<p>A high school senior I'm working with is very interested in High Point. On a recent visit she just fell in love with the school. She wants to apply ED, but does not have sufficient financial support from her parents and would have to borrow a great deal to attend. (Even if this made sense, which it doesn't of course, I don't see how she'd even be able to borrow enough -- no bank would loan a student that much money.) </p>
<p>The ED option as described on the HPU website says it's binding regardless of the financial aid offered -- unlike the Common App ED option that specifically states the decision is not binding if the FA is insufficient. That's not legally enforceable of course because there's no "consideration" in the contractual sense. So it sounds like the only real potential penalty would be losing her deposit if she gets as far as paying it. I'm going to recommend she use the EA option instead, but I'd be interested to hear any stories about the ramifications for ED admits that found they could not afford to attend. She can't be the only student determinedly naive about how much she can borrow.</p>
<p>From the website it doesn't look like there is much institutional aid available. Her grades and test scores are well within (and slightly above) typical HPU students, but not so high that she'd be a candidate for scholarships aimed at attracting tip top students.</p>
<p>If her stats put her comfortably in the running, but not high enough for merit money AND her folks can’t write the check…ED would surely end in disappointment! Better to apply EA and avoid the trauma and drama.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is wise to apply to any university early decision if financial aid is a major consideration. High Point has an early action option. My son applied early action, this way you can leave your options open until you receive your financial aid package. Do not forget to have the student apply to the presidential scholarships. That application is separate and has a deadline. High Point has some generous merit scholarships through the presidential awards. My son received a nice award through the presidential scholarship.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that it never makes sense for kids with financial need to apply early, but it depends very much on the FA policies of the specific college, and in the case of High Point I totally agree that this student shouldn’t do it. I was mostly interested in any stories of kids who applied ED and then couldn’t afford to go.</p>
<p>it never makes sense to apply binding decsion if you need financial help. better to apply early non binding. we just had a meeting for my 2nd applying to schools and they said absolutely do NOT apply binding decision if academic merit or financial aid is required. You need to know what you are able to pay and often schools offer far less to those who go binding decision because they KNOW they have those kids already committed. good luck to you!</p>
<p>It’s a little more nuanced than that, Lefty1, but applicable only to schools that meet full need without loans and do not offer merit aid. These are some of the most selective schools in the country. They also provide FA awards at the time they offer the ED admissions, so you can see what your net costs will be and can decline the offer if the FA is insufficient. This is a longer conversation though and is especially not applicable to HPU or other schools that offer non-guaranteed merit aid.</p>
<p>So how does it work at schools that say they don’t abide by this rule? How indeed does High Point handle such a situation?</p>
<p>“You need to know what you are able to pay and often schools offer far less to those who go binding decision because they KNOW they have those kids already committed.”</p>
<p>If such schools were ever identified (if they even exist) they could be avoided. Now that we have Net Price Calculators maybe this claim will die out.</p>
<p>Vonlost, the ED application process at HPU is different from any I’ve seen before. They do not use the Common App so the opt-out clause based on FA is not stated… at least as far as I’ve been able to find. The student I’m working with told me that she isn’t required to submit any financial information with her ED application. I had never heard such a thing before and that’s what got me looking at ED at this particular college. It raised a lot of concerns for me. I’ve learned more since I started researching this and understand now that HPU is out-of-the-mainstream in many ways; some perhaps good, many problematic. But I’m not looking to start a general conversation about HPU, just about the consequences to students who apply ED with insufficient funds since obviously HPU can’t force attendance and indenture students.</p>
<p>rentof2 I will also add in this… Not sure if the student you are working with is local to the school. They do also offer academic merit but you must submit additional essays, be selected and then MUST return for a weekend program for interviews, etc… If your student were not local like mine it costs quite a bit of money to even become eligible for those academic scholarships. For me it was 3 roundtrip airfares… (my husband attended as well since this would be his only visit to the school prior to move in) and 2 nights in a hotel. Probably close to $1500. My daughter was awarded a nice scholarship and ultimately decided not to attend. My son just received the waived application fee letter in the mail today but I’m unsure if I will have him apply due to the extra cost involved in finding out what academic merit he would be eligible for. Just wanted to add this in case you were not aware. Hope all goes well for your student you are helping.</p>
