<p>My daughter would like to apply ED to either Vassar or JHU. Would the ED financial aid package be comparable to the RD package at either school?</p>
<p>If a college offers only need-based financial aid, then you can expect your aid package to be similar in ED and RD. If the college also awards aid based on merit (grades, scores, special talents), then it may or may not be the same in ED and RD.</p>
<p>I don’t know specifically about Vassar and JHU, but information as to their financial aid policies will be available on their websites. You can also call the FA office at each school and ask.</p>
<p>The problem with ED is the aid. The aid might be the same at the school whether you apply EA or RD. However, that doesn’t mean it is good and if you apply ED, you can’t compare it to other schools. Two schools may give you the same aid but one gives you a grant and the other a loan. Much better to wait if FA is important</p>
<p>Don’t apply ED. I don’t think the ED and RD packages generally vary wildly, but I applied ED last year (got accepted with a wonderful finaid package) and then during July had that package reduced by about $20,000 in grant money. (I’m not sure why- first it was that they “overbudgeted” and many of the ED students would see a “slight change” but the story later changed, and finally I was told it was confidential.) </p>
<p>This is not common, I imagine, but still, it left me already graduated, and scrambling to contact the schools that had accepted me pre-ED that I had already rescinded from. (Luckily a CTCL school was quite happy to reactivate my acceptance.)</p>
<p>The problem with applying ED for me was not the inability to compare aid- I got a good package originally. The problem laid within the “drastic” (their words) change to my package some several months later. </p>
<p>I would not do it again. </p>
<p>I did indeed apply to an upper tier LAC that is known for being generous with their aid. I would just wait for the RD acceptances to come out, honestly. Unless you can afford the schools easily, I would just wait.</p>
<p>12Maddy, the problem is that you never really know. JHU does have merit money. It is very, very difficult to get as the competition for those funds is keen with so many talented applicants. Since one would think that ED kids are the cream of the crop in order to be admitted early and at a higher rate, more of them should be getting those merit awards, proportionately. Doesn’t happen. Why? Who knows? Ask how many of last year’s recipients of those awards were ED students and see what that discrepancy is, whether it is extreme or not.</p>
<p>Often merit money is used to “buy” or lure highly desired kids to the school. Why should a school give merit money to someone who is already accepted? When accepted ED, with financial aid, you sign off on the aid package early in the process when you honor your contract, affirm that you are coming, and withdraw your other apps. Usually merit money is not awarded till towards the end of the process, when admissions can look at all of the candidates and decide which ones should get sweeteners to up their chances of coming. My son was accepted EA to a bunch of schools, but didn’t get his merit money until the RD dates. So, it is entirely possible that ED kids are not even in consideration for those funds, since they are already squared away.</p>
<p>That’s one of many reasons, I don’t think ED is a good idea if finances are an issue. ED is a direct trade off with money on the line, and if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t take the risk. I don’t know about Vassars’s stats, but JHU has given some great premiums on admissions for ED candidates. It’s not a freebie, however. Nothing is. You have to give to get, and I think you give up the opportunity of getting a better fin aid package and of merit awards.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s odd though. I applied EA to a few places and got my merit money with my acceptances.</p>
<p>Yurtle, my son got packages from Fairfield, Fordham, Colorado College, all in March/April. He was accepted in December through EA, but no word on scholarships. UMiami, Emory and other schools work that way as well. Where did you get your merit money with your acceptances? Fin aid you might get through ED, but most of the time that I have seen, EA does not come with anything other than automatic scholarships.</p>
<p>Hmm… U of Hartford gave me money. I applied on a whim to calm myself down about the process (their app takes about 5 minutes) and I got $15,000 from them- part of it in automatic scholarship, part not. It got bumped to $16,500 within a month or two.</p>
<p>Knox also granted me a scholarship I won ($3,000) and then a “Founders Scholarship” which is basically just merit money about 10k I think, as they have no specific “Hit this GPA and we’ll give you money.” rule. It came with my original acceptance.</p>
<p>ED applicants are not cream of the crop, neccesarily- they are students who don’t need a significant amount of aid to attend & who are dead set on the school.</p>
<p>Schools that meet 100% of need will do so with a combination of grants, loans and work study.
Merit aid is offered to entice a student to attend. What incentive would a school have to offer merit aid to a student applying ED? They are already making a promise to attend before they even know what their offer is.</p>