<p>What happens if you are accepted early decision, but don't have the financial package to help pay the tuition?? what happens then? do you still have to attend? does the college give you more?</p>
<p>Financial aid or lack thereof is pretty much your only out when it comes to ED. You will have to prove you cannot afford to attend based on the aid packaged offered but to answer your question you are not obligated if you cannot financially afford to attend. I would imagine if a school wanted you badly enough and you could make a good enough case some would consider additional assistance but I'm not sure how often that happens.</p>
<p>My son's two best friends were accepted ED and negotiated a better FA package after the colleges' first offer. I assume it varies.</p>
<p>When you apply ED you KNOW what the costs are to attend. You are signing a contract that says you will attend if you are accepted. Remember, the SCHOOL determines your financial need, not you. If you have serious financial considerations, and you are not certain that the school WILL meet your financial need, do not apply ED. Too risky. Remember, when you receive that ED acceptance, you are required to withdraw ALL other applications and acceptances.</p>
<p>The problem with ED when you need money is that if you have to back out of the commitment because you cannot come to an agreement on what you can afford to pay, you can end up with a big headache on the rest of your apps.</p>
<p>Don't EVER apply Early Decision unless you have the financial resources to pay for it. Seriously.</p>
<p>I'm taking the contrarian view to most of the above posts.</p>
<p>First, ED is for students who view one school above all others, and will do anything they can in order to attend. If their research suggests that they can't afford the school, they should not apply ED. But if it looks like there's a good chance of having enough money, go ahead and apply ED.</p>
<p>"You will have to prove you cannot afford to attend based on the aid packaged offered"</p>
<p>You don't have to prove anything; you've already sent your proof in the form of the FAFSA. You simply decline the offer of acceptance and financial aid.</p>
<p>"When you apply ED you KNOW what the costs are to attend. You are signing a contract that says you will attend if you are accepted. Remember, the SCHOOL determines your financial need, not you. If you have serious financial considerations, and you are not certain that the school WILL meet your financial need, do not apply ED. Too risky. Remember, when you receive that ED acceptance, you are required to withdraw ALL other applications and acceptances."</p>
<p>There is no way any school can or would want to force you to attend. You don't have to be certain; there is no way to be certain (with the exception of those extremely few schools that promise to cover 100% of all costs for low-income applicants). The only "risk" is that you cannot compare financial offers from various schools. If you want to compare offers, don't apply ED.</p>
<p>"The problem with ED when you need money is that if you have to back out of the commitment because you cannot come to an agreement on what you can afford to pay, you can end up with a big headache on the rest of your apps."</p>
<p>What kind of headache? You simply enter the RD pools as if you never applied ED.</p>
<p>"Don't EVER apply Early Decision unless you have the financial resources to pay for it. Seriously."</p>
<p>Prior to applying ED, you can usually get an estimate from the school as to what your financial aid would be. If the estimate is too low, there's not much point in applying. But it is an estimate, and the actual offer may be lower, and the offer can be declined without penalty.</p>
<p>Here is what UPenn says about encouraging low-income students to apply ED:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Committee looked into the early decision process. Penn has maintained early decision although some of our peers have eliminated it. Our early decision application pool is the largest in the US, and we admitted 48% of our class through the early decision program. In recent years, our early applicants have been academically stronger than the regular decision pool. Those who are deferred to the regular round are admitted at the same rate as regular decision candidates. Two of our peers, Harvard and Princeton, have eliminated early programs because they believe that it reduces the number of low-income applicants, but Penn has designed new financial aid programs to encourage low-income students to apply early. It is the view of the Committee that Penn should continue to monitor the income distribution of the early decision applicant to ensure that the number of low-income students is maintained.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Perhaps Harvard and Princeton eliminated early programs because too many low-income students have been listening to the advice to not apply ED!</p>
