These two terms appear frequently in boarding school financial aid conversations, and the distinction between them matters both in terms of: how aid is awarded and how you should think about your school list. This article explains the difference, identifies which of the eight schools falls into each category, and outlines what the practical implications are for your family.
The Definitions
Need-Blind Admissions
A need-blind school evaluates applicants entirely without reference to their ability to pay. Financial circumstances are not visible to the admissions committee during the review process. Once a student is admitted, the school then commits to meeting 100% of that student's demonstrated financial need — as calculated by the school's aid formula.
In practice, this means a family with very limited financial resources has the same chance of admission as a full-pay family. The two processes — admissions and financial aid — are entirely separate.
Need-Aware Admissions
A need-aware school considers a student's ability to pay as one factor in the admissions decision. This doesn't mean financial need disqualifies an applicant. At most need-aware schools, the majority of applicants are evaluated without financial consideration, and the need-awareness policy only explicitly comes into play for a smaller subset of borderline decisions, particularly in the final stages of filling a class.
All eight schools state that they meet 100% of demonstrated need for admitted students. But the admission itself (especially if your child is on the margins) may be harder to secure, especially if you're applying for significant aid.
Which Schools Are Which
Among the eight schools covered on this blog:
Need-Blind:
- Andover
- Exeter
- Groton
Need-Aware (but commit to meeting 100% of demonstrated need):
- Choate
- Deerfield
- Hotchkiss
- Lawrenceville
- St. Paul's
This distinction has meaningful strategic implications for how you prioritize your school list if financial aid is important to your family.
What "Demonstrated Need" Actually Means
Both categories of schools use their own internal formulas (not the federal FAFSA) to calculate what they consider a family's "demonstrated need." These formulas are proprietary and can vary significantly from school to school, which is why families are sometimes surprised by the difference between aid packages from different institutions.
The calculation typically accounts for: household income (from both parents/guardians, including non-custodial), assets (savings, investments, retirement accounts, home equity), business ownership, and family size. Schools may weight these factors differently, which means an aid package from Andover and an aid package from Hotchkiss may look quite different for the same family.
Financial aid applications are submitted through Clarity, a centralized platform that automatically pulls prior-year tax records. See Understanding Financial Aid for a detailed walkthrough of the process.
Practical Implications for Your School List
If your family will be applying for significant financial aid, here's what this means for how you build your list:
- Don't avoid need-blind schools. The three need-blind schools on this list — Andover, Exeter, and Groton — are, if anything, safer bets for aid-seeking families from a process standpoint. The admissions committee will never see your financial profile. Apply without hesitation.
- Approach need-aware schools with eyes open. This doesn't mean don't apply — it means understand that a strong application will generally be evaluated on its merits, but that very large aid requests may create headwinds in borderline admissions decisions.
- Don't self-select out based on sticker price. Families who assume they can't afford these schools — and therefore don't apply — are often the most surprised by the generosity of the aid packages they would have received. The formulas are designed to make attendance accessible across income levels. The worst outcome is a rejection; the second-worst is leaving money on the table by not applying.