ED Advice

I applied to a school ED and got accepted. I still love the school, but I will only be attending determining on the amount of financial assistance that I will receive. I will not receive a financial package until March. I applied to 7 other schools EA and have gotten accepted to them all. I already received the financial aid award from some of the EA schools that are great. The ED school requires my deposit by January 5th WITHOUT me having any knowledge of my financial aid award. The financial aid counselor at the ED school told me to refer to the net calculator, which gives me about $7,000 in aid, which is NOT enough aid.

First, do I ignore the enrollment process until I get my package?

Secondly, would it be okay if I apply to three other colleges regular decision for more options? I want as many financially beneficial options as possible.

This is not about me trying to go to another college. I simply may not be able to afford it.

I would love you to hear your thoughts and advice.

While not exactly legally binding, there is a moral promise made, for those who care about morals.
The student has promised to attend if accepted. There might be extremely rare cases where something unforeseeable and devastating prevents a student from attending of course, but that isn’t the case here. But basically, a student owes it to the Uni to have carefully checked out all benefits and drawbacks to attending a certain U., and has decided it is the best one for the student. The best one, over and above all others. Based on that research, the student makes the promise to the U that he will attend if accepted, and will cancel any other interest in progress.
Here, the student tells us that easy-to-find sources provide the financial package to expect, and the student considers that to be insufficient. SO for this student to keep his word to attend, he has to have some out-of-the-ordinary fin aid, over and above the norm. Gee, that isn’t asking for much is it? Ha. And doing the research after the fact is, well, to put it nicely, inadequate.

This is why so very many on this forum urge students not to try for ED if money is a factor. So they don’t become this student; wanting to attend, dreaming about attending, but unable to pay for the school(under normal circumstances) and yet still making the promise to attend if accepted. The school has done its part, has reviewed the info and has accepted the student. The student did not do his part to research the school properly before making the promise to attend.

No, it is not ok to continue trying and negotiating with other schools. You promised to attend if accepted. You promised to forego all other schools if accepted. Either keep your promise or have the guts to do the right thing now, and withdraw your app. All learning in life doesn’t occur in the classroom; and it’s not too late to learn the difference between right and wrong.

Did you apply for aid late to your ED school? usually the financial aid award for ED schools comes within the window for accepting…or declining the offer of admission. ED applicants typically have a priority deadline for the financial aid forms.

They were available in October…when did you submit yours?

The school net price calculator says $7000 in aid? Well…how much aid would you need to attend? And how much does the school cost?

What is your parent annual income? And assets?

If this is a $60,000 a year school…and you would only get $7000 in aid…can your family pay the balance?

If it’s a $30,000 a year school…can your parents pay the balance.

And lastly…what was your FAFSA EFC?

Something is a miss. You should receive financial aid with the ED acceptance or within the window to accept the ED offer. Are you sure it was ED and not EA?

Yes you should have received a FA package with or shortly after you got accepted. Of course, you should not have applied if you could not afford the school after doing the NPC. You need to call FA and find out if you can afford this school. <secondly, would="" it="" be="" okay="" if="" i="" apply="" to="" three="" other="" colleges="" regular="" decision="" for="" more="" options?="" want="" as="" many="" financially="" beneficial="" options="" possible.=""> Not unless you decline this school first. </secondly,>

Still asking…were your financial aid applications completed by the priority deadline for this ED school? Were they?

These applications were availble for filing on October 1. When did you do yours?

perhaps the question/situation from the OP wasn’t a sincere one…