Will Applying for Financial Aid Decrease Chances?

Paying for College
1

<p>If I don't apply for financial aid, will my chances for admission INCREASE at the following private schools in California? </p>

<p>Santa Clara University
University of San Diego
Pepperdine</p>

<p>How about out of state publics/privates?
Boston University
Indiana University
Purdue University
University of Washington
Miami University,Oxford</p>

2

<p>My bet is that most if not all of the schools on your list are need blind meaning they don’t consider your financial aid needs while considering your application for admission. You can check each school’s website.</p>

<p>Just an aside…DD graduated from Santa Clara and DS from Boston University…so of course I hope you go there!!</p>

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<p>And aside number two…these are public universities and it looks like you are out of state for them. That being the case, their costs are going to be high, and usually out of state students do not get sufficient aid to cover all of their costs. These schools will award you any federally funded aid you are entitled to (no choices there), but that will be a drop in the bucket compared to the costs. Most public universities feel an obligation to provide funds to students from THEIR states, not others.</p>

3

<p>If you need aid it would be foolish to apply somewhere telling them you don’t need aid but you won’t be able to afford. What’s the point of getting an acceptance if you can’t attend? If you are saying that you don’t “need” aid then apply. Many institutions don’t consider “need” when determining acceptances as Thumper points out.</p>

4

<p>What is your situation?</p>

<p>Do you need financial aid or not? If you need it, then apply for it.</p>

<p>However, as noted, the OOS publics won’t give you need-based aid to cover their OOS costs.</p>

<p>And, I do think all those schools are need-blind.</p>

5

<p>Some out of state public colleges give lots of merit aid to offset the additional costs - but only for the very top students that they want to attract. An example is the U. of Pittsburgh. </p>

<p>Many public colleges mainly want the out of state students for the additional tuition revenue and they save their own aid dollars for in state residents. That is particularly true for public colleges with smaller endowments that have had to absorb large cuts in state aid. It varies from college to college.</p>