<p>Right now I'm looking at colleges and considering which ones I woud like to apply to and if I do find one that I really really want to go to, then I would like to apply ED. I told my dad that and he seemed okay with that. But, he also wants to compare financial aid packages, so if I apply ED that's out of the question. I'm confused about what he wants me to do. I think his expectation of how much money I will be offered is too high. We have family friends who's children have gotten full rides to Harvard, so I think that's raised his expectation. He keeps comparing endowment funds and telling me not to apply to schools with smaller endowment funds etc... Is it better for me to just apply EA and RD and just forget about ED?</p>
<p>If you apply Early Decision and the financial aid package you receive is not fiscally viable for your family, you are allowed to opt out of the ED agreement. Look at it this way: regardless of when you apply to your top choice, the aid they give you will be the same. With these things in mind, I would prefer the boost in acceptance chances and play the ED card. I did this for the University of Pennsylvania and it worked out very well for me.</p>
<p>Should I use my ED on an Ivy or a school that's still a reach, but not an Ivy type reach like NYU or Carnegie Mellon? There are a few schools I like in each category, but I'm not sure which would be wiser choice.</p>
<p>Yes, comparing scholarships I think is well to go about. I myself plan to compare scholarships ( if I get any), to which is more affordable.</p>
<p>That depends. Specifically which schools are you considering?</p>
<p>The Ivys I'm looking at are UPenn, Columbia, and MIT. My non-Ivy reaches are NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, and Boston College.</p>
<p>My son applied ED with a lot of financial need, and it all worked out just fine for him. HOWEVER, the school he applied to meets 100% of need, does not package student loans, limits consideration of home equity, has a large endowment, and we have very, very simple family finances -- meaning nothing but income and our home as an asset. We don't own other property, don't have investments, retirement accounts, nothing like that. In our case, given our income (around 60K) it was not very difficult to approximate the aid he would receive. All these circumstances, though, are not often the case for ED applicants needing aid.</p>
<p>You can get out of ED agreements if you can't afford the school, but there's a difference between "can't afford" and "don't want to pay that much." If you need financial aid to attend, you and your parents need to be very aware of what kind of aid you're likely to get before applying ED. Applying EA and RD gives you the opportunity to compare offers, so that's very good. I'm not one that is totally opposed to ED applications for students with financial need, but I do think the circumstances were it makes sense are very narrow.</p>
<p>^See that's the thing "can't afford" and "don't wan't to pay that much." My parents make about 250k a year (I think), so I feel like "he doesn't want to pay more than x amount". But then on the other hand, my parents haven't saved any money for my college education, so that could be a factor too.</p>
<p>It would be advisable to work out these details - your income, your savings, the question of "wanting" versus "needing" the aid, and so on - before proceeding with making any significant decisions like agreeing to the Early Decision agreement. Also, research and compare the financial aid policies, as 'rentof2 mentioned, of your prospective schools. As a side note, I do know that that Columbia and Penn meet 100% of your demonstrated need in the form of grants. I was lucky enough for Penn to cover nearly all of my costs, and that was without loans of any kind.</p>
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, my parents haven't saved any money for my college education, so that could be a factor too.
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<p>Unfortunately this will not be a factor when it comes to your receving FA. With a family income of 250k, barring any other assets (savings, extensive home equity, rental property, etc) you have a very small chance of receiving need based FA )(probably none) at the Ivies, MIT, Gtown or BC. </p>
<p>At most of the schools you are applying to you will probably end up paying full freight. whether or not your family can afford to do so is a different story as FA is based on what the school believes your parents can afford to pay out of their income/assets, not how much they want to pay.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you and your dad run your numbers through a couple of FA calculators; use both the federal methodology for FAFSA only schools and the institutional methodology for schools that use the profile or their own FA forms.</p>
<p>Since NYU is notorious for not meeting full need and having one of the worse FA polcies around and Carnegie Mellon being a school that does not meet full need there will be a gap in your FA package.</p>
<p>I would advise you to make sure that you first find a financial safety; a school where if you are accepted, you would be happy to attend and is a financially feasible option for your family. I also recommend that you find out now how much your parents are willing to pay/borrow for your education and take that number to heart. If they say they are only paying 25k, don't apply ED to Penn with the thought that if you are accepted he will find the other 25k to pay for you to attend.</p>
<p>All the best...</p>
<p>I thought EA means if you apply and get accepted you must attend.
