<p>Here's a hypothetical. You know where you want to go. You gage what merit and fin. aid has been based on your stats, EC's, and family income. You apply ED thinking this school will be affordable. Then it happens. Merit is cut due to an unusually high amount of applications. Now it seems eighty percent of need is no longer being met, but only sixty. This school, without your ever have anticipating it, has tightened the purse strings, but you have been accepted.<br>
Question- Are you honor bound to attend because you applied ED based on the best information you had, even though it will be a huge financial stretch for your family or ......because the cost of attendence is now just about prohibitive are you free to look elsewhere?</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Are you honor bound to attend because you applied ED >></p> </blockquote>
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<p>When a student applies ED, it is with the understanding that they WILL attend the ED school if accepted. Truthfully, if finaid is a significant consideration and a change in the college policy will stretch your family, you should apply RD and place yourself in the position to look at finaid offers as you look at your acceptances....and then make your decision. Don't apply ED.</p>
<p>Students can decline the ED offer when the finaid award doesn't meet the family's need. I'm not sure whether this applies to a merit aid candidate, whos $ award is not based on need. Presumably the merit-aid student's family can afford tuition (since they are inelig for need-based aid), but doesn't want to pay full tuition.</p>
<p>If you are counting on merit aid to finance your college education you can't ever apply ED unless such merit aid was unlimited at certain stats. I guess it is theoretically possible that there would exist a school with formulaic merit aid - like USC 1/2 tuition NMF scholarship- that would "change" that policy midstream and leave the kid out of luck but in that instance I'd say that's a dang good reason for not attending. But since the vast majority of merit scholarships are NOT formulaic and even those that are not guaranteed for every kid with certain stats, the rule is still very valuable. You can't apply ED if you are looking for merit aid that is not guaranteed. To do so is just asking for trouble. Just look at all the folks dissapointed that their kid did not get the top scholarship their stats suggested . It happens all the time. It happened to my D.</p>
<p>Phrased another way, there is no ED "out" for not getting enough merit aid.</p>
<p>You should NEVER apply ED if there is any doubt as to how much financial aid you need or might receive or how much $ your family can afford to spend on your education.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say "never" apply ED if one needs finaid - - since you can back out if the $ award isn't enough. But as curmudg posted above, there is no ED "out" for those seeking or relying on merit or other non-need-based $.</p>
<p>Many schools will only let you out of ED commitment if you will be attending your in-state public U, not another school with better merit aid... You will also have to withdraw all outstanding apps before knowing who else will accepted, and what the aid will be like.</p>
<p>The CC rule of thumb is: do not apply ED if you need money. The ED round, for good or bad, best serves those who do not need aid.</p>
<p>Those Ccrs who needed money and applied in RD were well rewarded. Have patience.</p>
<p>I've read manyof the ED/finaid threads- - and I accepted the conventional wisdom (don't apply ED if you need $) until counselor at D's former day sch advised otherwise. Counselor's advice (in abev form): ok to apply ED if you need 60% or less, apply to schs that meet 100% of need; don't aply if you need or want to compare packages and take the most generous offer.</p>
<p>As I said, not the conventional wosdom, but it worked for us.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Students can decline the ED offer when the finaid award doesn't meet the family's need.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Remember...the school determines your need, not you. AND the school determines how that need will be fulfilled as well. AND it could be heavy on loans and student work. Remember too that the student contribution cannot be ignored. If the school meets your need (as they determine it to be) and are heavy with loans...they HAVE met your need. </p>
<p>Now...regarding the day school counselor....The LAST person I would rely on in terms of financial aid knowledge would be any school counselor. Simply put, they don't have knowledge of financial aid. In fact, at our school the counselors are very clear...they do NOT discuss financial aid. It is not their jobs...and they are not trained to do so. They have enough on their plates to deal with helping students select schools to which they will be accepted.</p>
<p>The very fact that you say that this guidance counselor comes from a "day" school (a term used in the U.S. to refer to private schools, most of which have hefty tuitions) leads me to be suspicious about how much the counselor knows. This counselor is probably accustomed to dealing with families whose financial need, if any, is not great.</p>
<p>Binding ED is a really bad idea for students who need financial aid. Period.</p>
<p>I don't get something-- Aren't ALL applications supposed to be withdrawn once you receive your ED acceptance?? If that is true (and I always thought family was obligated to tell other schools of ED acceptance and withdraw all pending applications) there should be no other acceptances on the table (except maybe early rolling decision acceptance).
