I attended a recent event with a sub 20% LAC. They said they plan on about a 95% yield from ED rounds - some kids change their minds, sometimes it’s financial, and no one is going after these kids (he said jokingly, we don’t sue the kids to make them come). Personally, I think yield rate for ED rounds will drop as more kids apply ED.
I would be hard-pressed to believe that schools with ED are making kids sign on the dotted line before providing complete FA packages. With many of these schools using the CSS, I found for this cycle every school we looked at would provide the COA and FA package at the time the decision letter was sent out. Now the caveat could be that the college has not determined the 2024-25 tuition this early so that could be a significant increase.
Please look at the dates of the articles and realize that many pre-dated many of the changes that have provided ED applicants with a good financial assessment prior to applying. And the most recent is unclear except that private school kids are more likely to use it.
The CC I know work at private schools where many kids are getting FA and all of them will need it for college. The inequity may be more that the kids at these schools are getting better advice about how to use ED.
The reason I am pushing back on this is that if we here care about this – and I do! – we need to be explaining to students who need FA how they too can use ED and how they can assess affordability before they apply. We should not be promoting the dated concept that if you need FA, you can only apply RD.
The colleges that do this right will be the winners for it. Let’s make sure that the kids win too.
Wrong. And you clearly didn’t read the articles and look at their citations.
One one hand: the Chronicle of Higher Education, Center for American Progress, Education Reform Now, and universities themselves saying this is a big equity issue based on data documenting multiple dynamics and on-the-ground realties. And on the other, an anonymous message board poster insisting it isn’t because Net Price Calculators exist [shrug]
In fact, I did read them. Brown says it will look at how it’s working. Two pre-date the pandemic, which is when changes took place. Others cite Btown snd distorting ED admission rates (athletes).
ED preferences for legacies and athlete – not what we’re talking about here - favors the wealthy.
FP families have long chosen to play the ED game.
Families who need FA could not use ED until recently. But now they can. Unless they get information from people suggesting they can’t. That is the rhetoric I am hoping we can change here.
But I’m out. I hope anyone reading this and considering ED will get their own information on whether it’s an option for them.