<p>Ok. The daughter of a good friend of ours is a HS junior and already in love with a certain very well regarded LAC and wants to apply ED. Financial aid is important to them. The mom says the Admissions Rep has assured her that the online financial aid calculator should come very close to their daughter's actual package. In fact, they said they could go a step further and do a hand calculated package before she applies. Based on what they see in the online calculator they can make it happen. With this in mind they think they will go ahead let her apply ED in the fall.</p>
<p>What do you think of this scenario? I've never heard of colleges giving you an aid estimate before you apply ED. I've always heard if FA is important go RD.</p>
<p>Admissions reps do not do financial aid packages. Perhaps with the exception of merit $$ based on stats for incoming freshmen, Admissions and Financial Aid departments operate as 2 separate entities. If family is sure that they want to apply ED, I would recommend that they contact the financial aid department to request and “early read” based on their financial situation. Even then the financial aid department cannot “guarantee” that they will get the package in the read, but the family would have a sense as to how much the school will cost the family.</p>
<p>The downside to applying ED is that you do not get to compare financial aid packages. The family will never know if they could have gotten a better deal at a peer school (which they could have used in a request for a financial review).</p>
<p>For schools that meet full financial need, and for applicants with need and very straight-forward scenarios, then I agree that it’s okay to apply ED. </p>
<p>For example, a school meets full-financial need with no loans for families with income under $60K. If a family has income under $60K, does not own a business, rents a home, has no investments, etc., then I would expect their online financial aid calculation would be pretty close to what would be offered. </p>
<p>So if the calculation came up with an EFC that you feel is doable, and if this school is clearly the favorite/top-contender, then why not apply ED? Yes, maybe you would get even your EFC covered at another school, but it may be a decision you are OK with if it means getting into your favorite school.</p>
<p>Some schools let you apply ED with the caveat that if the FA isn’t there, you can opt out…or so I’ve read, somewhere…worth looking into, perhaps.</p>
<p>What you have read might be the language added to the Common Application that affirmed the concept that students can reject an offer of admission that came with an insufficent financial aid package. </p>
<p>Although the decision to release a student from the binding ED agreement should be the school’s only, the consensus is that the student does have the right to reject the offer. </p>
<p>This said, the position taken by a few that this allows for an extended period of negotiations during which a student can pursue other RD admissions is both unethical and … false.</p>
<p>Some schools will do an “early read” of a possible FA pkg, but you’d have to provide some detailed info.</p>
<p>However, it’s risky that an Admission’s rep should be making such statements. Those NPCs aren’t that reliable - especially for those who are self-employed, have NCPs, or some other issue. </p>
<p>Also, so many people make mistakes on those NPCs. </p>
<p>Last fall, my nephew was told by an admission’s person that he’d CERTAINLY get a merit scholarship from a very good school. In the end, he wasn’t even accepted!!! </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see the posts in a few months from people whose NPCs said that they’d get X…and they really only got a fraction of X.</p>
<p>If a college finaid office did an early read, I’d be pretty confident in an ED application especially if a couple thousand dollars one way or the other from the final package wouldn’t make or break the deal.</p>
<p>Look on princeton review for the school-- under tuition and aid, they often show the average percent of need met. If that number is pretty high, then you should be fine ED. The other stats on there would help out your friend too. A disadvantage to applying ED would be if they want to compare merit awards, but I’ve rarely heard of someone receiving less FA ED than they expected.</p>
<p>DO THIS. Do not rely on the net price calculator on the school website and definitely do not rely on the info an admissions person gives. The admissions folks do NOT calculate or award need based financial aid…the financial aid office does that.</p>
<p>SO…get this family to take ACCURATE figures for 2012 to that finaid person at the college for an “early read”. Get EVERYTHING in writing…including something that allows the student to withdraw from the ED acceptance if the financial aid does not work out.</p>
<p>I do have to say…the downside is that this ED offer COULD be the best one (even if it’s not what the family expects) or it could be the worst…they will not have any way to compare real financial aid offers if their student applies ED to this one school. They will have to make a decision based on what they get from this one school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Keabie…head over to the financial aid section of this forum…where numerous posts are from students who are asking about pulling out of an ED acceptance because the school’s financial aid award did not meet their expectations.</p>
<p>I agree, kids often end up applying ED before the family has really determined the colleges expectations of what they should pay and with the parent signing the ED agreement and I suspect not clearly reading the fine print on finaid pages of the website. Yes the finaid forums are a pretty good representation of how many kids go into the application cycle. An early finaid read WITH accurate documentation is probably as close as it gets and if the college is willing to do that should give a family pretty good insight into their costs, if they provide accurate information.</p>
<p>We have visited schools for open houses and had finance office personnel encourage all families who were interested in aid to speak with them, so they could let them know what it would cost for their student to attend. They mentioned what SAT scores/GPA were required for merit aid (unrelated to financial need) and made it very clear that one could know early on in the process what your COA would be based on both merit eligibility and family’s financial status. Seems like a big advantage to families who need to plan this process. If it is not mentioned, it seems to make sense to ask how much info. can be had about this at what moment in time. Smaller schools seemed more likely to suggest this process. </p>
<p>As far as early decision goes, as others have said, you forfeit the option of comparing aid offers and actual cost of attending, but if you have the numbers confirmed and working at a first choice school, you are in the same boat as others who choose to apply binding ED.</p>
<p>Lovestotravel: no…but I know a bunch of kids who attend and many were given this early FA read that was highly accurate when their packages came after ED admittances…</p>
<p>“Although the decision to release a student from the binding ED agreement should be the school’s only”</p>
<p>So what if it were the school’s decision and the school said “Sorry, you’re not released,” then what happens? Is the student compelled to attend, perhaps being expelled when the bill can’t be paid? I think this is why it should be solely the family’s decision; only they know what they can truly afford, and the school already has all the info used to determine the financial aid offer. If the school gets involved, there’s the danger that a negotiation could start; the family should simply make the yes-or-no decision.</p>
<p>^^ Why do need to argue about this? You know that I support the yes/no reply upon receiving the financial aid package, but oppose gaming the system. In so many words, schools should agree to release students for financial reasons IF the student NEVER accepts the offer in December or January. Releasing a student who DID accept the offer should be at the discretion of the school and carry consequences or restrictions.</p>