Financial aid impact on college admissions chances?

Hi everyone, my family and I will need a significant amount of financial aid in order for me to attend college. Will this affect my chances of getting accepted into schools? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances? Thanks!

Hi there! It's great that you're considering this aspect of college admissions early on. To answer your question, whether or not financial aid will impact your chances of getting accepted depends on the schools you apply to. Some colleges are need-blind, which means they don't consider your financial situation when reviewing your application. Others are need-aware and may take your financial aid needs into account.

To improve your chances both in admissions and for receiving financial aid, make sure to create a balanced list of schools, which not only has a good mix of likely, target, and reach schools, but also ideally includes at least a couple of need-blind colleges. However, it's worth noting that need-blind schools are often some of the most competitive colleges in the country, as these high-ranking schools typically have larger endowments, more generous donors, etc., which gives them the freedom to decide about applicants without worrying about the impact on their bottom line. If you want to see a full list of need-blind schools, CollegeVine has a blog post on this exact topic: https://blog.collegevine.com/a-guide-to-need-blind-schools-complete-list.

At need-aware schools, you'll want to be sure that your application is as strong as possible, since you will need a significant amount of financial aid. Taking a couple of higher-level classes, if you aren't already, earning leadership positions in your extracurriculars, writing strong essays, and scoring highly on the SAT/ACT (even if the school is test-optional) can help prove to schools that you are worth investing in.

Additionally, search for scholarships and other financial aid opportunities, which can help reduce your reliance on aid from colleges themselves.

Best of luck!