<p>My parents want me to put "No" for financial aid, because they don't think we will get much anyway and because they think they will give me an edge in admissions. Most of the colleges I'm applying to are need blind except Tufts and UConn I believe. I sorta want to put it down because I have a twin sister also going to some college.</p>
<p>Our family probably makes 250k+ each year, so we probablly wouldn't get much aid if i were a single child. But how much aid could I expect from a top school like Yale if I had a twin sister? They are supposed to be need blind and putting "No" shouldn't improve my chances, but my parents think they will.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’d get anything need-based, even with a sibling in college. If a school says they’re need-blind, they probably are. Some schools do require a FA application to distribute merit aid. As long as your parents are prepared to pay full freight for all 4 (or more) years at that school, that’s fine. No crying about it later though! Some schools will never give you aid if you indicated you don’t need/want any…what happens if circumstances change and a major source of income is lost?</p>
<p>This may be true, but I don’t think it’s common. You are likely ineligible for aid, even with a sister in school, so ask your school their policy about applying for aid in subsequent years if circumstances change. If they don’t adhere to the policy sk8rmom mentioned, I wouldn’t bother to apply for aid.</p>
<p>I don’t think most understand how deeply te top colleges hhave been affected by falling endowments. They will all need more full payers. If your parent’s are willing to pay, accept the gift and check no.</p>
<p>I say listen to your parents if they are prepared to “go deep.” Besides at that income level you’ll likely get natta, nor will you see any merit aid if applying to top 25 type schools, with the exception of UConn. That said, there a plenty of great schools willing through merit dollars to top students. But in this recession, with investments and balance sheets still way off from their highs, enrollment management and optimizing the mix of full pays or/and OOS for publics has to be in play. I think most schools are need blind in theory but less so in practice. It will remain this way as long as there are continuing layoffs, salary freezes, budget cuts, and deferral of capital projects in environment where pricing is also limited.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. My parents have said they are completely willing to pay full for top schools, even though they are need blind. They are hoping I will get merit scholarships from lower ranked schools though, and UConn will be cheap because I am in state.</p>
<p>My mother just used the Yale Financial Aid calculator and it said we would be recieving around 30k in financial aid. </p>
<p>I think it would be worth putting yes, but my mother still thinks that putting no would help in my application chances. I am also dual legacy to yale btw, if that makes any difference when it comes to paying the full sticker price.</p>
<p>You don’t have to go all one way or all the other. There are schools that are need blind in admissions and those that are need aware. You can apply to some requesting fin aid, and to some with out. UConn is needblind; don’t know if Tufts is. You will have to ask. Do not rely on any lists of need blind admissions schools because the picture has changed a lot this year from what I have heard. Ask the financial aid department AND admissions directly.</p>
So your mother is willing to risk $120,000 in aid for a small (probably non-existant) <em>hypothetical</em> chance of increasing your chance of being accepted at a documented need-blind school?</p>
<p>I have to disagree with your mother. Yale is a need-blind school. She is speaking out of an unwarranted fear that is going to cost you about $120,000 if you get in.</p>
<p>Yale only accepts under 10% of its students anyway. If you need the financial aid, what possible good does it do for you to be accepted and not get the aid. If your need is in the $30,000 a year range…you NEED the aid. Where is that money going to come from if it is not in the form of financial aid?</p>
<p>We know dual legacies to Ivy league schools who did NOT get accepted (and more than one of these students).</p>