Are early applicants prefered for merit aid?

i cant find this info any where. some help would be much appreciated.

Early Admission applicants are considered for merit aid just like any other applicants…even waiting list admittees can get merit aid!

When you say preferred…what do you mean? I think EA may help you get a small boost in admissions, but no difference in merit aid.

You can search in this subforum and see examples of EA applicants that got merit aid.

At some schools merit aid gets handed out early, but I agree with Bopper, at Case Western, you can still get that type of aid if you apply regular decision. The Michaelson Morley, they give that to some EA candidates, but they may also give some of those to RD candidates. Both my sons applied EA. Both got merit aid. One got the Michaelson Morley, which was a bit more money than the other son, which is specific for certain majors, I am forgetting which ones, but math/science/engineering, as I remember. I have heard that merit aid at Case may be very dependent on ACT score and the SAT subject exam scores, even though those subject exam scores are not required to apply and get accepted to CWRU, and that was our experience. So son with an ACT =33 got less than the son with an ACT of 35. Both sons got two 800s on SAT subject exams. (Math 2 and Physics which is easier than chemistry to earn an 800, apparently ) Good luck. Since EA is nonbinding, it may be wise to apply early if the student’s stats are strong.

Case is a striving school - and it should be. There will be merit aid for regular and EA decision applicants. Their recent entree into ED makes a lot of sense for the school. But, I suspect that it results in no merit money for applicants. If I’m wrong, I would be very interested in details from those who applied ED. Our son was a strong EA applicant several years ago (before ED option) and he received half tuition. I suspect if he applied ED he would have received none. Appreciate others’ thoughts.

@ProudDad26 I think you raise an issue I went round and round with last fall, as my daughter (and family) was debating whether to apply EA or ED. From what I understand the only way you can turn down an ED offer is if you can not afford it. Since CWRU would want to have very few students they accept ED turn them down based on cost, I kind of expect that they would come close or better than what the EFC calculator states. But, then I also worried like you suggest that ED means that you are more locked-in, perhaps that means less aid. In the end we applied EA (for this very reason), and we were very happy with the merit scholarship. They did not really push ED, perhaps since it is new, like some schools we visited. However, CWRU is clearly becoming increasingly selective. I suppose, the more students they get to take the ED offer, the fewer offers they will have to make. So, I guess I also am just not sure how the merit aid would work for ED admits, but I tend to think/hope it would be very similar to the way merit aid works for EA.

I can’t imagine that CWRU (or any college) would not give merit for ED…
If students found out that they didn’t get ED merit, who would apply?
CWRU would like ED because that helps their yield rate.

I know several strong students who applied to CWRU ED and didn’t receive merit aid. Interested to know if any accepted ED students did receive merit aid. Any with personal experience?

The problem with ED affordability and chasing merit aid is that many families whose EFCs would make them full-pay, nevertheless might want/need merit to more easily afford for their kids to go. Getting out of ED for lack of affordability is based on EFC, so breaking the agreement for lack merit goes against the spirit of the agreement. (Don’t get me started on the legitimacy of the whole idea of ED, as I think that it is inherently unfair to students, but that’s another matter altogether).

FWIW, most schools will tell you that if you want to compare offers or if merit aid is an issue, do NOT apply ED. EA is fine, though. Whether applying early matters or not vis à vis availability of merit probably depends – many schools have early submission dates for merit consideration; others require EA for consideration; others claim that EA/RD are considered equally.

Might as well apply to Case Western EA although if one is worried about getting at all, in ED does give one an edge. Thats interesting that ED may not come with merit awards, IF thats true,perhaps it is because the family has already said they can afford Case Western or ready and willing to take loans per the ED agreement? . I tend to think its not true and the kids applying ED that have read these posts and not gotten merit awards, may not have the strongest stats to win merit awards, but I do not know.

If you cannot to pay full price for Case Western, OR unwilling to take an education loan, for sure do not apply ED. Apply EA. That still shows interest but also indicates that you cannot afford to pay cash and may go to another school for any reason, including you like it better, they give you a better award than CWRU or you just want to stay close to home, for instance. ED means you have the cash or ready to take the loans to pay for your education. Usually only rich families or families with resources or families willing to take out education loans, risk ED. I do not know any middle income families that would use ED. However low income families may be OK using ED, if they know the EFC is very low, as then the student is likely to get good financial aid. I don’t know that CWRU states that they can meet 100% of demonstrated NEED though , so this means the lower income student is ready and willing to take an education loan.

THey have only been doing ED for a year or two so we may not have the data on CC to know.

ED can also mean that you are assuming you would get the typical merit scholarship (given that you have good scores) and you could back out because you cannot afford it.

