<p>I'm a rising Senior and strongly considering GW as my top choice. I doubt I would be a candidate for to Need-Based Financial Aid, but with the total costs surpassing 50k/year, financial aid would definitely help. Would applying Early Decision instead of Early Action or Regular Decision lessen my chances of receiving financial aid, or lessen the amount of financial aid I'd receive? Thanks.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that applying ED does not change your chances at all with respect to merit-based financial aid, however it does not allow you to get offers from a number of schools and select the best one. GW has no early action, and early admission is binding. You are allowed to turn ED down if it is financially impossible for you to accept, but if you don’t qualify for need-based that would be hard to demonstrate. Maybe some of the ED students here can give you a feel for their merit offers based on their score/grades.</p>
<p>“You are allowed to turn ED down if it is financially impossible for you to accept, but if you don’t qualify for need-based that would be hard to demonstrate.”</p>
<p>Since GW is a Common Application school, no demonstration is necessary:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>“… the student may decline …” as opposed to " … the student may ask for release …"</p>
<p>Make sure you review GW’s early decision agreement. It’s different from the Common App and does not include the easy-out clause. When I checked with GW’s financial aid office last fall, they said they follow the GW agreement, not the Common App. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it turned out that GW does offer very good financial aid, consistent with their goal of meeting the difference between EFC and cost of attendance. Not a perfect match, but much better than other comparable schools.</p>
<p>Makes sense. My only caution is that you will have to make a decision based on one data point as opposed to having multiple options in front of you to compare.</p>
<p>Yes, ED should not be used if you want to compare FA offers, but only at your one dream school above all others, where your only question is can you afford it or not.</p>
<p>If you ask GW about this, ask them what happens if they don’t release you from the agreement, e.g., what happens when you get the bill and can’t pay your EFC?</p>
<p>Agreed. ED is a two-way street. With most schools, ED applicants get some preference on admissions. The colleges expect - and deserve - some assurance that admitted ED applicants will accept. </p>
<p>GW was absolutely straight with us. We read and understood GW’s agreement before applying ED. GW offered very good financial aid. It worked out for us - my daughter is going to her first choice. But, ED is a serious commitment and it’s certainly not for everyone.</p>
<p>Hey thanks for all the feed back. Yeah, George Washington is definitely my first choice, but also a school I feel somewhat confident that I could get in to. I’ve heard from multiple sources that GW is great for providing financial aid. For me personally, all I’m saying is some financial aid would help, if the situation arose where I didn’t receive as much as I was expecting, I could still attend, I was just curious about how much they provided relative to other schools, as well as if there was a stark difference between the amount RD’s receive compared to ED applicants.</p>
<p>Hey, I thought maybe I could pitch in a little bit. I was an RD applicant this year and GW gave me the best aid out of all the schools I applied to by over $10,000 a year. I got a mixture of merit and need but it really made GW the obvious choice when comparing schools. I hope this helps a little, based on everyone I spoke to at CI this last week it seems that GW gave them the best aid package out of all the other schools they applied to.</p>
<p>Hope this helps,
Zach</p>
<p>Hi</p>
<p>I’m a little confused. I want to apply to GW through ED as well, but my financial need is much greater than others (only one of my parents works, usually 14 hour days to make ends meet for the 6 other family members living in my house but with an annual salary of around $20,000.). If I don’t get enough FA to enable me to pay for tuition, can I get out of the agreement? I read everything above, but I’m still confused as to if I can or cannot. And would it be better for me to apply through common app or from the GW application? The only thing hindering my decision to apply through ED is the doubt that I may not get enough FA or grants to help me pay for college. I’ve e-mailed the financial aid department regarding my question but they have not replied back.</p>
<p>Please help!</p>
<p>Also, is a subject test required?</p>
<p>A few comments - the actual COA @ GW is at a minimum 56K/yr. Depending on Dorm selection it can approach 60K/yr. My “S” is an incoming freshman at was placed into Crawford dorm - double - so COA for him is ~60K.</p>
<p>Now, that being said - GW offered him (RD) the best FA package of any other school, both need-based and merit. Essentially we will paying 1/2 the COA after scholarships/grants etc.
GW met 100% of our need-based aid (COA-EFC=Need Aid). While one of the costliest schools in the country - they give generous FA. Your individual award will obviously vary based on your EFC (Needs-based) and your academic credentials (Merit Aid). </p>
<p>johnc - GW offers EDI, EDII, and RD. no EA.</p>
<p>GW accepts either the CommonAp or GW’s own app - no preference. My “S” used the CommonApp and was accepted to GW - he found it much easier since we was sending several CommonApps to colleges.</p>
<p>Zehra - SAT Subj tests are only required for “Special” program admissions such as the Honors Program. However, I’m sure if you have done well on these they will look upon them favorably. I’d submit them IF good.</p>
<p>Regarding ED - I would not let my “S” apply ED to GW due to the significant financial obligations of this school. By applying RD he was able to compare several offers of FA from schools. It just so happened that GW was the best - fortunate for him and me as a parent.</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>
<p>CJ</p>
<p>I wouldn’t apply ED unless you’re sure you can afford it.</p>
<p>I didn’t receive one dime of aid, either merit or need based. (Yes, I had a good high school GPA and test scores.) Unfortunately, I come from a middle to upper middle class family. Despite my family’s high expenses (dependents with special care, taxes, medical expenses, etc.), I received NOTHING in financial aid from GW. Other schools gave me anywhere from half to full scholarships. </p>
<p>I was crazy to go to GW for full price. I would strongly discourage going there, or similarly priced schools, unless you receive significant aid. No bachelor’s degree is worth $150,000-250,000 paid in cash/loans! NEVER. That’s absolutely ridiculous.</p>
<p>the big thing w/ gw is they want students who want to go there…thats why the why gw essay is so important…in that same spectrum, you have a much higher chance of getting accepted if u do ed…ive also heard that more merit aid is available to ed students…and you get priority housing…its a pretty good deal if gw is def ur first choice</p>
<p>thank you for all the responses!</p>
<p>I know I probably won’t be able to afford it, but if I get enough grants or aid I think I should be fine. If not, GW is a common app school so I should be able to get out of the agreement if I cannot afford it</p>
<p>Timmy- GW is definitely my first choice, and I plan to do ED. does it matter if I do ED I or ED II? With Early Decision II I’d have more time to raise up my SAT score, but would applying through ED I better my chances?</p>
<p>Zehra, I don’t know if this helps or not (I was an RD applicant), but from personal experience, I have found that if your family makes about $20,000 or less, you can expect a very generous financial aid package if excepted. My family (single-parent, only child) has about the same income, and over two years, I’ve probably paid about a thousand or less (and admittedly, I’ve not been so great with getting FAFSA in before the deadline - I imagine I’d have done better if I had). In fact, GW actually ended up being drastically cheaper than my state flagship ($18,000 in PLUS loans, wooooooo)</p>
<p>Did anyone find out what GW’s policy is if they won’t release you from the ED agreement for financial reasons and then you can’t pay the bill? Are you expelled, or do they guarantee student loans, or something else? They should state their policy if there is no release, IMHO.</p>
<p>Thank you gwfb for responding! I hope the same would apply to me if I get accepted</p>
<p>vossron- I’m not sure about that, but I plan to sign up for an interview and I think that would be a good time to get all those questioned answered!</p>
<p>again, does anyone know if my chances would be lessened if I apply through EDII rather than EDI?</p>