All I know is that d's friend did not receive the financial package that she was hoping for from Syracuse- Her outcome was that she started SUNY Bing. in January as it was too late for her to get an acceptance for that Sept.
-- and btw, she went to a "Day School" in NYC.
Marian may be on to something- dealing with high income families may give the GC an unrealistic view of families who are depending on financial aid. And to further reiterate what Marian said--</p>
<p>"Binding ED is a really bad idea for students who need financial aid. PERIOD!!"</p>
<p>Agreed, the college determines your need and constructs the aid package, but the family can still decline - - and apply to other schools (since EF admission and finaid awards are announced mid-Dec).</p>
<p>Regarding the counselor at D's day sch, you grossly mistaken. A signif nubmer of the students at the sch receive finaid (top sch, large endow, generous grants), including students from Prep for Prep and other URM prgms, who receive close to full tuition grants (and yes, a number of these families also applied ED and rec'd sufficient aid). There are also families for whom the $30k day tuition is a stretch and who will apply for need-based aid for to meet the $45K college tuition bill (presumably those Marian described as "families whose fin need, if any, is not great." ). As a result, the counselor, while not a financial advisor, is quite knowl, and discussion of finaid is an essential part of the counseling/selection process for families who will be seeking need-based assistance.</p>
<p>Obviously, you have to know/trust your couselor. I had know the womarn for 5+ yers and other parents confirmed that she was had succesfully advised familes from a variety of bkgrnds. Also, D's BS counselor was one of the least informed individs I have ever encountered. And the outcomes for D's school speak for themselves (including may happy ED finaid admissions). </p>
<p>It worked for us. D's ED finaid offer (mostly grants) was about $2k above EFC, so we considered it unlikely that we'd get a signif better offer from other schs on the list - - schs in which D was less interested. If the package had been deficient, we woul have declined the offer (or exercised the option to roll-over to RD pool and see what other schools offered).</p>
<p>I am not advocating this approach for everyone. I did state that this strategy was not an option for families that need to compare finaid packages. OTOH, the NYC metro area is probab one of the most competitive applicant pools, and this may be of assit to other middle-class families who want to take advantage of the boost that ED provides.</p>
<p>One problem, one that is reiterated in the OP's post, is that people assume that the general EFC (usually based on FAFSA) is also the one that the college will use. For schools that use the Profile, that is not true. There is the "institutional methodology" which each school uses, and it varies from school to school. The financial aid calculators try to replicate that methodology, but because of the variations, they cannot do so accurately. Many people are completely shocked that what they thought their EFC was is not what the college thinks it is (always higher).</p>
<p>And if you apply ED to a school that does not promise to meet 100% of need (again, as the school calculates it), you know going in that you're going to come up with a significant amount of money. Saying you can't afford it, when you knew in advance that you might not get enough, won't be looked at kindly at that kind of school.</p>
<p>nyc- I may be mistaken, but aren't ALL pending applications supposed to be withdrawn once you receive a binding ED acceptance. ??
If that is true, there would be no competing offers to choose from. And did you get your financial package with your acceptance in December??
