<p>What happens if you get accepted into a really good school by using early decision, but you can't afford it and the school won't give you financial aid and you can't take out any loans because your parents have bad credit. Then will the school let you go somewhere else?</p>
<p>they will let u go wit no penalty</p>
<p>But, you may be up the creek because you'll probably be so devastated after having your dream school be denied to you that you'll have a hard time completing other applications. Typically, ED decisions arrive in Dec. right around the time that other applications are due and right before the holiday break.</p>
<p>Your GC and teachers who recommended you also may not be that enthusiastic about writing more recommendations for you. Your GC also may be ticked if s/he has gone out on a limb and recommended you highly to your ED school, perhaps even higher than some other applicants from your school who aren't applying ED, but still plan to apply. Sometimes admissions officers ask GCs to rank students from their high school in terms of who'd be the best fit. If your GC gave you the #1 ranking figuring that way you'd get into your ED choice even though others were equivalent to you, s/he may not want to give you that kind of boost again.</p>
<p>Also, schools that promise to meet 100% of financial need mean that they will provide this according to what THEY, not your parents, think your need is, and the college will give you whatever package they wish (For instance, they could choose to meet 100% of your need by giving you $20,000 a year in loans).</p>
<p>If what they offer isn't what your family wants to accept, the college may not choose to release you from your ED commitment, and that may mean that other private colleges will not accept you. </p>
<p>Bottom line: If financial aid is a consideration, don't apply ED.</p>
<p>Does your parents' bad credit affect your personal ability to take out loans?</p>
<p>NSM is right - ED is a financially confident decision.</p>
<p>ED is for rich people. i have accepted that.</p>
<p>meh, my parents don't have really really bad credit, its just that I don't like taking out loans and paying 7% interest for the rest of my life</p>
<p>Do you think that anyone enjoys taking out loans? Most people who get financial aid will have loans included in their aid package.</p>
<p>Excellent students who don't want to take out loans probably would be best off applying to safety schools that would be thrilled to have them, and that also have the merit aid to pay for the privilege of getting a student with stellar stats compared to most at their college.</p>
<p>meh, my parents don't have really really bad credit, its just that I don't like taking out loans and paying 7% interest for the rest of my life</p>
<p>I remember when my sister in laws bought their homes- Interest was well into the double digits- we didn't have nearly enough income or savings to pay those kind of rates- so we had to wait awhile before buying a home- I would have loved7% interest- it isn't really that bad.
NOt when you consider that during a period of minimal employment ( neither my H or I have a college background), we had to rely on credit cards to pay basic bills, like groceries and health care- while we found better work a while later- the high interest rates credit cards charge- sometimes as high as 25%- quickly made our debt rise faster than we could keep up with.
If we had, had the opportunity to attend college- even taking out loans that might be as high as 7% we would have thought it was a good deal.
I also don't think loans are for an extended period- education loans- unless you refinance to lower payments, are generally for a 10 year term max- not really that long when you consider how much a degree is worth- of course if it isn't worth it to you - you have another choice
don't take out the loans</p>
<p>There is no guarantee that you won't get loans if you apply regular decision either.
If you are applying ED just to have a better chance of getting into a "really good school" then ED isn't for you.</p>
<p>DO NOT APPLY ED IF YOU NEED FINANCIAL AID!!!</p>
<p>I don't care what you read, my daughter applied RD to reach colleges, needing financial aid and even using fee waivers for her apps, and she got into most -- so even if your stats are not amazing for the school, you WILL be given a fair shake in the RD round. </p>
<p>I have had 2 kids go to college and they both received widely disparate need-based financial aid awards from colleges, including colleges who purported to meet 100"% of need. We could compare aid awards and had good choices. My son was admitted to 8 colleges; my daughter was admitted to 9. </p>
<p>There are some kids on this board who ended up in big trouble because of financial aid issues with ED colleges. The problem is that when their aid awards were finalized in the spring, they often came up short and at that time there were no other colleges to choose from.</p>
<p>You may wish to contact the individual schools to ask if you should apply. </p>
<p>But , I did ask one school in particular and was told , "do not apply to 'early decision' if your child needs financial aid or scholarships to attend" - they told us to "apply early under 'scholarship decision' " .</p>
<p>If you find the dream school for you and you need lots of fin aid, talk to them ahead of time. They may not be able to give you the specifics of the package but they may give you a general outline - loan, work study limits etc.</p>
<p>so, maybe i was the lucky one, but i applied ED to Columbia, even though i knew it was risky because i needed A LOT of aid (family income ~28K) but i discussed it thoroughly with my parents and we decided to give it a shot. and even though i don't know if they loved me that much or if my fin aid advisor was in an exceptionally good mood but my EFC is $500, and student contribution is $1K (summer earnings). I have NO LOANS (indicated that didn't want any) and $2K of work-study. The rest is a grant.
