<p>Can you get out of an Early Decision Acceptance If You Dont receive good aid?</p>
<p>Hey Guys, just a quick question.. I am a current junior who will begin filling out college apps this summer. Yesterday, I heard from one of my teachers an interesting fact regarding the early decision.</p>
<p>Not quoting him directly, but the teacher said that a student who applies to early decision at a college and gets accepted, can get out of the decision if you don't receive enough aid. The teacher went on to say that you then request for more and try to work with them, but if they cant improve their package then you can go elsewhere.</p>
<p>I have my few top choices for college in mind that both go with early decision. I never considered early decision because of the binding tag and became afraid that I would not be able to afford this school for four years.</p>
<p>If someone can help clarify this up, it'd be appreciated!</p>
<p>But if you accept an early decision offer anywhere then you can’t see what other financial aid offers you would have received from other schools and they do vary. Also, once you turn down your early decision school you can’t go back. I’ve heard of a scenario where the early decision school was rejected due to finances and down the road it turned out to be the best financial offer that was received. By then it was off the table.</p>
<p>Some schools have on-line financial aid calculators. If yours is one then it would be worth putting in the numbers to give you some idea if your early decision school might give you enough financial aid to attend.</p>
<p>Not everything the teacher said is true. The part after “went on” is misleading.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The part of “asking for more” is extremely nebulous. While it used to be that an ED acceptance by the school meant that a student was “bound” to attend that school, the current consensus is that the language added to the Common Application opened the door to the students having the right to reject that offer of admission, and move to the RD cycle.</p>
<p>Some have used this new “rule” to add twists of delayed “negotiations.” Although some schools might engage in some SHORT term discussions, this does not change the terms of your ED application. In case one accepts the offer in December and January, he or she still has to ABANDON all other applications and not file any new ones. A short delay will not create negative issues; playing games will. </p>
<p>In so many words, one could discuss the financial aid offer and present new data, but one should not expect to drag this on until competing offers can be obtained from RD schools.</p>
<p>If you need to be able to compare your possible financial aid packages, ED is not for you. The difference between the financial aid offered at two institutions that appear to be peers can be the difference between $0 and a full-ride, and anything in between. For all but a handful of students who can afford to pay the full price, and another handful of students who can’t afford to pay much at all but who will qualify for massive amounts of all-but-guaranteed aid at institutions that meet full-need, ED is not a good idea.</p>