When I look at different schools to see what their admission policies are in relation to financial aid, I have a few key phrases and words that I'm tuned in to. First, I visit each school's .edu website and look at their Admissions page, find international applicants, and then read what it says with regard to their admission policy. You can also Google "X college need-blind/need-aware for international applicants?" It's often easier than combing through each school's website.

To find out if a university takes a student's financial situation into consideration when deciding to admit them, look for keywords like "need-aware, need-sensitive" and something similar to "financial aid is only available to a limited number of int'l applicants" or "competition for funding is high," or "your level of financial need may affect your chances for admission." Anything that indicates a student's ability to pay will sway the admission process generally means that a school is need-aware.

Need-blind schools are usually very blunt, using language such as "regardless of their ability to pay" or "X college admits undergraduate students without regard to their ability to pay and provides need-based aid to all students who are admitted," or "applicants will not be disadvantaged in the admission process due to financial need." These are the schools where it is safest to apply for financial aid, but also usually the most competitive for admission; MIT, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Princeton, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Georgetown are all in this category.

When gauging a school's affordability, you'll need to go to their .edu financial aid website and find the Cost of Attendance for the year you're hoping to attend. If they don't have it updated yet, call or email the financial aid office and ask what their projected Cost of Attendance is for the year you want to attend. Generally for private schools, you can count on anywhere from 2%-5% above what the prior year's figures are. Once you know approximately (or exactly) what the annual Cost of Attendance is, add about $5,000/yr in personal and incidental expenses, then compare that amount to what your family would be able to pay per year for school. Whatever the difference is between the 2 amounts, that is how much financial aid, merit aid, and/or outside merit scholarships you'll need to cover the difference.

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