<p>That's a really low EFC, and in fact far lower than ours. Ours is $5500. Maybe theirs is lower because of the expense of living where they do.</p>
<p>I'm not complaining about ours. It'll be a stretch but we'll make it work.</p>
<p>And, yeah... I agree that when considering ED where there is significant financial need, it only makes sense at a 100%-of-need-met school, and one with no loans or with loans capped fairly low. I would not consider it otherwise.</p>
<p>It is my hope that more schools will fully disclose whether they are a 100% need met or a gapping school. I have seen too many kids with low EFC's assume that their need would be met with grants to be shocked to find loans as the bulk of their FA packages!</p>
<p>^ Even the openly 100% need schools will often meet the need with loans.</p>
<p>Yes - because they feel they are honoring their agreement. They are meeting your need, just not being upfront over how they fill your need requirements! </p>
<p>This happened to me when I was going to college. I was surprised to learn after being accepted that my need wasn't going to be met. I took out almost all loans. It was a shock to the system and my budget for a decade after graduation.</p>
<p>Our experience with a 100% need school was that the only part of the FA which was loans was the standard Stafford. The rest was workstudy and mostly grant.</p>
<p>They did offer a loan in the amount of the EFC, but that's not the same thing as need, though some people might misunderstand it as being so.</p>
<p>I would like to hear an actual instance of full-needs schools meeting the bulk of the need with loans. I have never seen an actual instance of this in the current era. This seems to be more CC urban legend than real.</p>
<p>that's the whole point of ED. it gives an advantage to upper class, wealthy applicants as a means to offset affirmative action. so if you can't afford the school, then you can't apply ED.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Have you read the entire thread?? Much of it has been spent discussing the fact that students with low incomes who are well informed about a school's FA policies may do well to apply ED as they are likely to get an excellent FA package at certain schools. At the opposite end are the very wealthy that you talk about who can afford to pay full fare. It is those in the middle (and I don't mean middle income = ca. 50k/yr, but rather those who are in the upper 10% or so of incomes), and cannot afford to pay full fare that should not apply ED.</p>
<p>If you want to bring in AA, please go to the College Admissions forum as there are a couple of appropriate threads there for that discussion.</p>
<p>no sorry i haven't read the whole thread so my response may have been inappropriate. i apologize.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you want to bring in AA, please go to the College Admissions forum as there are a couple of appropriate threads there for that discussion.
[/quote]
no i definitely don't want to open up that can of worms again.</p>
<p>so you're saying it's ok for low income students to apply ed and just hope and pray that the school meets their need?</p>
<p>Low income students can safely apply ED to certain elite schools that have a long reputation of being generous with FA to their demographic.</p>
<p>I am a college Soph. I am interesting in getting into Geaorgia state how is the school and what are my chances at getting instate tuition if I am from out of state? neither parents are from the mlitary nor am I need help in the worst way.</p>
<p>^ Make a separate thread.</p>
<p>My question about ED is slightly different</p>
<p>I recently found out that Cornell University has started a program in which they lift all need based loans for students with families whose income is lower than 75,000. Here is the link to the story:
Cornell</a> Chronicle: Sweeping new financial aid initiative</p>
<p>However, I have heard so much that ED is not good for low income students, however I want to know whether this elimination of need based loans will still be applicable to ED students. Additionally, I was wondering how this new system will work for ED students, if it is even different at all?</p>
<p>It's much better for ED students.</p>
<p>If a college promises they will meet 100% of need, and its aid is only need-based aid and not merit aid, the questions arise in two places: </p>
<p>What will be the expected family contribution based on income and assets?
How much of the financial aid award will be comprised of loans?</p>
<p>If the school is eliminating the student loan component from their aid awards, you really only have the first question to try to answer. That certainly makes it an easier matter to research and hopefully come up with a reliable estimate. This however requires some openess on the part of the financial aid office AND using very reliable and <em>complete</em> numbers regarding you and your parents income and assets when trying to determine what the family contribution is likely to be. The FAFSA EFC can be a clue, but is not definitive with regards to schools that also use the CSS Profile to determine need... and Cornell is one of them, if I recall.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Even the openly 100% need schools will often meet the need with loans.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Although true for many schools, there is at least one school that comes to mind where loans have been eliminated entirely from the financial aid package altogether: University of Pennsylvania. I applied early decision, realizing that I needed the school to cover basically 100% of the cost for me to be able to afford to attend. They delivered on their promise. I'm not sure if there are other schools like that.</p>
<p>A few high school college counselors I chatted with said financial concerns should not stop one from applying ED as they can be used as an 'out' from the commitment.</p>
<p>Yes, Cornell does CSS/PROFILE. They were the only school on my son's list that asked for the make/model and purchase price of our vehicles, too. (For the uninitated, CSS asks about many more potential resources than does FAFSA. Schools can also add on their own supplemental questions.)</p>
<p>My experience is that the "full-needs" schools at most use the standard Stafford and sometimes a Perkins. They don't just "meet the need with loans".</p>
<p>The vast majority of our family's need, and we are not low income by any means, was met by grant, not loans, at our full-need school.</p>
<p>I believe it is doing a disservice to low income kids to dissuade them from ED at these schools.</p>
<p>It is upper middle class who may (and I say "may" advisedly, because some will be willing and able to bite the bullet) want to compare offers and look into merit. "full-needs" schools by all reports are pretty upfront and transparent; you should know where you stand before you apply to them.</p>
<p>"Don't EVER apply Early Decision unless you have the financial resources to pay for it. Seriously."</p>
<p>i beg to differ. you probably already know how much aid you can get when you're applying. if you get less than you expect or you need, you can always appeal and make a strong enough case to increase your aid, and if not, you can apply to other schools while waiting for the appeal to be resulted. if you love a school passionately enough to apply ED and if you think you're a fit for there, then definitely apply ED.</p>
<p>
[quote]
A few high school college counselors I chatted with said financial concerns should not stop one from applying ED as they can be used as an 'out' from the commitment.
[/quote]
yikes ... unless you left out a lof of qualifiers I would not trust the advice of these counselors very much. </p>
<p>I am not of the school that one shouldn't apply ED if they need FA ... at a lot of schools you can get a prety good idea of what your financial aid will look like with a little research. It is true you can not compare offers and can not search for the best merit aid offer if you apply ED ... however you can have a pretty good idea of what you might get. That said there is variance in offers from schools so you should assume the worse case on student contribution, parent contribution, and loans.</p>
<p>If you are accepted ED and the school meets 100% of the need as defined by FAFSA/CSS Profile and you want to back out because you don't like the FA offer you're in a bit of a bind. From everything I've read over the last 3-4 years school let you out of your ED commitment to attend a cheaper alternative like yoru local state U ... however other top schools in the area will likely honor the ED commitment. So, for example, turning down a ED offer from an IVY to go to UMass would likely work for one of my kids ... but if they tried to back out a ED offer to go to another IVY it likely would not work. Remember ... the school decides what they believe your family can contirbute not your family .. and that is fairly predictable in advance.</p>
<p>so i'm a rising senior and i'm having the same problem that is being discussed- whether or not to apply ED at an IVY league, Brown specifically</p>
<p>i went on a college visit there and they said that there will be no loans for families w/ under 100k earnings and no parental contribution for those earning less than 60k </p>
<p>my rents' combined income is in the low 50k and i also have an older brother in college that they're paying fees for....so do u think i should apply ED to brown's 8 yr med program? It is definitely my first choice but financial aid is what is scaring me. Honestly speaking, that is the only thing that is holding me back- but after reading the thread, I thought I should ask around.</p>
<p>any thoughts?any help would be greatly appreciated</p>