Question for experienced folks. Did your kid go the ED route for a top choice school? Did anyone not attend after being offered a spot, in which case what was your “out?”
How did you deal with the high school’s guidance counselor and that particular college? I am seeing some of my co-workers extremely stressed because their kids got really poor aid packages at prestigious schools and multiple appeals have not moved the needle on this.
My son did ED, just an in state college that was first on his list, but his unweighted GPA was a little lower than their average (his was a 3.4). He got in, and didn’t have to apply anywhere else, it was great.
If I were your GC, I would tell you only to apply ED if the net price calculator shows that the school is likely to be affordable, the school is your top choice, and you don’t need to compare FA offers.
Yes, one can get out of the ED agreement for financial reasons, but it’s less than ideal, especially if the school has an accurate NPC. Note NPCs may not be accurate if parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary home…are any of those the case for you?
Our oldest went ED. It was her first choice school, we had run the numbers and knew we could afford the package she was likely to be offered (her merit award was even larger than expected).
We would not have signed the ED paperwork if she hadn’t had a clear 1st choice and/or if we didn’t think we would be able to afford the package she would likely be given.
I would not let my oldest do ED because our financials were on the cusp, and without any merit would not be able to attend. It was a risk, but she got accepted RD with merit and it worked out. She also was able to garner other acceptances.
With S19, he did ED (which at his school seemed more like an EA TBH since you could get out of it and still be considered for RD), but there really was not any other school that he wanted to honestly attend. If we had to back out, he had a rolling safety that he was admitted to prior.
Note with ED you can still submit the other applications, but have to withdraw them once you are accepted to your ED school. Only honest way out is if the dont meet financial need .
Both mine did ED to their top schools this year. Was so nice knowing early and not having to stress.
OP- it might help you to learn what constitutes a successful appeal for “prestigious schools”.
Need only and meets full need- these are schools that do not offer merit aid, athletic scholarships, etc. Their aid is based on your finances, with two elements being the most important- your annual income, and your level of assets. I know a lot of people who get angry and frustrated when their appeal is not successful, when their major argument “we need more money” is to bring in consumer debt, paying off a loan to a family member, gambling losses, “we’re supporting 12 relatives”, etc. So for a need only school- what moves the needle on an appeal are either mistakes/judgement calls on the paperwork, or things like high medical expenses, special equipment for a disabled child or spouse, etc. Supporting your mother-in-law’s nephew so he can become an Instagram star isn’t going to be a compelling argument.
Next category- merit aid schools. You will have luck if your kid is at the top of the class, stats-wise, or has something they really want (Olympic caliber athlete, etc.) This is more of a judgement call on the part of the aid team, but you need to be careful- your kid might be good enough to admit, but if the school does not state they “meet full need”, they may want the kid but not enough to pay for it. That’s called “gapping”, and it’s frustrating if you go into the process without understanding that the school doesn’t give more money- because it doesn’t have it, or it ONLY has it for kids they consider exceptional.
Having a successful appeal also requires being really well organized- and you can do all of that now. You don’t want to be hunting down a hospital statement on December 25th which shows one of your kids had emergency surgery in March, and there was an unreimbursed charge of 25K which you are paying off monthly… especially since the hospital billing department will NOT be returning your call that day! Or even that week…
Figure out what documentation you might need for an appeal and get it lined up now. Best case- the aid comes in exactly what the Net Price Calculator predicted, and you can afford it. Worst case- you are ready to go with an appeal…
Good luck.
I agree with the previous replies. Only apply ED if the net-price calculator indicates that the school would work financially for your family. ED was a great choice for my daughter and it was such a huge relief for her to be done with the application process in December!
D20 applied ED and was accepted to her top choice. She needed a lot of FA and school meets full demonstrated need with no student loans, but there is no merit money either. Our financials are very straight forward (no divorce, own our primary home but no other real estate, no family owned business). The NPC showed a number we felt comfortable with and her FA package has us paying a tiny bit less than that. Our GC was of no help in the process and never even asked about our finances. We expected that based on friends with older students and we set out to educate ourselves on the process before digging in.
D applied ED and was admitted to her top choice. I ran the NPC several times before signing the paperwork and her FA award was very close to the projected amount. It was a huge relief to have a decision and be done with college applications by mid-December. Our GC was clueless. He neither provided any guidance nor questioned our financial situation.
Agree with other posters that ED should only be used for the top choice college that is affordable per the NPC.
My son did not apply anywhere ED. We did all the analysis regarding possible admission “bumps,” but when he thought it through, he decided he was just not ready to commit to any one school. He did apply to several schools EA, and those acceptances brought valuable peace of mind, but he ended up attending a school he applied to RD and had not visited prior to acceptance. It’s my sense that people are feeling more strongly these days that applying ED is almost a “must,” even as compared to our experience three years ago, but it would have been a mistake in our case.
That is the downside of ED.
Who should apply ED? Full pay kids, and those likely to be full ride. Bad idea for anyone in the middle.
EA, REA and SCEA are much better options for the vast majority of applicants.
I disagree. D’s college meets full need with no loans. Families making 80-140k receive full tuition grants. Families making less than 80k receive grants that cover tuition + housing. It’s my understanding from these forums that other ivies are just as generous for truly middle income families.
Be aware that if you own a home, some colleges will consider your equity in their financial aid calculations. That’s why it’s a good idea to run the NPC for every college under consideration.
I disagree with this as well. If the NPC suggests the school will be affordable (regardless of the family’s level of need), it can make sense to apply ED for the benefit (which is generally less than appears on first blush when comparing ED and RD acceptance rates).
Another disagree. If the college’s NPC is known to be fairly accurate based on similar inputs, and one is comfortable with the NPC output, there is no financial reason not to apply ED.
ED can be a roller coaster ride. I do think it can help a kid get in though. SO, if truly their first choice go for it. If dependent on the financial package have other applications prepped and ready to go in case it doesn’t work out. My D had the very strange experience of being deferred from ED1 at one school and then decided to apply ED2 to another school and was deferred again - then got in to both places RD and had the weird situation of deciding between her two ED schools. I do think having applied ED gave her a leg up in the RD round and helped her get into two T20.
If any of your target schools for ED are the same / similar as the ones your co-workers are dealing with, it might make sense to ask them how far off was the NPC? Their answer will give you a sense if A) they ran the NPC, and B) if the schools calculators are returning reasonably accurate answers.
We are big fans of ED…2 kids, 2 ED1 acceptances, 2 holiday seasons saved from applications, and 2 senior springs without drama. That said, we did a lot of legwork to arrive at a ranking of schools before applying. Our youngest did overnights at 3 schools in a week to make sure we had the order right. If ED1 had failed, we had an ED2 choice ready.
There was a suggestion above that ED is for those who know they will pay 100% or nothing, and it was rejected several times. Whilst I think it’s fair to tell people to rely on the NPC, there is a mental hurdle to making a commitment using an “estimator” for folks in the middle. Those paying all or nothing don’t have math to interfere with their “desires”…and that’s a huge advantage.
While people here always talk about NPC, we found out that some top schools actually offered more aid than NPC estimated (12-20K more). Our situation is not that complicated. So you may lose some opportunities if you really rely on the NPC.
You can’t possibly know that for ED. That’s why the process favors people on the high and low end of the cost spectrum.
You are right.