Hey CC,
I had a quick question about financial aid and early decision. Will colleges cheat you out a bit by offering less financial aid in an early decision acceptance? Not so much that the student can’t afford it and will turn it down, but offer less than if the student applied regular decision? It seems to me like they can get away with it, since early decision is binding, but is it actually the case? Thanks.
The disadvantage in ED decisions is that you can’t compare offers, so you may never know if you received less from school A than school B. It would also be unlikely you can prove the school offers less in ED. MY opinion is that they do not, they offer what they think is right.
^ Agreed. Schools that meet need make offers based on the financials. If you can compare offers from peer schools some colleges will move on their aid offers.
(1) Early decision is not binding if, in the family’s subjective opinion, the offer isn’t affordable.
(2) No, colleges that meet full need will not reduce your financial aid simply because you’re applying ED.
For schools that don’t meet full need, it’s anybody’s guess. At least one school offers greater aid to ED candidates than to RD candidates - and they tell you this up front.
The problem with applying ED is that you don’t have anything to compare College X’s offer to. So it may not be quite affordable . . . but you have no way of knowing if it’s the most generous offer you’ll get, or the least generous. So how do you know whether or not to accept it?
Some schools meet full need for ED applicants but not others. Is Carnegie Mellon one of those schools?
Some schools are need blind for ED admissions but not for RD.
Ok so the family opinion is subjective? I didn’t know that. So then the con of ED and financial aid is that you cannot compare offers?
Right…when you apply ED, you get one acceptance with financial aid. You are given a very small time window in which to accept or decline the offer. You have only that offer, and that financial aid package. So, you have to decide based on that one offer only.
Rub? Well…that net cost might be the lowest…but then again, it might be the highest…if you applied to multiple schools. You will never know.
Yes, the family’s determination of whether or not an offer is sufficient is entirely subjective. The school’s not going to come back and say, “You’re being unreasonable - it’s plenty of money, so we expect you to accept our offer.” Even if the award is exactly what the family thought they needed, a lost job or a health issue could throw a wrench in the works. If the award is no longer sufficient (and the school’s not willing to increase it), then you say “thanks, but no thanks,” and move on.
Ok thank you for the clarifications!