<p>"...there is a widespread belief this year that students who can pay full freight have an advantage...[however] more families who do not originally request financial aid are changing their minds once their student is admitted."</p>
<p>there are clearly some schools where this tactic will not work and others that it won’t be a big deal.</p>
<p>Has anyone had a positive experience in making such a request?</p>
<p>Would it be fair to chunk these scam artists into the wait list pool with students that are financially disadvantged and admitted it? The difference being that the other students on the wait list were from honest families. No it would not, they should be rescinded.</p>
<p>You can get rescinded for poor academic performance, why not poor financial performance? Cheating on a test can rescind admission. Why shouldn’t cheating regarding financial aid status be cause for rescinsion?</p>
<p>In many cases purported “full pay” students took slots from their more scrupulous peers. My families financial disadvantage hit earlier than others due to economic factors beyond my control. Why should my child be penalized because I wasn’t laid off after the application deadlines?</p>
<p>I am just sorry I didn’t try this scam on a few top 25 schools. Once again there is proof; our society does not reward honesty. Parents of next years high school seniors should take a lesson from this; cheating pays. At least try to scam a school or two for the sake of your children’s future.</p>
<p>spktruth, with the out of control college costs, and major hit to income and savings, compounded with yield concerns of private colleges that must fill seats, I’ll bet that many will get a positive respsonse. </p>
<p>Just another way to “game” the system now and that stinks. Is the applicant who completed their fafsa on Jan. 1 and completed the Profile on time going to be gapped more, or offered more loans and W/S to set grant money aside for the person who is applying for FA in the 11th hour? </p>
<p>There are going to always be situations where a parent recently became unemployed, or a parent developed a chronic health condition. They should be helped where possible. The applicant who tried to game the system to get an upper hand in admission, or one who did not do their homework regarding the financial aid process, should not gain advantage over the needy applicant who followed the “rules”.</p>
<p>I think that colleges are beginning to realize that most families do not have a unlimited budget for college. Eventually this stack of cards will come tumbling down. Are we there yet? JMO.</p>
<p>Well, some schools essentially run out of aid by the time April/May rolls around; so even if you do not request aid, then request it, you won’t get as much, if any, from certain schools with limited endowment and high enrollment.</p>
<p>The “full need met” description that some colleges guarantee has a lot of caveats. First of all, the school itself defines the need, how the need is met is up to the school, not all students of any university I know fall under that umbrella (different schools within the university may not necessary have that guarantee, international students rarely are covered with that guarantee, transfer student often do not fall in that category, and kids on the waitlist are sometimes not covered). </p>
<p>Also all schools have their timelines as to when documents and requests must be made in order to for the school to meet its obligation. When you are even a day late on any of those deadlines, you risk missing out. Most of the time, the schools will accomodate to the best of their ability, but anyone who has not gone through the process in a timely manner risks getting no aid, unless some truly catastrophic and unforeseen event occurs. Revisions to aid often are needed for reasons that are not under control of anyone, especially these days with jobs being lost and the economy in the shape it is. Those who did what they were supposed to do, will be first in line to get any money that is left.</p>
<p>Federal aid may still be available, but college money may already be allocated. Also some colleges are very specific that if you do not apply for aid with your application, you are not eligible for aid for a time afterwards, sometimes not until junior year. Those that are not as specific do as they please.</p>
<p>In my opinion, those schools that are need aware are also the strictest about changes in financial need status. A student who is accepted may have been accepted as a full pay, and would not have gotten the acceptance had he been forthright about need. For selective colleges, there are often enough kids on the waitlist who are able to fully pay, that those who play these games can be easily replaced.</p>
<p>GrayArea, high enrollment is the key. Many school are worried about their yield this year, but I am not talking about the Ivies when I say that. Many schools are making more money available for FA this year out of necessity.</p>
<p>cpt, I hope what that you wrote still holds true. I hope that the rules are not changing. I am not at all convinced.</p>
<p>Spktruth, there may be those who were successful in this regard. I know personally of one young lady who applied everywhere as a full pay since her father who was amply able to pay for college had assured everyone that he was good for the costs. When he found out that their state does not enforce any payments after the child is out of high school or over 18, he reneged, and that was after she was accepted to her schools. She had not applied for financial aid anywhere. </p>
<p>When she let the schools know of what had happened and belatedly filed FAFSA, she did get the federal and state money that she was entitled to get based on her mother’s financial situation. But her school of choice was a PROFILE school and they did not offer her a dime. Not one cent. She ended up at the honors program at a local university that is usually generous in aid and awards to students of her calibre. But for that year she did not get anything. They were out of funds. She just got whatever government money was out there based on FAFSA. The second year, when she applied within the deadlines, the school did give her some merit/need funds from their own coffers. But she was out of luck that year.</p>
<p>In our case, we did not apply for financial aid. However, when our son decided on his school, he did request an increase in merit aid as he was turning down a more selective and well known school that was cheaper and closer. They did double his aid. We also filled out the FAFSA belatedly to get the unsubsidized STafford. It was an oversight on my part that we did not do so at the beginning of the process. That was not a problem, however.</p>
<p>If you have problems doing this with a top 25 “need-blind” college (all of them but WashU), YOU certainly aren’t the one being exposed as a cheater.</p>
