<p>Not meeting your needs for financial aid is really the only reason why ANY college will release you from an Early Decision agreement. no college would bankrupt your family, make you take out a second mortage, etc, in order for you to fulfill your end of an early decision application. call WUSTL just to hear their own language on the policy, but it would be shocking if a college said otherwise. since that’s basically the policy for all universities that offer Early Decision, it would be silly for them to not offer you enough $$ - because you would have a greater chance of backing out of your ED agreement, and they count on everyone admitted under ED to come. colleges don’t like their yield to decrease :)</p>
<p>if anything, applying ED might mean more chances for financial aid support if you need it… because you are admitted first, you are also using the first $$ of a college’s financial aid resources. </p>
<p>if you have a first choice school, it never hurts to apply ED to that school. if you don’t have a first choice school, clearly don’t apply ED/EA, but there’s no reason not to apply early if you know for sure that school is your absolute first choice.</p>