<p>I was also wondering about the GC, and what discussion he/she may or may not have had with you. </p>
<p>Also, are you sure that your ED school meets 100% of need??, and where idid you get this info from. Also, did they require any other financial aid forms or the profile. I understand that a federal EFC of 1000 is very low, but do your parents own a home or a business? This would change your institutional EFC. If this is a school that meets full need and your family has no assets I would speak to the financial aid office before backing out. Maybe there was a mistake.</p>
<p>This school was a match for me if I didn't apply ED. I had my heart set on yet. So I thought; well, might as well.</p>
<p>I am going to admit, this does look very opportunistic doesn't it? I didn't manipulate it. Since January till last week, I've been talking to everything like it was a given I would attend. I really did think that I would get good aid, my family's salary range fell within a good range according the school FA site that I thought I was safe. I truely did believe that my revised letter would hold enough. Am I dumb to assume that? Yeah. I'm not going to lie.</p>
<p>It was last Thursday when the mail arrived that I realized; oh crap.</p>
<p>My GC is incompetent. Most kids go to state schools and thats as much as he knows about college.</p>
<p>Would I have backed out in January if I knew that I would only receive less than half my tuition? Yes. But I was too hopefully to realize it wasn't.</p>
<p>School B is fine, I liked it well enough but never truly saw myself attending. I really didn't want to screw anyone over. Its just...I can't take in that much debt.</p>
<p>I have a question about this. My oldest d, I wouldn't let apply ED anywhere. We already knew we wouldn't qualify for need based aid anywhere, but she is a great student and we expected some merit, which she did indeed get. </p>
<p>My second d is in tenth grade, not as great of a student. If she got accepted ED somewhere, she would definitely attend. But, are they allowed to transfer out after freshman year if they hated it or is it binding all four years? If that is the case, I am shocked anyone would ever apply ED.</p>
<p>The fact remains that you did NOT honor the ED agreement. You agreed to immediately withdraw all other applications when you were accepted ED. You obviously did not do that. So I don't think the schools will be terribly impressed with that.</p>
<p>I agree with Iron Maiden. It's been asked several times but you've ignored it every time:</p>
<p>How/Why did you apply anywhere else when you were supposed to withdraw your applications when you were acceptances?</p>
<p>More than anything, that's what makes this whole thread fishy to me. Sounds like you're asking for a pass so you feel better about cheating the system.</p>
<p>Yeah, no matter how you cut it, munchkin3590 is right. It looks like you were dishonest. Otherwise it makes no sense that you left an RD applcation out there, no matter how naive you were in expecting a different FA package than the one you originally got.</p>
<p>I don't know what was <em>really</em> the case, but it's not going to ever look like you're innocent in this no matter how you spin it.</p>
<p>No, I'm asking about opinion. What others feel so I better a better grasp on the situation. Yours (munchkin) and everyone else's reply helps me understand what I'm dealing with.</p>
<p>I am trying to stay as vague as possible. But yes, I applied EDII. Sent all the schools out at once. Honestly, I really just was curious.</p>
<p>I applied to 2 safeties (both that I've ignored) Deadlines for honors programs and whatnot have passed because I was so assured I would go to my ED school. So its not a suitable choice as it was.
An ivy league (not school B), it was mere curiosity. I knew I had no chance. But I knew I would regret it if I didn't try. That wasn't suitable. Truth be told I never even completed a part of it so I'm already out because I was so happy with my ED school.
And then school B. Curiosity. I never actually thought: hey, in March, I will decide to switch it all up and go there. I was never in it to compare scholarships or anything. The school didn't come to the forefront of my mind until Monday.</p>
<p>Innocence or not. Do you expect I'll be released? </p>
<p>I won't die at state school and I'm guessing I'll be allowed to transfer somewhere more appropriate later.</p>
<p>Oops, forgot to post under your alternate name, huh? In the post you deleted, you STILL did not address the issue - if you had withdrawn all applications as you agreed to via ED, you wouldn't even have an offer from school B.</p>
<p>I'm not at all sure you'll be released. Nor should you be IMO. By not withdrawing all your other apps as agreed you not only broke the ED agreement you took spots at other schools that should have been given to other students whose place you took. </p>
<p>You tried to game the system and you lost. There are consequences. Welcome to adulthood. </p>
<p>Sorry if I seem harsh, but ethically you are on very shaky ground. You never should have applied EDII unless you were 100% sure of finances.</p>
<p>Well, I'm as disapproving as the other disapproving posters, but as far as you being released, they can't FORCE you to go. Also you cannot afford to go. So the real question is, will there be consequences for backing out of the ED agreement, and I'm sure none of us can actually know the answer to that question. It's something you'll just have to find out. Perhaps it will be fine and you can go to school B without any problems. There's no way to know really until you try.</p>
<p>And although I've never heard the subject addressed before, I feel certain that transferring after enrolling as a freshman is not what they mean by a binding ED agreement. Once you enroll, you have fulfilled the agreement. No one would expect a student to stay all four years if for any reason the school was not where they wanted to be. In fact, I know a kid at the moment who's finishing up his freshman year at a school he was accepted to ED, and he is planning to transfer out and start his sophomore year elsewhere. That's a whole different issue and the original ED agreement is moot.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Once you enroll, you have fulfilled the agreement.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You say it like you've signed a blood oath to attend the school. All you promise in the ED is to not apply anywhere else, or if you have already applied, to withdraw those applications if accepted. You haven't promised to enroll at the school!</p>
<p>How is it ethical or reasonable to expect 17/18 year olds ot make these often financially unwise decisions? That's where I don't get all the moral outrage. The system is unfair, especially to people who need financial aid to attend college.</p>