<p>I would not play this game or advise anyone to do so. If you are a highly desired applicant at a school that is need aware, you have a good chance of getting a great package if accepted. If you do not apply for aid, you are risking not getting the money you want or getting stuck with all loans. Believe me, at this time of the year financial aid offices are inundated with families crying for more money. Many such appeals are truly reasonable. SOmeone who did not follow the rules will be at the bottom of the list. IF he is truly a desirable student for the school, a “must have” type student, maybe, maybe, maybe, he’ll get something, but a heck of a lot less than what he would have gotten had he applied on schedule.</p>
<p>Friends of our were late in applying for aid, not real late, but a little behind the deadline. Their daughter missed out on a number of merit within aid awards, and the school told them right out that they did. Those things were offered right off the bat to those kids whose paper work was in on time with waitlists if the awards were declined by those who had first dibs.</p>
<p>My opinion…if you didn’t check that you needed financial aid…then unless your circumstances have changed…you should be at the BOTTOM of the financial aid consideration pile. You made a conscious decision to check that box, probably feeling it would increase your admission chances. That being the case…you MADE your decision. If your family financial situation has changed, then call the school…but you would do that ANYWAY regardless of if you checked the little box or not. No change in financial situation should net you nothing…just my humble opinion.</p>
<p>Nice article. :)</p>
<p>If someone wants to take the risk of being in that situation, fine with me. THere may be occasions that it will be beneficial to do this, but I really don’t see it. Why on earth would anyone want to take the chance, given the amounts of money involved?</p>
<p>If your goal is to get into some top 25 college then this strategy makes sense;</p>
<ol>
<li><p>File for need based aid at a few schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply to others without requesting aid.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3.Have a few good State U. safties.</p>
<p>See where you get in, evaluate admissions offers and ask for aid after the fact as necessary. If none is forthcoming, default to an admission at a school where you asked for aid upfront (these sorts of admissions will be dam$ rare).</p>
<p>Yes this is a cynical approach to college admissions. Since the process isn’t fair, why should anyone play honestly?</p>
<p>Again I regret I did not love my child enough to cheat for their benefit.</p>
<p>BigG, what about those people whose circumstance really have changed… they were laid off or whatever? In this economy, this is happening all the time. How are they supposed to get a good college education if they could at one time pay for it, but now are unable to/</p>
<p>I don’t know why folks here are either shocked or even mad that people will try to “game” the system. This has been going on in many fields of endeavor such as taxes, certain administrative laws and education. When someone studies with a tutor for two years for the ACt, isn’t this trying to get an advantage.</p>
<p>Folks do this because they perceive many things are unfair. Taxes tax the rich more than the poor,but these same taxpayers get less from the system. Many folks feel it is unfair to allow poorer kids into a college with lower scores over that of the more affluent and successful folks. There will ALWAYS be perceived inequities; thus, there will always be those that try to game the system.</p>
<p>There is a major difference between those who get a tutor to do well on a test and those who lie about there position to gain admissions- one is a lie and the other is hard work. A tutor will not go take a test for you they simply help you learn. And yes it is expensive but its not more than most people would spend on clothing or entertaiment in one year. On the other hand scamming the colleges is just unfair and not morally sound. Comparing the two things is just absurd. And there are a lot of great schools that believe in need blind admissions like Columbia and Princeton, so if the student really is capable they will not be denied a spectacular education. It all comes down to sacraficing for your education. Most of the middle class can afford a princeton review tutor if they forgo afew luxuries and almost anyone can afford a college education if they truly value it enough. This whole rich getting better education crap is soo over rated and annoying!</p>
<p>Scholarships and financial aid (both ED and RD) are fraught with inequities. Its an unfortunate reality of life. In a perfect world, FAFSA would be cleaned up (its so full of holes and people can hide family wealth through grandparents or “the rich uncle”, or other vacation homes etc.) people would be treated fairly and equally by all schools, instead of egregious differences in how much they are perceived to be able to pay and how much aid they get etc.</p>
<p>People can pit one offer against another school and sometimes that works. Is that fair? Not really…if it means someone else at the same school doesnt get the same deal. Merit aid is also highly subjective…all sorts of factors go into that…and its also very often quite unfair. Its the “dark side” of higher education, in my view.</p>
<p>But it is what it is, and there isnt much you can do, except vote with your feet. And like I told my D, “the best revenge is SUCCESS!” and you can always go somewhere else succeed beyond your wildest dreams and rub it in their faces later (with a smile of course!)</p>
<p>I really don’t understand why this is even an issue. If someone who needs or wants financial aid does not file for it on the schedule the colleges have down for applicants, that person is taking a risk that he is going to be at the end of the line when it comes to aid and that he may not get any grants. That is really what the situation is. Maybe such a person would be lucky enough that there is still great aid left and he loses nothing from his delay. But it is a risk. I would not recommend doing things this way. But there are those who feel that they are increasing their odds of acceptance by not applying for financial aid at the onset of admissions. For need aware schools, that may well be the case, but for schools that are not need blind , you are taking the risk that you may be viewed as a better heeled applicant and assessed as someone with those privileges. Not always helpful, particularly at the more selective schools. Then you are taking a risk of getting little or no financial aid by coming in with the request at the tail end of the process.</p>