<p>this one is pretty important. my family won’t qualify for aid, but definately can’t afford full tuition. should i even bother applying ED because ill probably get screwed over and have to pay full tuition. or is penn a little more flexible than other schools in this regard?</p>
<p>How do you know your family won't qualify for aid?</p>
<p>according to the FAFSA we could "afford" 39 thousand dollars a year, which is absolutely rediculous and inconceivable. the FAFSA is such a joke.</p>
<p>Penn also requires the CSS profile, which gives them a pretty different picture when compared to the FAFSA. Applying ED will also not cause Penn to screw you over in terms of financial aid; if the FAFSA is saying you can 'afford' 39k per year, the financial aid package you will get from any school similar to Penn will look virtually identical to the Penn package, unless you get a merit scholarship from a school that offers them.</p>
<p>If there is a serious problem with your aid package though (the final package you get after you are accepted, not what come up on the FAFSA), Penn is usually pretty good about redressing those kinds of issues so long as you're the squeaky wheel and call and bug the financial aid people regularly enough.</p>
<p>well here is my main concern. i can't afford to pay 40 grand a year for college, so if i get admitted ED and they dont give me any money at all what happens? do they say you have until january 1st to respond to their admittance letter, do they let you review your financial aid package and give you the option to back out if it isn't affordable?</p>
<p>you do ultimately have the option to back out if it's unaffordable, but it's very rare that this is the case. Since you think your expected family contribution is grossly out of proportion to what you can pay, check and make sure the FAFSA was filled out correctly because in my experience, Penn financial aid has very closely correlated to what the FAFSA says. You should also call Student Financial Services and talk to them about it, their website is sfs.upenn.edu. However, many of the avenues through which one would try to remedy this sort of thing are probably only open to those already admitted who have received actual aid packages from Penn.</p>