Early Decision drop out

I really wanna apply ED to Northeastern, because it’s my dream school, and I don’t think I’ll get in without ED. Butttttt, my parents don’t want me to because they’ll only be paying for a little bit of my tuition and I don’t want to go if I don’t get sufficient financial aid, which I don’t know if I’ll even get because my parents make kinda a lot.
So, long story short, how strict is Northeastern with backing out on Early Decision for this type of financial difficulty?

Have you run the net price calculator (NPC)? Do that with your parents to see how much your family will be expected to pay. https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/northwestern

If there is any uncertainty about your potential ability to pay (say, if your parents won’t pay what the NPC shows), do not apply ED.

@Mwfan1921 You linked the NPC for Northwestern, not Northeastern.

Northeastern NPC: https://studentfinance.northeastern.edu/financial-tools-and-calculators/

@renm18 IMO apply EA. You’ll still get a decision earlier than March but won’t be obligated to attend if admitted.

Many students and parents take a screen shot of each page while completing the NPC. That way if the price comes in higher than expected you have some substantiation to either back out of the agreement or to go back to ask for more aid.

They can’t force you to attend, and certainly not if you can’t pay. The issue is that you parents don’t want to pay, so I think you can’t apply ED.

But what do you mean by a little bit? They will either have to pay or not. You will NOT get the money you need from any other source. You will get $5500 max from the government for your freshman year. You can’t get a hold of enough to cover the gap between the little bit they will pay and the small sum you can get.

This begs the question, have you got an affordable college to attend?

@Mwfan1921 @PikachuRocks15 @Groundwork2022 Thank you all for the advice, I think I’m just gonna do EA
and @Lindagaf, I do have an affordable college, my safety is UMaine

Yup - one of these. If you know your parents won’t pay the NPC, don’t apply ED. If they can, and aid offered is below expectations, you can back out of it fairly easily (I’ve never heard of a school forcing an ED admit to attend). EA is normally not nearly as advantageous as ED, especially at schools that offer both. Northeastern does not publish EA details, but just over 37% of ED applicants got admission in the last published cycle, nearly double the overall rate. It is a significant boost, especially as there is no legacy advantage (and I don’t think they are big on recruited athletes?) .

Potential ED candidates can request an early financial review from financial aid. They will tell you what they will expect you to pay. Does not include any possible merit aid as obviously they won’t have your application. The link is on the ED page on their website. You’ll have to have completed the CSS by yesterday though. And it might be too late given the application is due in under 10 days.