<p>If you have had an actual negative experience declining an ED acceptance due to insufficient financial aid, tell us about it!</p>
<p>Against a strong current of advice to never apply ED if you can't afford to pay, I took the contrarian view, too, vossron. It didn't make any sense to me, after considering the simplicity of our income/assets situation and the clear financial aid policies of my son's first choice school. (Meets 100% of need, no student loans, has its own dedicated estimate calculator online using its own methodology.) I had a lot of concrete information on how they would consider our aid application, and couldn't see what the issue would be with applying ED. If something surprising happened and we couldn't afford the school based on their aid award, then we just couldn't afford it. It wouldn't be a mystery to anyone why not... there are no investment accounts to dip into, no real estate investments, no business assets. Just our mid-50K income, our old, tiny house, and that's it.</p>
<p>My son did apply ED, did get accepted, we got virtually to the dollar the aid we expected in our preliminary award, and the award actually improved when it came to the final determination. So, here's the thing about low-ish income students applying ED; if you apply to a school with great aid policies and ED confers some advantage in getting accepted at all, you may be doing yourself a huge favor because if you're lucky enough to get in you may get to go to an amazing college with tremendous financial support.</p>
<p>I think for kids with limited family income/assets, a clear first choice school, and one that has generous, explicit aid policies (w/ no student loans or loans capped at a reasonable amount) then there really isn't a problem with applying ED and in fact it may be the best shot a student has at getting that great financial aid at all.</p>
<p>I feel very gratified I didn't listen to all the un-nuanced advice about never applying ED if you need aid. It's more complicated than "never." In fact several students and parents PM'd me on this site saying they had done it and it worked out fine. They just didn't want to get a lather going here on CC and so didn't post it openly.</p>
<p>Schools are sensitive to the plight of less-advantaged kids. They are not going to inflict punishment on someone who applys ED and then can't afford to go.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Except that H's early program was EA, not ED. That whole argument they made about doing it for poorer students who were disadvantaged by their early admissions program was completely bogus.</p>
<p>I agree with the comments about a low income student applying ED after careful consideration of FA ramifications. The kids to worry about are those from higher income families who think of themselves as "middle class" and who's parents tell them that they can't afford to pay full fare. Those are the ones who are tempted to apply ED and then are in a bind when they get their FA package.</p>
<p>Exactly right, entomom!</p>
<p>As for schools doing away with ED in order to not disadvantage lower-income kids, all they'd really have to do is be OPEN about their financial aid policies so kids would know what they could expect before applying. If schools would do that, they'd actually <em>help</em> lower income kids by making binding ED a more acceptable option for them. When it's done away with entirely, those lower income kids don't even have the small advantage a binding agreement to attend might confer on them.</p>
<p>The other argument is the preparedness and information gap --more affluent kids are more likely to be prepared and equipped to get an application off early in their senior year of high school-- but it seems the best solution for that is to help get that information to lower income kids from underserved schools. Yeah, there will be an information gap, but it can be improved and will never be done away with entirely, ED or not.</p>
<p>the FA question is basically keeping me from applying ED to columbia.</p>
<p>anyone have estimates for aid $95000 income?
