I have a strange situation that I’m not sure how to handle.
My daughter will not qualify for need-based aid. However, her stats make her a strong candidate for merit aid (35 ACT, 4.9 GPA, etc.). This fall when we visited schools, we researched which ones offer large enough merit awards to make them affordable for her. She found a school that was by far her first choice because of the atmosphere and everything she learned on our visit. They had two levels of merit scholarships that would make the school a financially viable option for her.
We contacted the school to make sure applying Early Decision wouldn’t harm her chances for merit aid as we had read some schools do not award merit during Early Decision. We were told they definitely award merit aid during ED. We read the pros and cons of applying ED. Some articles said not to do it if you wanted merit aid. Others said it was wise as the pool of money isn’t exhausted and it shows the student’s interest/commitment in the school. She decided to go ahead with ED.
She included a letter with her resume and also sent a copy to her admission counselor explaining that while she was applying ED, she would need significant merit aid in order to afford the school.
She was accepted last week, but with hardly any merit aid. We were a bit stunned as she was offered significantly more merit aid by all of her Early Action schools. But we realize she is NOT entitled to any amount of merit aid, so I immediately contacted her admission rep to ask how to decline the offer as it is not a financially viable. No reply. Not even an acknowledgement of the email. I emailed another admissions rep who coordinated our visit while we were there, asking what the procedure is to decline if the offer is not enough for us to afford the school. No reply.
I called the school on Friday and again yesterday and was told I would get an email from one of the assistant deans. No email.
I am not exactly sure what to do if no one will tell her how to decline the offer. There is no way to do it through the admissions portal. “Yes” is the only option as she was accepted. I know that some high schools only send the mid-year report and end of the year transcript to the Early Decision school and want to avoid that happening, so I would like some acknowledgement to give her guidance counselor. Or do I not worry about it? If we don’t send in the enrollment deposit, I guess they will understand she is declining. Any insight on the procedure for declining ED if the financial offer isn’t enough?
Before you throw in the towel, you could write a letter and show the merit awards from the other schools. Some schools do match awards offered by comparable schools.
Check their ED agreement to make sure you are allowed to decline based on financial reason. I think what maybe tricky is if you are not eligible for FA, but have decided as a family that you are only willing to pay $X and expect the school to give you enough merit to make the school affordable.
@oldfort Yes, I read the ED agreement before my daughter applied to make sure we were able to decline based on financial reason. I would not have let her apply ED otherwise.
We had a set amount we could pay and knew there were two levels of scholarships offered by the school that would make that feasible. I certainly don’t “expect” them to give her the money. We just knew those levels of merit aid were available and she would have gone there if they had offered it. They didn’t, so she can’t afford it. No hard feelings toward the school.
There are several schools she would have liked to apply to, but didn’t because in our research we saw that they do not offer merit aid or do not offer enough. We definitely did our due diligence before she selected the schools to which she could apply.
@bookworm Yes, I am probably worrying over nothing. Surely they’ll let me know eventually what the procedure is. I guess I’m just worried about her mid-year report not being sent out by her guidance counselor since she knows she applied ED. Maybe that’s not a concern and they’ll send it to all schools anyway.
@TomSrOfBoston Totally understood that going in. We knew it wasn’t guaranteed. That’s why I said we certainly don’t expect them to give her a certain amount of merit aid. She applied in the hopes that she would receive it (and researched beforehand to make sure it was a POSSIBILITY–not a guarantee). She didn’t receive it, so we just need to know the next step to decline the offer.
I think what people are saying is that the “financial aid decline” to ED is usually just for FA, not merit. If the NPC says you get 0 FA prior to application, that is usually what you are applying expecting.
That having been said, it looks like you made it clear to them that you needed merit to afford it. So perhaps there will be less blowback to your D’s school from it.
To future applicants, in this situation, ED is not a good option unless that school specifically allows you to WD for lack of expected merit aid.
I understand if an applicant is eligible for need based aid and doesn’t get enough FA therefore make the school not affordable then the applicant can decline the offer. What if the applicant’s family can afford full pay, but would rather not and was hoping for substantial merit aid to make the school more affordable, then decline because it is too expensive? Is that a legitimate reason to back out of ED?
What does this mean: " But we realize she is NOT entitled to any amount of merit aid," ? The school offered her “narrdly any merit aid” but the EA schools offered more. Does the cited sentence refer to the EA aid or the ED school aid?
With those stats, your daughter could have applied/apply to Ivies and little Ivies (like Amherst, Williams) that offer aid for incomes up to $150K. If your income is over that, disregard.
I had no idea that ED applicants were obligated to accept regardless of merit aid or no merit aid. That is a very good thing for people to know.
@HRSMom I do not think that is actually not true. You are allowed to withdraw if any financial aid offer (need based or merit) is not enough to make it affordable. The ED agreement does not discern between the two. I verified that extensively. If the school is not affordable after the acceptance and the award, you may decline.
@oldfort Yes, it is a legitimate reason to decline ED.