I am certainly no expert, but I did find two articles that talk about how ED works. From reading them both (see links below) it looks like ED is not a legal contract but instead works on the honor system (with HS guidance counselors as the watchdogs). While nationally 97% of folks who apply ED end up at that school, legitimate reasons for deciding not to go after being accepted are that the financial aid that was offered failed to leave up to expectations (EFC calculator).Of course, this decision not to go would have to happen prior to applying to other schools. I do agree with others that applying ED should not be done without great thought and research. It is very important to determine whether expectations of financial assistance are realistic, based on income, assets, admissions credentials, etc. EA is also an excellent choice, if there is less confidence of affordability.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html?_r=0

https://www.petersons.com/college-search/ask-experts-early-decision.aspx

After looking at these articles and a few others, I tend to agree with @bopper that colleges probably do give typical merit aid to ED applicants.

Because CWRU gives the full financial package at the time of December admissions for EA or ED, That would still leave a student time to apply regular decision to other institutions, but not that much time, as the letters, on line admissions and financial aid /merit packages from CWRU come out Dec 19 this past year, and maybe Dec 15, when my older child applied. RD applications are typically due on January 1. So thats only two weeks. I think its better to not apply ED unless a student knows they can afford it. Although the student could “get out of the arrangement” by pleading ignorance or poverty ! Or, apply ED, hope for the best package ever but just do all your other applications, RD and have them on hold in case the CWRU financial package is not making the school affordable.

I think that is a lot more stress than simply applying EA and comparing offers as they come in. Most middle income families do it this way, but ED is a very interesting monkey wrench.

ED does allow one to apply in some cases to other schools, but one must immediately withdraw those applications if one gets into the ED school per the rules. For instance, my nephew applied to Carton College ED and U of Illinois early .He had to immediately withdraw his UIUC application when he got into Carlton ED.

My niece applied ED to Williams and early to U of Chicago and got into both. She had to immediately withdraw/turn don the offer from U of Chicago and enroll at Williams college per the Williams College ED agreement.

That’s my point. If you do not have documented financial need, you should (by interpretation of ED) by obligated to accept the decision of the school whether you receive merit money or not. I would suspect that CWRU would offer less (or no) merit money to ED vs. EA applicants. Still waiting to hear from an ED applicant who actually received merit money (or not).

I asked specifically to my alumni interview coordinator:

Q: Do ED applicants get the same consideration for merit aid as any other applicant?
A: Yes - decision plan has no bearing on merit money awarded.

EA is not binding like ED.

Merit aid is a recruitment tool for higher stats. Some schools have an formula that automatically grants merit aid based on stats. But at schools were merit aid is DISCRETIONARY, if the non-FA student applies ED, and is bound to commit anyway, then what’s the point of dangling a non-need-based incentive?

Typically, the people who should be applying ED are those needing FA (they can decline if the FA isn’t enough) and those prepared to be fullpay (they have no basis for declining).

But since the question is about CWRU, and they say ED/EA/RD consideration for merit is all the same.

The incentive is to get those top kids to apply ED and then attend…which therefore increases their yield which is very important to colleges.

We actually used a college admissions counselor to help us through the process. She is in California and we are in Texas (long story, relative of a friend). My son had no help from his hs counselor and very, very few students from his school go out of state for college–only about half attend college at all. So we needed someone who was familiar with getting into competitive schools to help us.

Her take was only apply ED if going to that school has been your lifelong goal and you will attend there no matter the cost. She said ED students get less merit aid because it isn’t necessary to lock them in. She liked the idea of applying to CWRU EA and said that he had an opportunity to receive nice amounts of merit aid if he did. We chose to have DS apply EA. He got in and had a decent amount of merit aid to sweeten the pot. Honestly, I did not expect it despite what she said and it was a pleasant surprise when it came through. We would not qualify for financial aid based on income (although we probably will when the next DS goes to college next year).

CWRU USED to have need blind admissions, but that is no longer the case. That changed a year or two ago, according to what we were told when we toured in the summer of 2015.

@PrimeMeridian says ‘if the non-FA student applies ED, and is bound to commit anyway, then what’s the point of dangling a non-need-based incentive?’ That seems to be correct. Colleges prefer ‘free’ students, which mean they don’t need to give away any fin aid. They are businesses, basically.

But does that work if you do not do a FAFSA or CSS? Could a college then doubt if family does indeed have income and assets for full-pay? Or better, say if income is 250K or more, or assets over a million, to do CSS anyway, to prove to college you do have the money to do a full-pay?

@bigred93: What you said is not true for CWRU. I spoke directly to the alumni ambassador for CWRU and she said
Q: Do ED applicants get the same consideration for merit aid as any other applicant?
A: Yes - decision plan has no bearing on merit money awarded.

I could see what you are all saying makes sense in the short run…if you really want to go to college X, why shoudl they use merit money to incentivize you…but if people find out that ED people at college X don’t get merit money, they will look elsewhere.

If you are eligible for merit money at CWRU, you will get it if your are ED, EA or RD.