ed and financial aid

<p>i plan on applying ed to wes but i am in need of financial aid, will i recieve enough financial aid or should i risk applying regular decision in hopes of a better financial aid plan?</p>

<p>You'll get the same aid regardless of when you apply.</p>

<p>but if you apply ED you have to go there unless you can actually prove you literally can't pay for it, which may be hard. whereas, if you apply RD you can compare FA packages. however - wesleyan usually gives really good fa</p>

<p>Actually, I've heard different things about Wes financial aid. Personally, I got an excellent fa package, but I've talked to others who received very, very little.</p>

<p>You can use the calculator on the financial aid website to estimate how much aid you'll probably get. If the number that comes up is doable, by all means apply ED.</p>

<p>the financial aid i received was awful. the final cost was essentially over 20% of my family's entire income. and no, we don't have tons of assets. i wanted to go, but it was financial suicide.</p>

<p>Will you be enrolling in the state system?</p>

<p>Alex--at full-needs schools across the country, the average EFC runs more like 25%. So your 20% is not out of line with the norm. Schools don't necessarily expect families to pay it out of income. There is an expectation of the family borrowing from the past (savings) or the future (loans), to supplement what they don't choose to pay out of present income.</p>

<p>sorry, that was a little bit of an angry post. i undestand EFC can be 25% of income. but realistically, being a good 60-70k in debt after solely undergrad isn't a really good idea. i'm actually going to go to lewis & clark becuase they gave me enough aid where loans outside the ones provided by the school wouldn't be necessary.</p>