As for ED, I thought it was just a process of applying early.</p>
<p>When you apply EA, you do not have to commit until May 1.</p>
<p>ED is binding; in exchange you an early decsion, you agree if admitted, you will attend. You will also withdraw all other applications and not make any new applications.</p>
<p>Oh, I thought opposite of each.</p>
<p>Your list of schools sounds all wrong for someone with a $250K family income who does not want to pay full price.</p>
<p>Sybbie covered the realities above. She is 100% correct as always.</p>
<p>You will get little to no aid on $250K income alone typically and if there are the other assets and a home as you would expect on that income, the possibility of a cent of need based aid is remote.</p>
<p>So if your parents don't want to pay the $50K, the ivies are probably out. And while NYU offers merit aid, it typically goes to it's very top prospects, not for those without a hook for who it is a reach.</p>
<p>There's good info on merit aid on top of the parent's forum. What it will teach you is that to get merit aid you must be at the very top of the applicant pool at a college that offers good such aid. Harvard and all the ivies only offer need based aid, so if your dad knows kids who got free rides, it's because they were both very qualified and quite poor.</p>
<p>I agree with sybbie that it's very unlikely you'll get any need-based aid if your parents income is in the range you mentioned. There are a lot of schools that offer scholarships for merit though (grades, test scores, special talents) that are not need-based. Those would be good choices to check out when you're making up a list of schools to apply to.</p>
<p>Given your parents' income, you might also want to apply to a couple schools you would just LOVE to attend --even if you're unlikely to get any financial aid-- because, who knows, maybe dad and mom will soften to the idea of paying when the time comes. Just don't <em>expect</em> them to... that can lead to lots of unhappiness and family tension. (If we had that kind of income we'd pay for our kids' college costs in a heartbeat.)</p>
<p>By the way, MIT is not an Ivy.</p>
<p>^really??? lol, all this time I was thinking it was one :P I told my dad that he should try out the financial aid calculators, but he said it was too early to try them for w/e reason. He told me not to worry about tuition, that he would find a way to take care of it. Of course he still wants to compare financial aid, but he still wants me to apply where I want for the most part (although he's looking at endowment funds). The children he knows that got into Harvard on a full ride aren't poor at all, but they're extremely intelligent, competitive, and hardworking kids.</p>
<p>Well Harvard's newish financial policy has no parental cost for families making less than 60k and tuition of 10% of family income up to I think 180k.</p>
<p>To piggy back on antsofthesky's post, if a family meets their threshold of 180k, then the family pays 18k in tuition and the school meets the balance of their demonstrated need.</p>
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The children he knows that got into Harvard on a full ride aren't poor at all, but they're extremely intelligent, competitive, and hardworking kids.
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<p>What he does not know is the intracies of their FA situation (remember people tell you what they want you to know). Some people may have a lower EFC even though they make the same amount of $$ because they have multiple children in college and the EFC is split between the # of kids in college. For some families, this may mean getting FA now when you were not eligible when you only had one student in college. Some families get write-offs for things such as unreimbursed medical expenses, paying high school tuition for younger children, paying to care for an elderly parent, expenses associated for children with special needs. Everything is not as black and white as your dad is making it out to be.</p>
<p>Harvard does not give "full rides" as there is a self help component to their FA policy; there is a student contribution and there is work study. Just because Harvard meets 100% of your demonstrated need, doesn't necessarily mean that people graduate debt free from Harvard. Some students take on debt because they have not met their student contribution or they don't want the work study/employment component of their package. Some take out loans to help their parents meet their EFC. Others take out loans for college related expenses (computers, books, etc).</p>
<p>Your father would be remiss if he does not run his #s through a FA calculator because as I stated earlier, it is not only income that is taken into consideration. It is savings, home equity, the profile asks how many cars do you have and the make and model. </p>
<p>FA does not care about the debt you have accumulated for having or maintaining the lifestyle that you have.FA is bassed on the previous year's income not what he makes now. For example, if you are starting college in 2010, your FA will be based on 2009 income. Heavin forbid, should your father lose his job and gets a severace package, the monies from the severance is still counted as income. If your father puts the maximum amount of money into his job's 401k/403b or other pre-tax retirement account, this money is added back in and is considered income which can be yoused to pay for your college education. </p>
<p>If you notice that even at schools with large endowments, there is still almost the same number of full freight students year over year. Your family can chose to walk through this process with blinders on if they want. And if this is his position and he has not problem writing the check for over 200k to put you through 4 years of school, then bless him. </p>
<p>If money is going to be a remote issue, then balance out your list with schools where you stand a good chance of getting merit aid and again, make sure you have a financial safety. If he doesn't want to talk with you about it, invite him to post his question on the parent forum where there are plenty of parents who have been there, done that.</p>
<p>Something everyone seems to ignore when talking about Harvard's new aid policy is that the 10% rule is out the window if you have more than they deem "typical assets" for a family making your income. Ar Harvard, for a family making $180K, typical assets is $250K. Same at Stanford, but they count home equity.</p>
<p>The problem here is that your father seems to believe there will be aid packages to compare and you seem to believe Harvard gives smart kids free rides that are not dependent on income.</p>
<p>If you are a typical family with a $250K income and the average assets a family in that bracket will have accumulated, there will be no packages at all to compare at schools that don't offer merit aid. And aid at Harvard is very generous, but not for people who can afford to pay.</p>