My kid never got an ED acceptance so I am not that knowlegeable about ED acceptance and financial aid.</p>
<p>I think that is the main reason why my d's friend had to start college a semester later than planned, as all her other applications were withdrawn upon her acceptance into Syracuse and I don't think she knew her final financial aid package from Syracuse so early in the process. I may be wrong on that. Family may have been overly optomistic and was hoping Syracuse would offer more money. </p>
<p>Anyway- kid is very happy at Suny Bing
Again- I have always been under the impression-- don't apply ED if finances is an issue.</p>
<p>I just started thinking about my d's friend situation again- as it happened 2 years ago some of the details are a bit fuzzy-</p>
<p>But this was a pretty and disappointing difficult time for her. She was ecstatic with her ED acceptance and assumed from Dec. to April that she was going to Syracuse. As she was excited about it, all her friends shared in her joy.</p>
<p>When the reality set in that her family could not afford Syracuse, a bad situation was made alot worse!! All her applications were withdrawn, she told All her friends she was going to Syracuse and she was way more than disappointed as she had to start the whole application process over again while all her friends would be starting college in the fall and she was not. </p>
<p>Applying ED and hoping for a good financial package is a bad idea. One must understand the true consequences if things don't work out as hoped. And it will be the kids who will take the brunt of this foolish plan.</p>
<p>Yes, all applications must be w/d when the student is notified of the ED acceptance; I don't think my post suggested otherwise - - but if it did, then my apologies. Some (all?) schs do permit a student to decline the ED admission and roll-over to the RD pool. In that case, the student risks getting rejected by the sch during the RD round (otherwise there would be no benefit of ED), but if admitted RD, s/he can then compare all finaid offers.</p>
<p>Yes, my D rec'd her finaid award w/ the ED acceptance (well, not exacatly - - we checked the college's web site for the admissions decision, the finaid letter arrive later via snail mail). This was true for every student of our acquaint that applied ED/finaid - s/he rec'd his or her finaid award before Xmas. One boy, who had applied for finaid rec'd $0 from his ED school (Emory?) and applied to a number of schools during the Xmas break and ultimately enrolled at UVa. </p>
<p>I find your friend's situation perplexing. I've never heard of a student receiving a binding offer of admission in Dec and not getting the finaid award unitl April - - but that's not to say it doesn't happen; I just have no idea why. </p>
<p>(Were they trying to negotiate a more attractive pkg w/ Syracuse? And it sould like EDII, since she had a lot apps to w/d - -not that EDII explains the finaid situation) - - but that's not to say it doesn't happen (I just have no idea why). </p>
<p>And yes, applying ED and "hoping" for a good finaid pkg would be extraordinarily foolish - - but that is, by no means, what I suggeted. As with all aspects of college admissions, one has to know the facts - - that the college will use an institutional formula to determine need, that figure can be signif higher than the FAFSA EFC, no all colleges promise to meet 100% of need (even as determined by the institut formula) and most importantly what your family can afford (or is willing to pay). </p>
<p>I was advised of all of these factors and researched schs carefully. Armed w/ this info, D applied EDI to a sch:
- w/ a large endow,
- where a arge % of students receive finaid,
- that has a history of generous finaid,
- that promised to meet 100% of need and
- awarded aid to families w/ our income.</p>
<p>in the end, althoug the sch applied its own formula (as mot LACs do), the award came in at close to our FAFSA-EFC. If the award had been signif less, we would have moved to plan B: D would have spent Xmas break completing common app supplements to a number of other colleges that she had visited/interviewed that summer or fall; she might also have designated an EDII choice. And she'd have rec'd her admissions decisions and finaid awards in March w/ the other RD students (unless she'd been admitted EDII, but that's another story).</p>
<p>Definitely not rocket science, but hardly crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.</p>
<p>Hi NYC- Gotta admit, I am not aware of all the details of d's friends situation- this is a camp friend, and not someone from the neighborhood.<br>
BUT- I do know she was planning to go to Syracuse up until March/April and when the financial aid package didn't meet her family's expectation, she "withdrew" and started the process for her Jan. admittance to Suny.
I have to assume they were trying to negotiate for more aid as this kid had no pending college applications. </p>
<p>As there seem to be many families that are not getting the financial aid packet that they expected, it still seems to be extremely risky to apply ED if you are depending on financial aid.
You seem to have done a lot of research based on your income situation and past history of the school - but for some, their result may not work out as well as it did for your family.</p>
<p>My kid was rejected at EDI school, and then applied EDII at another by indicating this on the supplement; the Common App does not allow you to sign a binding agreement for ED more than once. If accepted, and a better offer comes in, is this considered “binding”? Has anyone else had a similar experience?</p>
<p>Why don’t you read the binding contract you sign when you apply ED? If you can’t abide by its terms, don’t sign the contract and don’t apply ED.</p>