Early Decision but can't afford it?

Paying for College
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<p>Hi 2collegemom,</p>

<p>We had your exact same experience in our house. D was accepted to 7 need blind meet 100% of demonstrated need schools, got 7 different package where the range was somewhere over $10,000 between the "best" and the "worst" packages. </p>

<p>This was one of the main reasons D did not apply ED because you do lose your ability to compare packages. We were able to use package from second choice to ask for a financial appeal at her first choice school which like in your D's situation, upped their package by thousands of dollars by reducing loans and increasing grant aid.</p>

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<p>I was gonna make my own thread on this forum, but I see it's already here. I want to apply to Cornell ED. I'm 100% sure I want to go there and my reasons for the ED are 1) To take pressure of the 2nd half of senior year 2) Compensate for low SAT scores that are approximately (According to sites I've seen) in the 25th percentile of accepted students. However I do have an above average GPA to compensate. I understand about comparing financial aid packages and my parents are urging me to do this. But they also said that if they can afford to send me to Cornell they will, but they'll need to receive enough financial aid in order to pay. I posted this on the Cornell forum and the only really helpful response was to ask my parents to talk to their financial advisor to see what they can afford and what I'll need in financial aid then talk to the admissions office at Cornell to apply ED. Should I try to have my parents find out exactly what they can afford or is it just a waste and just have to wait it out for RD?</p>

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<p>No one can tell you what your package will be. Cornell is not known for great aid, at least in terms of "free money." You & your parents could end up with a lot of loans. What is your EFC?</p>

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<p>First of all, I would like to point out that no one knows their "EFC" for most of the elite colleges that offer ED -- the colleges do NOT accept the FAFSA EFC, they calculate their own based on their own policies as to how to weigh income & various assets. So you can't possibly know your "EFC" in advance -- unless the parents are very poor: low income plus no assets. </p>

<p>To Mikeyc:
My daughter had ACT scores at the 25% level, SATS lower than that, and was accepted at Barnard, Univ of Chicago, and NYU RD. That doesn't mean that every kid will be -- but it does mean that your applicaition will be taken seriously in the RD round. </p>

<p>I think it would be a very big mistake to apply ED to Cornell. It is unfair to your parents in any case -- you say that your parents are urging you to compare financial aid packages, and that they will send you to Cornell if they can afford it. The way I see it, it really isn't your choice to make if you want your parents to subsidized the cost of your education: they have made a clear request, and that is something you ought to do if you expect anything from them. </p>

<p>But beyond that, I believe it's something of a myth that an ED application is the equivalent of an added 100 points (or whatever) to your SAT score. That's a function of statistics, not how colleges really look at applicants. The ED pool includes a lot of students who have other hooks, such as recruited athletes or legacies. If Cornell thinks your test scores are weak, they are either going to reject you or defer you -- colleges do NOT use ED as a way of locking in the weakest segment of their applicant pool. That makes no sense: the value to THEM of ED is that they get to lock in the strongest segment of the pool - the kids that would tend to go elsewhere in the spring when other offers come in. </p>

<p>Now it may be that your GPA and other factors make you a strong applicant, despite the test scores. If so, you are going to be just as strong in the spring -- stronger, even, if you have the good sense to take a heavy coarseload senior year and do well your fall semester. My daughter was actually deferred EA from Chicago, then admitted in the spring: I'm sure that with her weak test scores, the ad com felt it important to have her midyear grades. </p>

<p>If you are really worried about your test scores, then it would also be to your advantage to retake the SAT in October or November, or try the ACT - so that you have better scores to submite with your RD app.</p>