<p>Those are all reasons that I hate ED. But in this case, it appears at though there is no way this is going to be doable with Middlebury whether it is the best deal the student gets are not. If it is absolutely not affordable, that’s it. With ED, it’s often not what you expected, not what you hoped for, and may not be what you could be getting and you have to make the decision to take it or leave it in a vacuum in terms of an aid package. Then you come to find out later that you may not have gotten the best deal when someone you know negotiates an award with RD offers, or a school that you dropped upon the ED accept seems to give might fine deals in comparison. </p>
<p>But here, the gap seems too big, and though the other like schools may come up with something a little better, if the NPC differences are truly due to the business ownership, it 's not going to matter as many PROFILE schools have set policy about how they handle this.</p>
<p>If you are full pay, do ED, if you are applying for financial aid, then, no, you are losing control of the process.</p>
<p>You cannot compare FA packages nor use one as leverage against another package.</p>
<p>For a very desirable applicant, why tip your hand?? Keep them guessing!
If you go ED, they already know how you feel! The FA Office is under no obligation to sweeten the package for you, it will be take it or leave it. Then, have you already withdrawn your other applications? If so, that can complicate things.</p>
<p>At this point, that ship’s done sailed. OP’s student has already applied ED, been accepted and is looking at an unacceptable financial aid package so they can request to be released from the commitment. That the NPC is so far off would pretty much cinch a release from the school if they cannot come up with a package makes the school affordable. And as I said, in this case, it may have been a good thing, as this financial aid award is a harbinger of things to come if there are other PROFILE schools in the mix. </p>
<p>Usually schools do try their best to give their ED kids a good package meting full need. Which is why I don’t think that Middlebury’s package is going to change. I think that is just the way most PROFILE schools handle businesses owned by family members. We saw this in an earlier post by someone who got a similar package or non package from Swarthmore when accepted ED there. THat poster also had a family business in the picture.</p>