i've done some simple calculations...which comes up as $16000, which is still too much for us. </p>
<p>...</p>
<p>ptoncollege09,</p>
<p>We were in that income range a couple of years ago, and had substantial home equity and assets as well. The tip top schools gave us 15-20k/yr in grants. But others a small step down (read mid-Ivy (but not Columbia) and a top LAC) gave us zero except for a few loans. The mid-Ivy did match the higher schools when we asked for a reevaluation and showed them the other offers. But if you went ED, you wouldn't have the opportunity to compare and ask for a reassessment of your FA package.</p>
<p>I think you are correct to be very concerned about applying ED for Columbia. It would be a very different thing if your income was 50k and Columbia had a pretty straightforward FA policy about low income applicants. But 95k is in the top 10% of incomes in the US.</p>
<p>If $16,000 is too much for your family, and there is a $95,000 income, then I think you should definitely not apply ED. I don't know Columbia's aid policies, but if our family had that income I would expect to have to pay something along those lines. Maybe Harvard or Yale (or ???) would be able to give you a better aid package than that, but by most standards I'd say it looks pretty reasonable as a family contribution. Maybe you need to be looking at schools that offer merit-based scholarships and are not strictly needs-based aid only.</p>
<p>16,000 is pretty goo for almost $100,000. Usually it is closer to !/4 before tax.</p>
<p>Columbia</a> University Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid and Educational Financing</p>
<p>look at 'sample's from Columbia. Also realize that your income may not be the exact amt of your parents gross salary. It could be lower or higher. This gives you a general idea</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes! The estimate that I use for income is the parent's AGI plus any untaxed income (SS payments, pretax contributions to retirement accounts, etc.)</p>
<p>And, when you look at that chart, don't forget about assets. If it isn't explained on the website, you might want to give Columbia a call and ask if the figures are assuming "average assets" for those income classes, or zero assets (income only).</p>
<p>and with everything in life, YMMV as each family's situation is different.</p>
<p>I agree that the people most at risk of not being able to meet their EFC are those in the middle class squeeze who make too much money to qualify for the low income inititiatives and not enough to foot the full freight cost of attending.</p>
<p>Most of the ivies, elite LACs and other "deep pocket schools" will ask for the profile, the non-custodial profile or their own FA forms in addition to the FAFSA to determine your financial need.</p>
<p>They will look at the income of both of your parents regardless of their maritial status, court agreements and deals.</p>
<p>If you have stepparents, they will consider the income and the assets of your stepparents even if they say "they are not paying for your education".</p>
<p>Your financial aid package could be sticky if you own your own business.</p>
<p>It could get sticky if you lost your job and got a severance package.</p>
<p>The second home, which you think is a shack, your rent doesn't cover the mortgage payments, etc. will be considered an asset.</p>
<p>If your parents are maxing out their 401ks, the amount of money they contribute will still be added in.</p>
<p>they do not care that it cost XX thousands of dollars to have a home in California, NY, NJ, long island, westchester, or you really need 2 cars to get back and forth to work.</p>
<p>Financial aid does not care if you are supporting 27 bothers and sisters back home, in the old country, or that you have credit card debt and over half your paycheck is being used to pay it off.</p>
<p>So unless you and your family really know your FA situation, you can't go into ED with the mind set that if Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth or name your ivy does not give you enough money, you will just apply RD to Penn, Harvard, etc. because as per their joint statement they say that they will honor the ED agreement of the other ivies.</p>
<p>Vossron and Rentof2,</p>
<p>I am glad it worked out for you both with ED. One thing that needs to be considered is the family's EFC. IF the family has a low EFC than the financial aid package will be a good one. </p>
<p>The issue seems to affect the middle class the most. Those with a low EFC tend to get a good FA package, but those with a higher income & or a house typically draw the short straw when it comes to ED. </p>
<p>With the new and more generous policies of many colleges of late, applying ED if you are below those income thresholds can be fine, as you have both demonstrated. The key is knowing what is expected out of a family in advance. Otherwise, ED can be a disaster for a student, if they can't afford to pay.</p>
<p>I think it's confusing when people say "middle class" because there definitely is a squeeze certain families get caught in. But with an AGI of mid-50K and owning a modest home, my family of 4 actually is middle class in America. As a middle class family, we received very generous aid so it's not just low income students that are eligible for it.</p>
<p>True - that same income could be thought of differently, depending upon what state a student might come from. That is why Fin Aid offices take a number of factors into consideration to come up with that figure.</p>
<p>A family I am working with, with an EFC of $2000 has the same income that you have and reside in the state of Calfiornia, but because the school doesn't meet 100% of need, this student has to come up with $35,000 in loans to make up the difference. Even with generous grants, this kid is struggling to figure out how to pay. That is one reason why ED can be scary. Your family is fortunate that it worked out well for you.</p>