<p>Sometimes it does. OP has told us that her parents have a great deal of debt already. Let’s assume for a moment that the EFC is $12,000 and OP knows that her parents can’t contribute, but she has been figuring that she is likely get more generous need-based aid from an Ivy like Penn than from most other colleges, and has been responsibly figuring out how she can pay that $12K x 4 on her own. Perhaps she figures she can earn $4000 each summer; that she can take a $5500 in Stafford loans her first year; and she’s looking at ways to economize to make up the remaining $2500 gap, with a private loan as a fall back. It’s certainly doable. </p>
<p>But its not easy. It will leave her with considerable debt at graduation and relies on all sorts of contingencies - like finding a good paying summer job each year – and it also limits other options. </p>
<p>But up until last week, she was looking at paying that $12K wherever she went. Maybe those full-ride scholarships at her state school are hard to come by – yes, she knew it was a possibility, but nothing to count on. </p>
<p>If the most important goal is to get an education, and the only way to do that work and borrow to come up with $10-$15K annually no matter where she goes… then $12K seems “acceptable”. But it isn’t easy. </p>
<p>The existence of a full ride offer IS a changed circumstance. It means that something that previously was not *possible<a href=“and%20thus%20not%20a%20reasonable%20option%20to%20consider”>/i</a> – a free college education - has now become a reality.</p>
<p>Just because you didn’t sweat blood over the application process, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an application. But I will accept that you said (in good faith) that you applied to only 2 schools.</p>
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<p>So you are saying that your parents would and could take out the requisite loans but you would go to the state school if they wanted to take advantage of the financial break offered by the state school? They haven’t told you that they CAN’T take out loans?</p>
<p>BTW EA dose not break the ED agreement(meaning you are allowed to continue applying anywhere you like under the ED agreement. However, as soon as you are accepted under ED, you are supposed to withdraw “ALL” applications and or other offers. That is absolutely part of the ED agreement.</p>
And what “consequences” would those be? Penn can’t legally compel her to attend or pay anything. </p>
<p>It would be a problem if she was deciding that she wanted to apply to another Ivy or equivalent college, because others would rescind their admission. But the state U. isn’t playing the whole ED game, they aren’t going to take away their offer.</p>
<p>“However, as soon as you are accepted under ED, you are supposed to withdraw “ALL” applications and or other offers.”</p>
<p>It’s actually when the student accepts the ED FA offer that other apps must be withdrawn. Until the student accepts the offer, it’s nothing more than an offer.</p>
<p>Ho, ho, ho, this is interesting. Accepted yesterday ED to UPenn, received full ride scolly to State U “a few days ago” and now MIT EA acceptance due Wednesday? Hah, I get turning down UPenn for the state school full ride, no problem. But how does the MIT EA come into play? I’m really curious, it is odd how the ED and the EA stuff all lands at the same time. A veritable moral mosh pit.</p>
<p>If the OP turns down UPenn’s ED FA offer, it’s as if it never happened, and has no effect on other EA or RD offers, except that the OP might expect to get no other comparable FA offers from schools in contact with UPenn.</p>
<p>If your ED college is meeting your documented financial need, the fact that another school is offering a full ride isn’t an acceptable reason to decline the offer. If you back out of ED, you’ll burn bridges with your GC, and also may burn bridges for present and future students at your school who want to attend your ED school.</p>
<p>If finances were a concern, you shouldn’t have applied ED. Colleges that promise to meet 100% of the documented financial need of students don’t match the offers of less competitive colleges that use merit aid to attract outstanding students away from top colleges.</p>
<p>“If the OP turns down UPenn’s ED FA offer, it’s as if it never happened, and has no effect on other EA or RD offers, except that the OP might expect to get no other comparable FA offers from schools in contact with UPenn.”</p>
<p>Not true. MIT is likely to reject the OP or withdraw their acceptance and the same will be true of other top private colleges.</p>
<p>And MIT is free to rescind her/his acceptance (and likely will) once they find out about UPenn, which can then also rescind her/his acceptance if they find out the OP accepted MIT’s acceptance fraudulently.</p>
<p>Then the OP can go to the state school s/he hoped to go to anyways!</p>
<p>Oh my gosh! But, some tiny part of me wouldn’t want to mess around with UPenn and MIT. One has to think if anyone is exchanging information it’s that tight group of NE colleges. And really, why wouldn’t the colleges do that. If they don’t then they have diluted “the integrity of their system of ED” and “their definition and intent” of what “ED is and means.” I agree with Marite…yuck, but interesting little scenario going here if the OP is accepted to MIT on Wednesday.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom. The OP should never have applied ED. He wasn’t forced to apply ED. This nonsense about being angry at colleges for offering ED is absurd. It’s an option that students can use if they don’t need to compare financial offers and are sure of their choice. That was not the case here. It’s no one’s fault but the OP’s. No, you can’t be “forced” to attend, but I think think you should at least acknowledge that you acted irresponsibly and didn’t “play by the rules.”</p>
<p>I think you are all being too harsh with the OP. I think she is doing nothing wrong. I wish she could afford UPENN, but it sounds like it would cause great pain. I can’t sit here in my nice big warm comfy house and judge her for doing the math and making such a painful, but potentially responsible decision. There is nothing unethical on the table. </p>
<p>I think the full ride changed her financial circumstances and she is free to decline UPENN in favor of the full ride. </p>
<p>The change is that the financial pain might have been necessary if the alternative was flipping burgers, but it sounds like she has a reasonable free alternative, so there is no point in undergoing the pain. She has determined that it is financially impossible for her to attend UPENN. Therefore, she has a permissible reason for declining. I have no problem with someone choosing not to borrow money irresponsibly. Whereas, without the full ride, when there is nothing to lose, borrowing aggressively would have been more justifiable. </p>
<p>Since she is declining UPENN under a valid clause in the agreement, I have no problem with her even applying to more schools looking for more full rides, if her GC is in the loop and is on board. If MIT gives her a much better package, she is free to accept it, though logistically it would be tricky. I agree with being straightforward with people. She wouldn’t be able to go to MIT unless MIT is ok with her turning down UPENN’s ED offer. It is not inconceivable to me that she gets a much better package from MIT. </p>
<p>OP, if you are not acting in bad faith, you should not feel guilty. </p>
<p>BTW, ihs76, my D is waiting on MIT also, but I completely disagree with you.</p>
<p>Under the ED agreement, it has nothing to do with what other schools offer the OP. It only matters if the OP truly can’t afford to go to Penn based on their offer to her.</p>
<p>The real question is that if she did not get a good offer to the state school and or to MIT would she have been satisfied with the offer from Penn??? My guess is yes.</p>
).</p>