<p>As a general rule I do not think families who are trying to get the lowest cost for the best college should apply ED. You don’t really know what you will get in terms of merit and financial aid from other schools Most applicants and their parents are not only amateurs at this college app process, but are often newbies. IT’s very easy to get caught up in the momentum and end up with a kid at a school that is really unaffordable because of the fear of missing out.</p>
<p>If there is truly a school a student wants, and the parents have decided to make that school work if at all possible, and set out a financial plan and limits as to what to pay, going ED is fine. In such a case, it’s irrelevant whether the student could get a full tuition award at another school or get better financial aid at yet another. They goal was to get into the ED school and to make it work if at all possible. </p>
<p>That’s not the way it usually works Most families are “loosey, goosey” about what they can afford. The choices could be very different if they had an array of college choices and prices. Each year, I see families upset because classmates and peers got great deals at schools their kid considered but got locked in at ED because before thinking things out more clearly Would you REALLY have picked Wake Forest over Tulane had you gotten a full tution award from the latter vs a small package from the former? Maybe State U isn’t so bad with all of your classmates heading out there to the Honors College, and it means no debt and it looks like you would have gotten some money there as well. You don’t get to think these things over with the real offers on the table when you pick schools ED. Plus there is some wiggle room to negotiate packages RD by showing a peer school award. </p>
<p>But ED could work well in terms of getting a bit of an admissions break and if your family knows what the limit is in what they can pay and not worried about missing out on a better deal. With NPCs, these days, you can often can get a good idea what packages you might get. If you apply to a top school that tends to give good aid, and the offer comes up way short, it hurts to let it go, but it is also a reality check as to what you are likely to get in other aid packages and to revamp that college list for RD. </p>
<p>In older days before there were NPCs, some people were in shock that they got zero in aid when they applied ED. The screaming ads and assurances that no student need hesitate to appy due to finances really hit their marks. The reality of the financial aid packages or lack thereof were quite eye opening. But then the parents had to deal with the shrieks of joy for their kids, the congrats, the smiles of the GCs and teachers, and somehow address the financial concerns. Could they really afford the quarter million price? Now you can run NPCs and most of the time, you have an idea what the schools are going to expect you to pay… </p>