“Need blind” and “need aware” are different financial aid admissions policies. The terms refer to whether the college considers a student’s ability to pay for college when making admissions decisions. As the name indicates, need blind admissions policies do not take into account a student’s socioeconomic status. On the other hand, need aware admissions policies do factor a student’s ability to pay for college into admissions decisions.
Learn more about these policies and what they mean for you here.
The following colleges are need-blind and meet 100% of US applicants’ demonstrated need.
- Amherst College
- Barnard College
- Boston College
- Bowdoin College
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Claremont McKenna College
- College of the Holy Cross
- Columbia College, Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Curtis Institute of Music
- Dartmouth College
- Davidson College
- Duke University
- Georgetown University
- Grinnell College
- Hamilton College
- Harvard College
- Harvey Mudd College
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Middlebury College
- Minerva Schools at KGI
- Northwestern University
- Olin College
- Pomona College
- Princeton University
- Rice University
- Soka University of America
- Stanford University
- Swarthmore College
- University of Chicago
- University of Michigan (in-state students only)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Richmond
- University of Southern California
- University of Virginia
- Vanderbilt University
- Vassar College
- Wellesley College
- Williams College
- Yale University
The following colleges have need-blind admissions but do not meet 100% of your financial need. That does not necessarily mean they will be unaffordable to you!
- Babson College
- Baylor University
- Boston University
- Bucknell University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Cooper Union
- Denison University
- Earlham College
- Fordham University
- Hampshire College
- Ithaca College
- New York University
- Saint Louis University
- Santa Clara University
- Southern Methodist University
- St. John's College
- St. John's University
- St. Lawrence University
- Syracuse University
- Texas Christian University
- University of Miami
- University of San Diego