Will Applying For Financial Aid Affect Your Chances Of Admission?

Earlier this week, we published a blog discussing the differences between Need-Blind and Need-Aware colleges. In that post we explained the difference between the two policies and how they might affect your chances of admission. However, we recognize that you may still have questions, and we would like to provide as many answers as possible.

Will applying for financial aid affect your chances of admission to a top college? There is no definitive answer to this question. However, in most cases, no. If the college operates on a Need-Aware system, then it is technically possible that it could affect your chances of admission. But generally, the answer is no.

Many top schools have Need-Blind admissions policies, which means that they do not consider an applicant's financial need when making admissions decisions. This means that the admissions office will not know if you have applied for financial aid or not, and it will not influence your chances of admission.

As we’ve stated many, many times before, admissions decisions at top schools are based on a variety of factors, including academic performance, extracurricular activities, essays, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores, and other personal characteristics. Financial need is typically considered separately from these factors, and applying for financial aid should not negatively impact your admission decision.

Again, without knowing the individual college to which you are applying, there is no definitive answer we can give to the question of financial aid affecting admissions. Start by researching whether the college is a Need-Blind or Need-Aware college.

Top Need-Aware Colleges:

• Brown

• Dartmouth

• Cornell

• Duke

• Northwestern

• Tufts

Top Need-Blind Colleges:

• Yale

• Princeton

• MIT

• Stanford

• Amherst

• Williams

• Panoma

• CalTech

• Columbia

These are by no means complete lists, but they are some of the top colleges to which our students apply. 

After determining what category the college you want falls under, check with the individual college to see what kind of financial aid packages they offer. Not all colleges will release that information upfront, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. 

The truth of the matter is that if you need to apply for financial aid in order to afford college, then that is what you have to do. You should apply to the colleges you are qualified to attend based on your academic achievements, and the other factors listed above. 

Interested in additional guidance on applying to college? Contact Ivy Link below to schedule a consultation. Ivy Link works with students starting as early as 8th grade to achieve their college and lifelong goals.