<p>hi all,</p>
<p>my brother recently told me that schools don’t give as much scholarship to students who apply early decision because it is a binding agreement so the student is committed and must pay the tuition fee. I think I might be a candidate for some sort of need-based, merit-based scholarship at BU, but if I apply early decision is there a possibility that I will not get as much money as I would get if I apply regular decision? My mother can find a way to scrape together 50k a year to send me to my dream school but every little bit of scholarship from the school would really help us out.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>My daughter is an incoming Freshman for this fall at BU. She did receive a generous (merit based) scholarship and was an RD applicant. I don’t know how merit based scholarships are awarded to ED applicants, although my understanding is if you’re an ED applicant with <em>demonstrated need</em> per the FAFSA and the school accepts you without meeting that need, then you have a legitimate way to back out of the ED acceptance. That having been said, my rule of thumb is that if finances are an issue for a student, (especially for students who don’t qualify for need-based aid on the FAFSA or CSS Profile) then that student should not apply ED, but rather EA and/or RD so that (s)he can compare various FA packages from different schools, rather than be locked into one school. Just my two cents…</p>
<p>Good luck to you.:)</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same rumor, but I don’t think it’s been proven one way or the other.</p>
<p>However, if you are worried about finances, you really shouldn’t apply ED. That is true of any school. You don’t want to get locked into a commitment and then not be able to pay (and the schools generally have a much looser definition of “ability to pay”). Regular decision might just put you in a better bargaining position, as well as giving you a full spectrum of options during decision time.</p>
<p>Even their merit scholarships are partly need based. It says on the website that merit scholarships are awarded to students whose “estimated parental contribution does not excessively exceed need”</p>