Thank you all so much for the thoughtful replies and helpful info! When by D17 was applying, she had a pretty early acceptance from Purdue with 10k in merit. It made the process so much less stressful having that in her back pocket. We will do early action at anyplace that has it. I recall some of the cal states having early answers for her too.
It’s great to get early admits…like a Pitt. However in the end it still has to be a school that works for your student…just don’t forget that.
There are many a school out there for them.
Good luck.
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It depends on the school. I know NYU has an opt-out guarantee if the cost after financial aid is unaffordable. That’s fairly standard. The best thing is to talk to the financial aid office at the school and find out, or even better, have a lawyer look at it.
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The problem is when the family and school have different definitions of unaffordable
ie; NPC higher than you can afford. and school meets NPC and you were expecting Merit to come in lower
NPC shows you are Full Pay and receive no merit where you can only afford with merit
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This is exactly the case. We won’t qualify for any need based aide. Can we afford full boat? Well, technically, yes. It’s hard to commit to full boat private upfront though without a fuller picture of what our kid’s options are. The responses here have convinced me maybe early decision is not for us.
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Not maybe - it 100% isn’t.
Because you can afford, but you don’t want to afford - don’t forget, some schools today are $80K - and that’s before inflation which is already looking to be higher next year then in a while. I’ve seen from 3-9% increases thus far.
Yes, schools will push you to ED - but it’s up to you as to whether to fall for the pressure. In your case, your worst nightmare would be possible - which is accepted to the dream school except it’s way more than you want to spend.
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You can ask the schools you are considering for ED for a financial aid pre-read (assuming you would limit that to those who provide merit and/or discounting).
Here is a recent thread that identifies some schools that routinely offer these, but more schools will do a pre-read on a case by case basis: Financial Pre-reads, including merit + merit ED
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again depends on the school. Where are you considering? I find it interesting your logo is CalPoly which of course doesn’t have ED. SoCalMom makes me think you’re in SoCal and there many ED schools do offer Merit even in ED.
Cal poly slo is from my D17. I took a hiatus between college kids. Now I’m back, and I haven’t changed my profile pic. S23 was considering the Claremont colleges, but is reconsidering after our spring break tour. He says they felt too small. He’d like to stay in California and will be looking at more publics and privates.
Look at Chapman. They give great merit even for ED. Baseball, new science beautiful science building.
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As a number of users have listed colleges that have offered money ED, please feel free to add those colleges to this thread. It’s a wiki, so you can edit the post:
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Is financial pre-read with financial officer actually reviewing your qualifications and finances or is it just mean using net price calculator which includes gpa to get a dollar amount?
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At Whitman, the financial pre-read means a complete review by the financial aid department to arrive at a minimum amount of “guaranteed” aid you can expect if admitted:
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I don’t know, sorry. You’d have to contact the colleges’ financial aid offices.
Echoing @Eeyore123
If you’re looking for Merit Aid, Jennie Kent and Jeff Levy have compiled a fantastic resource that lists each college by what percentage of kids receive Merit, and what the average amount is. A high percentage of non-need merit, and a high dollar average of merit aid can unearth some schools that discount tuition this way. It’s the H2AN and H2AO lines of the CDS all on one sheet.
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Anecdotal, but my son applied ED to Tulane, no financial need, and was accepted with a $12k annual merit scholarship. We were very surprised. Not sure why they gave $ when they didn’t need to entice him, but they did, so yes, it happens.
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I am asking a question that I asked a few months ago, but I can’t find the thread. My question is basically this topic: I had understood that applying ED to a school potentially puts merit aid at risk for those schools offering it. That seems to make sense to me.
However, I have heard “anecdatally” that this year’s admissions were different. In other words, to get merit aid, one would need to apply ED.
Since we are now in August and in the start of a new admissions cycle, I was just curious whether anyone had an updated view on this based on the last few months.
That’s interesting. I’ve never heard that but will be interested in the responses you get.
What I see is that merit aid applications have early deadlines. So for example, my D was applying RD to a college but had to submit her application by 11/15 to be considered for merit scholarships.
So early deadlines but not ED. Merit is often used to attract high stat students. Anyone applying ED is a sure thing and doesn’t need incentive. That’s always been my understanding.
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