Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 08:22     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
ED is huge for this. The donut hole families that need to compare merit aid offers can’t commit to ED, but full pay families can.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 08:22     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
There is no such thing as need-blind.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 08:17     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How? ED is the way to get full pay kids. Penn gets 50% of the class in ED, Chicago gets 80% of the class through ED0 to ED2.


Not true anymore for the top schools. ED is done by high needs, minimal parent financial contribution all the time. The counselors at the public magnet near us push ED for ivies for top-10%/top rigor kids (unless they want to go for REA) and are clear that if the NPC is not matched you argue it or back out. The top schools usually meet the NPC and then some.
80% of this high school gets need based aid somewhere, even if smaller amounts. This magnet sends a LOT to ivy+ schools with ED each year. There is also Questbridge for high-needs kids and these #s are counted in the ED total. ED is not at all majority full pay especially at these meets needs schools that give some need based aid up to 300k (Harvard Princeton Penn MIT Stanford Hopkins maybe a couple other ivies too). The top schools brag about and want to stay 55-60% on need based aid, and have been doing so for at least 4 years, when we did all of our tours. They do not want too many full pay, partly since rankings count Pell, etc, and especially with the newer endowment tax fees. Full pay is becoming a large negative!


Nope.

All T20 colleges ( including MIT) are ~50% full pay
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 21:27     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
I think its aspirational- they are in a sense need blind, they don't start out with a goal of not admitting kids from lower SES (keep in mind they used to do that, i.e. "not our kind") but as a practical matter they can only afford aid some portion of each class, at most of the T20 it is right around 50%. The AO's know this and they know which schools/zip codes contain which SES's.
It is also part of what they do in the enrollment management phase when they are predicting which students will accept if admitted vs which are less likely to. Some of them have spoken publicly about having to make changes right up to the last minute.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 19:52     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Listen to Lee Coffin.
He accidentally spilled the beans in a recent podcast.
Hint: they aren’t really blind and have nicknames for everyone’s SES.


what does SES stand for?


Socioeconomic status
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 19:30     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:Listen to Lee Coffin.
He accidentally spilled the beans in a recent podcast.
Hint: they aren’t really blind and have nicknames for everyone’s SES.


what does SES stand for?
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 19:00     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How? ED is the way to get full pay kids. Penn gets 50% of the class in ED, Chicago gets 80% of the class through ED0 to ED2.


Not true anymore for the top schools. ED is done by high needs, minimal parent financial contribution all the time. The counselors at the public magnet near us push ED for ivies for top-10%/top rigor kids (unless they want to go for REA) and are clear that if the NPC is not matched you argue it or back out. The top schools usually meet the NPC and then some.
80% of this high school gets need based aid somewhere, even if smaller amounts. This magnet sends a LOT to ivy+ schools with ED each year. There is also Questbridge for high-needs kids and these #s are counted in the ED total. ED is not at all majority full pay especially at these meets needs schools that give some need based aid up to 300k (Harvard Princeton Penn MIT Stanford Hopkins maybe a couple other ivies too). The top schools brag about and want to stay 55-60% on need based aid, and have been doing so for at least 4 years, when we did all of our tours. They do not want too many full pay, partly since rankings count Pell, etc, and especially with the newer endowment tax fees. Full pay is becoming a large negative!


Lol.
Ok grandma. Have you seen the funding cuts at these schools?
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:57     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Listen to Lee Coffin.
He accidentally spilled the beans in a recent podcast.
Hint: they aren’t really blind and have nicknames for everyone’s SES.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:50     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:How? ED is the way to get full pay kids. Penn gets 50% of the class in ED, Chicago gets 80% of the class through ED0 to ED2.


Not true anymore for the top schools. ED is done by high needs, minimal parent financial contribution all the time. The counselors at the public magnet near us push ED for ivies for top-10%/top rigor kids (unless they want to go for REA) and are clear that if the NPC is not matched you argue it or back out. The top schools usually meet the NPC and then some.
80% of this high school gets need based aid somewhere, even if smaller amounts. This magnet sends a LOT to ivy+ schools with ED each year. There is also Questbridge for high-needs kids and these #s are counted in the ED total. ED is not at all majority full pay especially at these meets needs schools that give some need based aid up to 300k (Harvard Princeton Penn MIT Stanford Hopkins maybe a couple other ivies too). The top schools brag about and want to stay 55-60% on need based aid, and have been doing so for at least 4 years, when we did all of our tours. They do not want too many full pay, partly since rankings count Pell, etc, and especially with the newer endowment tax fees. Full pay is becoming a large negative!
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:49     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
OP- you sound very, very naive.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:43     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Anonymous wrote:How? ED is the way to get full pay kids. Penn gets 50% of the class in ED, Chicago gets 80% of the class through ED0 to ED2.


This and then taking full-pay kids off the waitlist.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:36     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
How? ED is the way to get full pay kids. Penn gets 50% of the class in ED, Chicago gets 80% of the class through ED0 to ED2.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:34     Subject: Re:If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
They claim financial aid and admissions are 2 separate offices so they don’t see kid’s FA request.

But, if you need aid you fill out the forms and include your SSN. They block that out for admissions, they can’t see it.

They do look at parents’ jobs and address/neighborhood, the HS, etc and have the software to make a pretty good guess even if they don’t actually see the box checked.

Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:33     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Many need blind schools are like 60% private school kids and most private school kids don’t need FA.

Those kids tend to be very strong applicants to the top schools since they have a lot of advantages at those schools.

Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 18:28     Subject: If a school is need blind, how and why do they prioritize full pay families?
Are the AOs able to check finances if the process is supposedly need-blind for domestic applicants?