<p>Did anyone of you who EDed and got accepted get a FA package that doesn't meet your need? I was told that ED reduces the chance of getting FA</p>
<p>ED doesn't reduce your chances of getting financial aid from Swarthmore. They are going to look at your forms and calculate their package regardless of whether you got in ED or RD.</p>
<p>What ED does do is eliminate your chance to shop for the best deal among several colleges. There is leeway to go back to the Swat financial aid office and "negotiate" a better package, but that's not quite the same as lining up five offers and "buying" the best deal.</p>
<p>I think ED at a big endowment "need-blind" school like Swat is a safe option IF you are comfortable with a reasonably wide range of financial aid offers OR if you fall so low on the scale that your financial forms will qualify for essentially a full-ride (with a few thousand $$$ a year in loans).</p>
<p>If you fall somewhere in the middle or maxing out financial aid is the primary goal, then you really have to take a different strategy. One component of that would be a merit-aid strategy, which involves applying to schools that are less selective than the absolute "top" schools that might accept you. The key to merit aid is to be at the very top of the applicant pool for the school, i.e. they give you something of value (money) in exchange for you giving them something of value (better published stats).</p>