It is each schools responsibly ( since the agreement is one they put out either directly or as a member of the Common App consortium) to specify with detail all obligations under the agreement. Any ambiguity like not specifying whether " financial aid" includes merit aid is from a legal ( and I personally think moral) perspective the schools problem not the problem of the applicant. The applicant has an absolute right to say that they decline the offer because it’s not affordable for the family without merit aid when the ED Contract says only that you are committing to attend unless fa does not make it affordable. The school has the ability to draft an agreement that says " you must attend unless your Have applied for need based aid and the amount you received is less than the estimate on our NPC after You have input good faith financial information or a significant change in circumstances after application. ’
By not including language like this, schools give applicants every right to an " out" in the OPs situation.
Why are you the least bit surprised? Merit aid is a recruitment tool. Since your DD applied ED and didn’t request FA, she already said YES, so there’s no need for the school to provide further incentive
If the school thinks you don’t qualify for FA, then the school thinks you should be able to “afford” it.
Can schools make their own definition of ED? I thought the definition is made by NACAC. NACAC states, “Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment.” OP’s argument is that merit aid is part of financial aid. I assume the student did not fill out financial aid (need) forms. Was the merit application separate from the college application? Does the school explicitly state on their website or other materials the ED rules for their school to all applicants or just those that ask?
The school should notify all full-pay ED applicants that do not receive merit money that they can be released from their binding contract.
a Part of the trouble there, Matrs, is defining “not possible”, as in an award that does not make attendance Possible. . To some that means they cannot do it without selling their house or their blood. To others it means- not their favorite, not their best, not easy, not what they hoped for, etc.
@MaterS Actually, we did apply for need-based financial aid as well and filled out all forms. We knew it was a long shot, but with 2 kids already in college, we thought it was worth a try. Also, I knew my daughter would have to take out student loans (the $5,500 she would be eligible for anyway) as part of the process and figured we would probably have to fill out the financial aid forms in order for her to take out that loan. (Having never had a child apply to a private university before, I didn’t realize we would only need to fill out the FAFSA, not the CSS, for her to take out that loan.)
@txserenity – Another point, just so you know. Colleges often use merit money to satisfy other institutional priorities. So while it is true in general that the college has greater incentive to offer the money in the RD round – waiting for RD does not necessarily mean your daughter would be offered those awards. She might have the stats, but not whatever else the college is looking for this particular admission season. The priority could be to attract students with specific academic strengths or interests, or students from particular under-represented regions, or to meet the school’s diversity goals – or whatever. So you can’t really assume that she would have been offered that extra money in the RD round. Also, you probably don’t know how many of those top scholarships are offered. It might be that they do indeed offer them in the ED round, but have only a very small number to offer – and it just happened that there were others in this year’s ED pool who edged out your daughter. That is, if the school has 10 awards to give out, and 12 applicants who qualify … then two will be the unlucky ones. And it might not even be a matter that the 10 others were better - for all you know, when it comes down to deciding among a small group of equally qualified students, a college could opt for an essentially random process.
It sounds like your daughter has great offers already in hand from her EA schools – so it looks like all will work out.
I just don’t want you to feel that you need to second guess your decision or that you were necessarily mislead in any way.
Post 61 is correct. Merit aid from many schools is tuition discounting to attract desired students. ED is binding , and if you don’t qualify for need based aid, you don’t have need, according to the school. Many people conflate ability to pay with willingness to pay. Seems the school feels you have the former and you feel the latter. Unless some significant family crisis has occurred that vastly affects your financial situation, you do not have demonstrated need and should honor the contract you signed. If you do not, it could possibly put a black mark on your child’s HS for future applicants.
Wait, can you clarify? Are you saying, op, that you will have 3 kids in college at once and you still do not qualify for any need-based FA? And is this school a CSS profile school? They will expect a student to contribute some to the cost of their education.
@calmom Absolutely. My daughter was in no way entitled to a top award and perhaps would not have received on in RD. You just never know what a college is looking for. We have no hard feelings toward the school whatsoever. Just wish we would have tried RD instead as it may have increased her odds. We took a chance and it just didn’t work out.
@CTTC She was hoping for either Trustees or Twenty-First Century Scholars. Either would have put the school in the realm of possibility.
@jym626 Yes, we will have 3 kids in college at once and the school is a CSS profile school. They still found we did not qualify for aid. My daughter has $2,500 in savings, works full time in the summer, and we expect her to take out the $5,500 she is allowed to borrow as well. We’ve offered to cosign for more if she believes the debt will be worth it.
@txserenity 3 kids at once…no FA. Wow. That is a tough road. Hopefully you will have some graduates soon? (and no more coming up!)
Again, OP was open and transparent w this college about their requirement for sufficient merit aid. So they should not feel like they did anything wrong.
@HRSMom This daughter is the youngest thankfully! We are a blended family, so between us we have 4 kids within 5 years apart, aged 17-23.
@jym626 No, I believe FAFSA is only useful for federal aid which we definitely won’t qualify for. CSS is the profile the schools use to determine institutional need.
I am very familiar with the profile and FAFSA, txserenity. But with 3 in schools at once, the FAFSA will adjust, and unless you have a very high income and a lot of investments, it should take 3 college students simultaneously into consideration. If, even with 3 in college, there is no demonstrated need, then, well that is an enviable position to be in, but it may mean you are able to pay for the ED school.
@jym626 As the FAFSA cannot be completed until February when we have our w2’s from our employers and have completed our taxes, we won’t be able to wait to see if the FAFSA shows that we have more need than the CSS as we must answer the Early Decision offer by February 1.
From what I’ve read, the FAFSA only applies for federal aid such as pell grants and loans. Schools who use the CSS still utilize their own formula to determine need and they have already seen that we have 3 kids in college next year. I cannot see the school changing their determination of our need based on the FAFSA.
@college_query Yes, we will fill out the FAFSA for the Stafford loans, but I do not believe it will not change the school’s determination of our eligibility for other types of aid.
You can estimate–and we found that even for many of our RD deadlines we had to estimate using year end stubs and previous years numbers. But regardless, if it’s a CSS Profile school, you are right to state they have their own formula, so it’s probably a moot point.
txserenity,
Did you run and EFC or the school’s NPC? And some colleges will ask for your previous tax info in the application process in addition to the Profile info to give you an estimated award (that can then be adjusted after the FAFSA is completed). It would help if we knew what school you are talking about.