http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-09/colleges-fill-more-seats-early-favoring-richer-u-s-students
Hey CC, I posted something similar to this question in the Johns Hopkins forum but it only got two replies, so please let me know what you guys think. Is there any legitimacy to the claims posed in this article? (Its a little old >-) )
John Hopkins is need blind so they don’t know if you can pay or not which means that your ability to pay has nothing to do with your decision.
The situation the article is describing is need aware schools. They see your income level when you apply, and therefore they are able to determine if you can pay and that will factor into your decision.
I know NYU favors rich kids over poor.
Vast majority of schools are need aware but generally top schools like JHU are need blind.
The article seems fairly accurate to me (though they say you have to accept an ED acceptance–not so, you can turn it down if the FA award isn’t enough to make the school affordable, and you don’t have to “show” that you can’t afford it). Students who need to look for the lowest possible cost for college can’t apply ED. Students who can afford to attend without needing financial or merit aid can play the ED card without worrying about cost. Students who run the NPCs and apply ED hoping that the numbers will be accurate and they’ll get enough aid to be able to accept an ED offer may or may not get lucky.
The issue isn’t if the school is need-blind (and relatively few schools are need-aware). The issue is that when you receive an ED acceptance and an FA package, you have no opportunity to compare it to other schools.
The article didn’t mention that ED helps bump up a school’s yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend that school).
Wait, here’s something that’s not properly explained:
Everything I’ve read about ED and REA is that the applicant pool is stronger than the RD pool. That said, ED is used for athletic recruitment and legacy, so that may drive the stats somewhat. Students who feel their stats will be stronger by the end of the first semester will often wait for RD so their profile looks stronger. Bottom line, the stats for unhooked ED applicants tend to be higher than for RD.
No one has to accept an ED acceptance…the idea that it’s “binding” has long-lost its power. We have never seen anyone post here on CC that an ED school was forcing them to attend or holding them to the “binding” obligation.
Even if a person were to apply w/o FA, a student could decline with the response that, “my parents won’t pay now.” The school isn’t going to sue you to attend.