a lot of money and the financial aid well is getting dry. At that point the school needs to start taking into consideration what a kid needs in money to go there, and figure how to distribute the rest of the funds so that it gets the spread in acceptances that is optimal for them. A kid who needs $40k in aid may have to be set aside for 8 kids who only need $5K in aid, for instance. That does not mean that any full need kid will be rejected, as the most desireable candidates will be funded up front and usually generously at such schools. So in your particular case, it should not make a difference in admissions.</p>
<p>You should call the admissions offices, however, of your kid's choices and ask them outright, if checking off the "apply for aid" box does hurt admissions chances. I have heard that some financial aid offices are saying that this could be an issue; but financial aid is not the office that admits the kids, and they may not be as cued in on how admissions works. Applying for financial aid is not getting financial aid, and needing $5K is not the same is needing $40k.</p>