@compmom I mean she is not entitled as in they do not HAVE to give her merit aid. It’s certainly their choice; she isn’t entitled to it. Yes, our income is over that as my husband’s (daughter’s stepdad) is included. She does not qualify for need-based aid at all.
No, ED applicants are not obligated to accept regardless of merit aid or no merit aid. Certainly not at any of the schools my daughter considered. We verified that before she applied. If the award doesn’t make the cost feasible for your family, you can decline. Inability to afford the school after the aid offers are the only reason to decline.
Last year, we were in a similar situation with my D, but hers was an EA school, not ED. I’m not aware of many ED schools that offer merit scholarships, so I’m thinking this might be Northeastern? If your child is a NMF, then they may increase their award in the spring after the Finalist notifications come out. That’s what happened for my D. Is that possible here OP?
From the statistics I’ve read, 18% of students decline their ED acceptance offers due to financial reasons.
I am not asking whether she has the right to decline or whether she should have applied ED knowing that we wouldn’t qualify for need-based aid. I know our rights there. There are two schools of thought on applying ED if you are hoping for merit aid. We listened to the one that said to apply as it would show high interest in the school and they would have a larger pool of money available early on. We are sad that she won’t be going to her first choice school, but she’s hardly the first kid that this has happened to and she has nice merit awards to some great schools to fall back on.
My question was actually about the procedure for declining as I cannot get an answer from the institution. Is it a certified letter to the admissions office? Does an email suffice?
We were in a similar situation to the OP when my kid was applying to schools two years ago. He had a favorite that he wanted to apply to ED, but he would have needed one of their sizable merit awards for us to be able to afford to send him there. Our EFC was way more (~$15,000) than we could afford without merit money. The school was very clear that NO ONE should apply ED if merit money was required to be able to attend, so my kid applied RD.
It was very frustrating when he received a letter and several postcards STRONGLY encouraging him to change his RD app to ED2 (the implication was that it would increase his chance of admission), but we stood our ground. He had demonstrated enormous interest in the school, was above the 75th percentile for admitted students (making him competitive for one of the merit awards), and went to a well-regarded HS that sent kids to this school every year. My husband spoke with the admissions officer and explained that my son had received some very generous merit offers from other schools, but that he really wanted to go to this school. I think my husband thought that would make my son more desirable to that school; my fear was that he’d tipped our hand. Sure enough, my son ended up getting wait-listed.
No one can know for certain, but I have zero doubt that he would have been admitted if he’d applied ED, but that would have left us on the hook for the full EFC. He accepted his place on the wait-list and never heard another word from the school, not even that they were done accepting students off the WL. He took the merit money at another school and has never looked back. He handled the whole thing much better than I did!
Unless one’s financial situation has changed suddenly and drastically, I didn’t think you could plead financial hardship (the only legitimate reason I’m aware of to renege on an ED agreement) if you knew your EFC when you applied. Otherwise, everybody would do it, as there are enormous advantages at many schools to applying ED. (The difference between the admission rate for ED and RD at the school my son wanted to attend is something like 50% for ED and 20% for RD.)
OP, I would go back over your ED contract and read over the section that explains what terms would release you from the contract. If, as you say, it’s not binding if merit money is not forthcoming, I would write an email citing that section, decline the offer, and see what happens. Any documentation you have that backs up your position might be a good thing to forward as well.
I would also alert your son’s college counselor of the situation .
“You are allowed to withdraw if any financial aid offer (need based or merit) is not enough to make it affordable.”
Does the ED contract specify “need based or merit”? You seem certain of your “rights” but I woild go over that section of the ED agreement very carefully.
My DS is also looking for large merit awards, so I have educated myself to some extent about this issue. He is also being hounded (maybe too strong a word) to change his RD apps to EDII. As we are full pay (or very close) with a high EFC, I know that submitting an ED app would obligate us to paying much more than we will (or can afford).
@LucieTheLakie Perhaps that is what we did as well. My daughter’s application and email to the admissions counselor definitely tipped her hand in how much she wanted to attend the school. Alas, hindsight is 20/20.
I guess we will do just that. Send a formal email (maybe send a copy via snail mail as well) and cite her reason for declining. I will copy her guidance counselor on the email as well.
Because this is an agreement between two parties, I believe you will need the school to release you from the agreement. I don’t think by you formally declining the offer is sufficient. Your GC may feel the same. RD is different because the school is offering you admission, and you can accept or decline. So a simple email to decline I would be sufficient.
I was just able to speak with a live person in the admissions office. She said it’s simply a matter of a phone call and they can remove my daughter from the pool of ED acceptances if her award was not high enough. No formal release or anything like that.
She did say that the assistant dean may still be calling me to see if we could work something out, but if not, it’s just a matter of letting them know.
I wanted to post this follow up, so that future year’s applicants will be able to see it.
The common app reference FA, not merit aid. I would assume it is related to need based, not what a family is willing to pay. If you have something in writing from the school, I would keep it for your record. this is not so much for the ED school as for RDs.
