<p>The same college (Cornell or Rice in OP) will NOT necessarily provide the same FA package to a student accepted in the ED round as compared to the same student who is accepted RD.</p>
<p>Every college has formulas and rules for applying to accepted students. At the most selective colleges, these rules are firmly established. However, every rule is subject to some level of interpretation and no case is black-and-white.</p>
<p>There is simply no incentive to ensure that the most attractive FA package possible is presented to an ED student. If an offer is 2% more expensive, the ED student will be required to accept it, and likely thrilled to do so. If the ED student is forced to withdraw based on a lack of FA, that extra 2% is highly unlikely to have made any difference in the decision.</p>
<p>Since every FA decision made in Nov/Dec is obviously an ED applicant, adcoms can still claim to be “need blind” in the admission decision while squeezing out a bit more revenue in the FA process.</p>
<p>I have never heard an adcom state that every FA application will be evaluated identically regardless of ED or RD. However, I have heard many equivocate when faced with blunt questions along this line.</p>
<p>For many reasons applicants who must consider FA should never apply ED. Reduced FA for ED acceptances is only one of these many reasons.</p>