<p>A school that makes an ED offer to an applicant needing financial aid really, really wants the student to attend, so much so that the school is willing to take a substantial economic “loss” on the student. So if the applicant declines the ED offer it wouldn’t be suprising for the school to respond saying “Talk to us” to see what it would take to support attendance. How often does this actally happen? No clue.</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional info, Lefty, that’s interesting to know. Vonlost, in the case of HPU it doesn’t appear that they would even know if an ED applicant has financial need since they don’t require any financial info at the time of application. Weird.</p>
<p>Pay attention to the post about the merit aid weekend. At many schools, once a prospective student meets the minimum criteria to attend such a weekend, stats are thrown out and the competition is on. The experience many have had at HPU is that the weekend isn’t really a competition. The student receives the merit package that is delineated on the website. IOW, your family spends $1500 to attend and the offer is based on your stats. At many other schools, it’s all about how you perform during the weekend. Kids who barely made the cut have the opportunity to get the highest merit if they shine during the weekend events.</p>
<p>yes Bigdaddy is correct. when my daughter got her merit award in the mail it was exactly what her stats reflected as she was well above the average applicant. I was hoping for even a bit more being my daughter interviews very well and although she looks great on paper she shines in person. (i’m not being biased… I have a son who is the opposite. lol… he has much to learn about communication skills yet) I just felt like it was a big waste of time to go down and spend the money for the weekend. Yes we were wined and dined while there but it still cost a good amount of money and a day off of work to attend. I would love to hear of someone who got a far superior scholarship offering than their stats reflected.
Another disappointment was when my daughter met with a coach for a team that weekend. She was told she would make the team and be offered a small stipend for being on the team. IF she took that she could not collect the merit money that would be far higher. She was not allowed to get both. I’m not sure if this is a rule at all colleges? It was just their cheer team which was very very basic and really just starting up. We are not talking a full out D1 team on their campus.</p>
<p>lefty1: I’m curious who told you that your D could not get the cheer money and the merit money. My D is a sophomore and received a very large merit scholarship (in line with her stats). She also cheered last year and did indeed receive both monies. The cheer money was incidental…barely covered the cost of shoes and the spring break trip to Nationals. My D is not cheering this year (WAY too time consuming and WAY too much fundraising) so perhaps the rule is different this year. I would be surprised if that’s so though.</p>
<p>My D has been an interviewer for scholarship weekends the past 2 years and they take the interviews very seriously. The interviews are rated, so scholarship amount is not just based on stats.</p>
<p>My D has been an interviewer during scholarship weekends, and they are taken very seriously. The interviews are rated, so aid is not just based on stats.</p>
<p>^^^Just sayin, that is not the experience of the folks on CC. There is a thread from last year. There wasn’t one parent who said that their child either received a higher or lower amount than their stats suggested. Do you have an example of a kid who improved their standing based on the weekend?</p>
<p>HPU recently announced that a private donor is giving $5 million over time to be used for scholarships for students studying business or communications. This is good news for incoming freshman in those disciplines.
It may also help free up scholarship dollars for those in other majors of study as well.
Always great when any school receives a gift to improve educational opportunities.</p>
<p>Hi Orangestripe… so sorry I was away for a few days. We were told on sight by both admissions and the cheer coach. It was the first year they were attempting comp cheer. (the only thing my D was really interested in) And that was the rule then. It was two years ago so maybe once the they got the program going they changed it. I think it was something like $1500 they said she was eligible for based on her skill set but then she would have to give up her $12K scholarship. So of course it made no sense to us to even consider it. After all she decided not to attend so it didn’t really make a difference but of course a bit frustrating in the whole process. Glad to hear they have changed things around so the kids participating can benefit from the monies offered.</p>