<p>"You say it like you've signed a blood oath to attend the school. All you promise in the ED is to not apply anywhere else, or if you have already applied, to withdraw those applications if accepted. You haven't promised to enroll at the school!"</p>
<p>Actually, yes they do sign that they plan to enroll at the school if admitted ED. That's the point of ED.</p>
<p>"How is it ethical or reasonable to expect 17/18 year olds ot make these often financially unwise decisions? "</p>
<p>I think it's reasonable to expect that the teen's parents and guidance counselors would provide guidance about such an important decision. I also think that any teen who is smart enough to be applying to a school that offers ED, and is savvy enough to be using CC is smart enough to figure out the implications of applying ED.</p>
<p>For instance, here's what Macalester College says on its website about ED. Seems very clear to me that a commitment is expected.</p>
<p>"Each year about 25 percent of the first-year students who enter Macalester applied under one of the Early Decision Plans, which are designed to provide early notification for candidates who are sure that Macalester is their first-choice college. For many students, this option can resolve the anxieties of college choice early in the senior year.</p>
<p>Early Decision I applicants whose applications are completed by November 15 will receive a decision from Macalester by mid December. Early Decision II applicants completing their applications by January 2 will receive notification by early February.</p>
<p>Some candidates who are not accepted under the Early Decision Plan will be notified that their applications will be considered with the Regular Applications group and they may be admitted in April.</p>
<p>When students apply for early decision they must sign an agreement that they will enroll if offered admission."</p>
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Actually, yes they do sign that they plan to enroll at the school if admitted ED. That's the point of ED.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Are you honestly saying that if you apply somewhere ED, and are accepted, you are ethically obligated to enroll in and attend that school? There is no room to change your mind, you are bound by honor to go there? You couldn't, for instance, choose to not go to college? Or enroll in the army? Or go to community college?</p>
<p>"Are you honestly saying that if you apply somewhere ED, and are accepted, you are ethically obligated to enroll in and attend that school?"</p>
<p>Yes, that's the point of ED: Applicants get notification earlier than normal that they're in a college that presumably they love. They also have in general an easier time getting into a college ED than they'd have being accepted their RD.</p>
<p>The college gets the chance to have a group of students who are committed early to the college.</p>
<p>The reasons that students can get out of ED are if the college doesn't meet the student's documented financial need or if an emergency (such as a serious illness of the student or their parents) necessitates that the student attend a place for instance, that's closer to home. Getting a better merit aid package or getting into a much better college don't qualify as acceptable reasons for students to back out of ED.</p>
<p>The rules are very clearly stated on ED colleges' admission sites and on the applications. Considering that colleges offering ED are selective colleges, I doubt that their applicants are incapable of understanding what they are committing to.</p>
<p>As the parent, I had to sign my son's ED contract. We were both required to sign it. And yes, the agreement is to enroll if accepted. There is an out if the family cannot afford the school after any offer of FA. That's why we are all saying the OP should have discussed the insufficient offer he/she got from the ED school when he/she originally got the offer, not after getting a better deal from another school in RD.</p>
<p>But I am not unsympathetic, and I'm sure the student won't have to go to a school that is unaffordable either because of naivete or opportunism. The question is will there be consequences for backing out. The ED school can't really do much. There are stories -- I don't know if they're apocryphal -- of schools sharing this information with each other and students having their offers rescinded. And other stories of colleges "punishing" future applicants from the student's high school by rejecting them. I suspect these things very rarely happen, but I may be totally wrong.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are you honestly saying that if you apply somewhere ED, and are accepted, you are ethically obligated to enroll in and attend that school? There is no room to change your mind, you are bound by honor to go there? You couldn't, for instance, choose to not go to college? Or enroll in the army? Or go to community college?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, you've made that agreement. But deciding not to go to college, or to enlist in the military, are legitimate reasons to break that agreement.</p>
<p>Deciding 6 months down the road that you "can't afford it", after you were given the financial aid package months earlier, and you want to go somewhere else, is not.</p>
<p>And yes, ED does not preclude the opportunity to transfer (with all the vagaries and uncertanties of that process in full force and effect as well).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Deciding 6 months down the road that you "can't afford it", after you were given the financial aid package months earlier, and you want to go somewhere else, is not.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I just wanted to point out that the OP applied EDII, which most schools don't give back until mid Feburary or even later. She hasn't been sitting on this for six months, more like one. I think the ethics here are more fuzzy: if you get accepted ED in December, you either say great, or, if you realize the finaid is impossible, you apply to other schools while imediatly going into negotiations with the ED school (under the assumption that if they give you enough money, you will withdraw those apps).</p>
<p>But with EDII, when she realized that the orginal finaid package was bad, she would have left in the current apps anyway, I assume. So, the only thing she did wrong was not call her ED school up imeditatly when she got the prospective finaid package--but she clearly didn't do that because she nievly felt like the real finaid package (which was coming in a month or so), would be better, and she'd be able to attend. Was that the wrong route? Yes. But it was a mistake, not an attempt to game the system, IMO.</p>
<p>Anyway, OP: call the ED school. Don't bring the second school into at first, just explain that with the current offer, you cannot attened, even though you continue to want to.</p>