Does applying for financial aid decrease chances of admission?

[Anonymous]

every school is different so you should ask around about specifics. For instance, Burke will accept you and then tell you how much aid they can give you. It would be up to you whether to take the offer or not. Field school will reject you if they can’t give you the aid you say you need. Or at least they used to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:every school is different so you should ask around about specifics. For instance, Burke will accept you and then tell you how much aid they can give you. It would be up to you whether to take the offer or not. Field school will reject you if they can’t give you the aid you say you need. Or at least they used to

Exactly our experience.

I’ll add that Lowell partially bases their decisions on FA needs and only admits if they can meet your need. They are very open about it, which I appreciated.

[Anonymous]

How does one find this out? I am assuming that admissions departments are not necessarily forthcoming with this information up front ( prior to decision day)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does one find this out? I am assuming that admissions departments are not necessarily forthcoming with this information up front ( prior to decision day)?

They are very forthcoming about whether they are need blind or not and whether the meet full need. The second part tends be be both a lot rarer and a lot more important than the first

[Anonymous]

Which k-8 schools are best at meeting full need?

[Anonymous]

Which grade 9-12 DC/MD based schools are best at meeting full financial need?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which grade 9-12 DC/MD based schools are best at meeting full financial need?

STA

[Anonymous]

If a school is “need blind” in accepting you but you need aid and they can’t give it, what does it matter? You can’t go because you can’t afford it. If you need aid to send you kid to private apply and get it so you know what you’re getting into. If you apply for aid the next year you may not get any and then what? If you can afford it don’t apply for aid, but be realistic about your situation. Privates aren’t the end all be all. If you are in a not great system look into charters, BASIS, Catholics and other options that aren’t 40k plus per year.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So a strategy is to apply no aid year one ( and gain admissions) and then apply for FA in proceeding years.

No, unless you have a major life circumstance that renders you unable to pay. If you can do it one year, why not the next?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most schools have rules on that.

Each school has a different policy on “need blind” admission and if it’s not on their website they will readily tell you if asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So a strategy is to apply no aid year one ( and gain admissions) and then apply for FA in proceeding years.

The best strategy is to get in with aid when you are early in your career and broke. The schools generally prioritize providing aid to prior year recipients and will reduce your award gradually as your income goes up over time but are unlikely to completely cut you off unless you make a massive jump. The result is that it’s not unlikely for a school to provide a small amount of aid to a long time family than a new family at that same income level.

Another possible strategy if you have two kids is to enroll one without FA and then apply for FA when you enroll the second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So a strategy is to apply no aid year one ( and gain admissions) and then apply for FA in proceeding years.

The best strategy is to get in with aid when you are early in your career and broke. The schools generally prioritize providing aid to prior year recipients and will reduce your award gradually as your income goes up over time but are unlikely to completely cut you off unless you make a massive jump. The result is that it’s not unlikely for a school to provide a small amount of aid to a long time family than a new family at that same income level.

Another possible strategy if you have two kids is to enroll one without FA and then apply for FA when you enroll the second.

We did the second and got aid with kid #2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:every school is different so you should ask around about specifics. For instance, Burke will accept you and then tell you how much aid they can give you. It would be up to you whether to take the offer or not. Field school will reject you if they can’t give you the aid you say you need. Or at least they used to

Exactly our experience.

I’ll add that Lowell partially bases their decisions on FA needs and only admits if they can meet your need. They are very open about it, which I appreciated.

False. Our kid got into Lowell but we weren’t offered enough aid to meet our need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:every school is different so you should ask around about specifics. For instance, Burke will accept you and then tell you how much aid they can give you. It would be up to you whether to take the offer or not. Field school will reject you if they can’t give you the aid you say you need. Or at least they used to

Exactly our experience.

I’ll add that Lowell partially bases their decisions on FA needs and only admits if they can meet your need. They are very open about it, which I appreciated.

False. Our kid got into Lowell but we weren’t offered enough aid to meet our need.

Yeah we got accepted as well but weren’t offered aid. We make under 85k a year/family of 4. lol why even admit us. Sure let me just magically make $40k appear!