<p>It seems that most colleges allow students to break the ED commitment if the financial aid they receive turns out to not be enough. What if one was to claim financial troubles and get out of it, even though in reality they just changed their mind about the college? Would the college know? It just seems sort of flawed...</p>
<p>First of all, you will not know anything about financial aids at other schools even if you are accepted in EA. So you cannot compare the financial aid package. If you find the ED school not affordable, you would have to decline the offer within a short period of time. Second, you may want to check with your GC to see if there is any ED declining policy. At my D’s school, if one declines an ED admission for a financial reason, the school would only support in state public college applications afterward (i.e. would not send final school report to other private or OOS public schools). </p>
<p>octothrop2k14 – our school is similar to billcsho. You need to understand that when you apply ED, not only do you and your parents have to sign a contract indicating you understand the consequences of applying ED, but your guidance counselor also has to sign a contract indicating that yes, this is the one school you want to apply to. What this means is that if you break your ED agreement, this can reflect poorly on your guidance counselor and your school and effect future applicants from your school. if you do not believe that this is the #1 school you want to attend, then you should not apply ED. Furthermore, you should run the financial calculator for that specific school and get a sense of where you fall in terms of financial assistance. Because if they offer what that calculator says, then what reason do you have for backing out?</p>