Who dares wins.</p>
<p>EMjay,
I don't suggest that others use your strategy. You "won" because Columbia -- as is the case with many Ivies -- is very interested in attracting low-income students, and also has the endowment to give them generous aid.</p>
<p>Most colleges aren't like that.</p>
<p>I'd also bet that because it's so rare to find low income students with the stats, courseloads and other academics that top colleges look for - that you would have been accepted by Columbia even if you hadn't applied ED.</p>
<p>I wasn't saying that everyone should do what I did, I just wanted to say it HAPPENS and it may happen to someone in a similar situation to me.
Besides, i wouldn't be so sure I'd have been accepted RD because the percentage of acceptances RD to Columbia College was 7% while ED it was ~23%.</p>
<p>When you are accepted ED, you MUST withdraw your other applications. In some cases, you will not receive your financial aid until spring...after the application deadlines for most schools. As pointed out above, the SCHOOL determines your finaid package, not you. The ED school could decide to meet your need with a package heavily weighted with loans...and they WOULD be meeting your need (just not the way you might want it met). In that case, they would not release you from your ED commitment. </p>
<p>I object to the comment that ED is for "rich kids". I do not believe that is true either. ED for some students is a great bet...Schools like Princeton where full need is guaranteed, do not give loans to low income students. As NSM pointed out, however, that is not the case at most schools. </p>
<p>If you are using ED as a strategy to get accepted to a highly competitive school, I would suggest you not do this...especially if the need to compare finaid packages is important. Apply to a well balanced list of schools, including perhaps an EA school (where the decision is not binding) and a rolling admissions school. Put your "dream school" in the mix as well. But do it in the RD round.</p>
<p>EMJay,
It is so very difficult finding low income students with the qualifications to go to places like Columbia, that I would bet money that you would have been accepted regular decision, too.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I think it is in your best interest to run your numbers through one many financial aid calculators. Try the one on the college board use both the federal and institutional methodologies because these numbers will be different. </p>
<p>Once you have some sort of estimate of your EFC, sit down and talk to your parents about whether or not they can comfortably pay this money (keep in mind that this may be the cost for you to attend no matter where you go). Ask them straight up how much they are willing to pay/ borrow for your education.</p>
<p>IF paying the EFC is going to be a problem for them, do not apply ED as schools meet varying degrees of your demonstrated need and you are left to pay the EFC. </p>
<p>Cost of attendance - EFC = demonstrated need.</p>
<p>IF they have problem paying the EFC is going to be a problem for your family, you could be stuck, because unless there are some extreme extenuating circumstances or major errors on the part of the school, they are not going to budge from this number.</p>
<p>Ivies may indicate that they provide "demonstrated need" but we found the aid from 3 Ivies to different by thousands of dollars. We were able to use the fin aid package from one to up my D's first choice school by several thousand dollars. She decided not to apply ED precisely for this reason - the ED locks you in to that one fin aid package. Of course, you can decline the offer but applying RD gives you the ability to negotiate. The Ivy she attends indicated that they would compare their fin aid package to the Ivies, MIT and Stanford and so they did within 48 hours. While ED may not be for "rich kids" it does put a student with need at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>in many cases, applying ed can be helpful and you could get more aid. in other cases, applying ed can mean you get nothing or less than RD. the best thing to do is to talk to the college reps/search the website to see if ed applicants are helped or hurt financially by applying early. but remember, if you apply ed and want to try to get "out of the school" due to finances, you won't be able to do so for a while (that's what the reps said from the schools i was looking at). not having "enough money" is a hard claim to prove. that's going to hurt when you try to apply for other colleges b/c you will have less time for apps, looking into finances, etc.</p>