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Financial Aid, Admissions, and “Need-Blind” Policies
Here’s how to identify ‘need-blind’ and ‘need-aware’ colleges when building your college list.
June 23, 2026
Here’s how to identify ‘need-blind’ and ‘need-aware’ colleges when building your college list.
Is the high cost of college tuition worth it? This depends on a lot of factors that families must take into consideration when choosing colleges.
Some universities are willing to discount tuition rates heavily in order to attract quality students. Other universities are not. Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of those that generally does not discount for much of anything. They recruit students who generally will pay the full price of tuition. Scholarships do exist, and a small percentage of students may get them for one reason or another. But the fact is that different universities have different business models. And Samford is unabashedly a school that wants students who can pay the full cost.
If you’re looking for a medium sized private college with small college perks, consider Ithaca in upstate New York.
Colleges cost a lot. Sarah Lawrence College costs the most. Why is that? And is this really true? (Hint: It depends on how good a student you are…!)