<p>Hello!</p>
<p>My question is: Are need-blind colleges allowed to look at a student's financial information BEFORE making a decision on admissions? Or do they have to wait until a student is admitted to start calculating Financial Aid?</p>
<p>Do colleges calculate financial aid for ALL applicants, and then toss out the rejected ones? </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Aid is calculated after admission is granted.</p>
<p>Schools that are need blind do NOT use financial information when determining eligibility for ADMISSIONS. In other words, your ability to pay or need for aid is NOT considered when your admissions is determined.</p>
<p>Most schools really work quickly once admissions are determined to put together financial aid packages in a timely fashion. That is why there are DEADLINES.</p>
<p>guys, I just received an email from my financial office asking me to fill out an ADDITIONAL finance info sheet, not related to the financial aid application that I originally filled out, and they told me I could fax it or email it to a specific financial aid officer.</p>
<p>Would this mean I am accepted? the institution is need blind. if I fax the document all of the financial info is on the cover, so itās not like they are not looking at my financial application already.</p>
<p>
Not necessarily. They will be making sure they have everything they need for all students so they are ready to roll once acceptance decisions are made.</p>
<p>There are no admissions policeā¦they are free to look at whatever they want to when making their decision. Though many schools claim to be need-blind, there are many people who think few actually are. I think itās safe to say that most public schools are not going to be looking at finances in the admissions process, along with most rolling admission schools (they wouldnāt have the info in time anyway), and some of the very expensive and well-endowed privates who explicitly state that they are need blind for admissions on their websites. I would assume that any school with an early deadline for financial info is probably going to consider need in the decisionā¦or can consider it, at least.</p>
<p>@swimcatsmom
Yes, I understand that, but I am talking about an Early Decision application in this circumstance. The admissions decisions have likely already been made since they have to roll out decisions in less than two weeks. </p>
<p>They also told me to send this sheet to a SPECIFIC financial aid officer, with first and last name and email attached, therefore someone is definitely already looking at it. If someone is looking at my financial info at a need blind institution, doesnt this mean that I am accepted?</p>
<p>@sk8rmom , I am talking about a private, prestigious university. I doubt what you described in your post can freely happen at such institution the way you portray it.</p>
<p>Maybeā¦but there is no guarantee that they actually are need blind. Inside Higher Ed did a piece sometime in the past few years and discovered that was one of the things schools were most likely to fudge about. Donāt buy the school colors just yetā¦fingers crossed:)</p>
<p>Every year applicants ask if financial aid application reminders are are sure sign of acceptance, and the answer is: No, reminders to submit financial aid documents are not a sure sign of acceptance - they are reminders to submit financial aid documents.</p>
<p>Jist send them the form they are requesting. It is to complete your financial aid āfileā. Donāt jump to any conclusions about this. If you have been accepted ED, you will find out soon enough.</p>
<p>@alamemon </p>
<p>This isnāt a āfinancial aid application reminderā. Not the case at all.
I already submitted my financial aid application two weeks ago at the deadline.
What the school is asking for is ADDITIONAL financial information that is not normally part of the financial aid application, and is definitely not requested of every single applicant.</p>
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<p>Iām not sure how you would know this. We received some interesting requests for supplemental information for our kidsā¦and these sure looked like something only accepted students would receive. BUT truthfully, I didnāt KNOW all the other applicants so I would have had no way of knowing whether this was unique to usā¦or not.</p>
<p>What difference does it make? Just send the requested material to the school.</p>
<p>from the college website "Applicants for federal student aid may be required to provide appropriate tax records if they are selected by the U.S. Department of Education for income and asset verification. You will be notified if this is necessary. The verification process may result in an <em>adjustment to your financial aid award</em>; verification can occur at any time throughout the year. "</p>
<p>This answers my question. I am a lot more comfortable/excited now 
thank you all for your feedback.</p>
<p>@flaselroth - yes, it is a financial aid reminder. Financial aid offices work at a fever pitch as admission decisions draw close. In a matter of weeks (or even days for some EA/ED schedules), the fin aid office will be presented with a list of accepted students for whom they must have financial aid packages ready in time for those students to make their decisions about whether they can attend. The financial aid office will go through fin aid applications ahead of being presented with that list to be sure they have everything they need and request documents from those whoās applications indicate more information is required.</p>
<p>You mention that you feel this is a prestigious institution - I assure you, prestigious institutions are very adept at keeping their admissions decisions to themselves, and even from the financial aid office, until THEY are ready to release them.</p>
<p>Again, this question comes up every year. Some of those asked for financial aid information are accepted, some are not. It is a request for financial aid information, not an offer of admission.</p>
<p>:) because the FAFSA cannot even be filed until January 1st, I assure you that you have not yet been selected for verification.</p>
<p>:) The FAFSA is not the only thing they use for verification, and youāre right, it doesnāt concern this at all. There is another sheet under the āverificationā column on the website which is identical in name to the one asked of me.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is the application for Federal Aid. If you have not filed the FAFSA, you have not applied for Federal aid and therefore can not yet have been selected for verification.</p>
<p>I hope it works out for you. As I said, every year applicants jump to the same conclusion you have. Some are accepted, some are bitterly disappointed.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I thought the OPās concern was over whether the school was really need blindā¦the timing of requests for FA info does NOT make a difference for admissions at need blind schools and has more to do with you being an ED applicant. You really donāt want to read too much into it at this pointā¦for your own sanity! As alamemom says, if the school is really need-blind then the FA office has to make sure they have what is needed to be able to package you on time. Itās common for FA to do this with no info on who has been accepted and this process is entirely separate from FAFSA verification, which comes later.</p>
@fhaselroth I am in the same situation today. Haha. Did you happen to get in to the college where you had to submit the forms?