<p>I apologize if this is covered elsewhere on this site. I was unable to locate any threads when I did a search. I had heard in the past that if you are needing financial aide you are better off not applying to the school ED because there is no room to negotiate based on other offers that may come in. I was however recently speaking to an adcom who told me that when a student is accepted ED none of the financial aide money has been spent yet so this is the best opportunity to get what you need and that the student would be released from the contract if their need could not be met. I know that you need to be sure that the school you are selecting for ED is your first choice. I am however a little worried about being committed to a school that we cannot afford vs. passing up an opportunity for funding by delaying the application.</p>
<p>If you are accepted ED, you are bound to that college/university UNLESS they are unable to meet your financial need. However, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO GET TO DETERMINE YOUR FINANCIAL NEED, not you. If, by their standards they've met your need, but by your determination they haven't, you are stuck.</p>
<p>When you apply Early Action which is non-binding, or to a Rolling Admissions college/university, you can have your acceptance in hand, and a preliminary financial aid offer in hand early on in the game, and can compare it with your offers from other places as they come in later on. In the case that two institutions that are in the same category offer you wildly different scholarship and financial aid packages, you can try to negotiate a more favorable package from the one that you really want to attend. Sometimes this negotiation works, sometimes it doesn't.</p>
<p>And indeed, peer institutions working with the very same data will produce wildly different packages of scholarships, need-based grants, work-study, and loans. You will want to carefully examine all of the offers on the table. Also, not all institutions will meet full need as determined by FAFSA. Some will gap you.</p>
<p>In any case, the final financial aid offers aren't made until the spring because the FAFSA can't be filed until January 1, and often must be revised based on your and your parents' federal tax returns which many people don't actually file until the last minute in April. If you read the threads in the Financial Aid Forum you will see multiple reports of big changes that the colleges made well into May and June.</p>
<p>The Adcom who told you that you should apply ED because the money might run out before the regular admission season is confused. That isn't all that unusual since this was an Adcom, not someone from the Financial Aid Office.</p>
<p>If you need money from the college/university, your best bet is to not apply Early Decision, but rather to apply as early as you possibly can for their Regular Admissions date. Rolling Admissions is even better - get the paperwork in September! AND get the FAFSA in as early as possible (it can always be revised), AND get your federal taxes, and your parents' federal taxes filed as early as possible so that you can update your FAFSA as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Money does run out for many colleges, usually just no the usual CC suspects.</p>
<p>Thanks, that clears this up quite a bit. From what you are saying it is an advantage to get the application in early even if the program does not have rolling admissions. Apparently it is not enough to just stay ahead of the deadlines. Is that correct?</p>
<p>Your application should be there in time to be opened on the first day that the college opens applications. There isn't much point in sending it in October if they won't look at it until January 15. However, it certainly should be there by January 14 if they will look at it beginning January 15.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, no college runs out of its financial aid money in the ED season. However, many do run out of money before the end of the regular season, which means that if you need money you do want your application in their hands whenever it is that that regular season starts.</p>
<p>When you are looking at colleges, pay particular attention to special early cut-off dates for individual scholarships. In some cases this will be as early as September.</p>
<p>September??!!!</p>
<p>Happyniece found an LAC that interested her and was told that to be considered for a particular honors scholarship the paperwork had to be in by something like Sept. 30 or Oct. 1. This meant she had everything done REALLY early and just edited her essays for all the other places. Sorry I don't have the exact dates for you. My point here is that you have to stay alert to all of this stuff.</p>
<p>Thank you for the heads up to checkout and keep up with all of the deadlines.</p>
<p>Here is the problem with applying ED when you have to have financial aid: You are accepted and the school meets 100% of your need because it is a school that guarantees that it does so. It is a top, top school, and you did your homework so you had a pretty good idea what you were going to get. You get your package, but it is not quite what you had expected. It's going to be tough to meet the student contribution. You have since you applied found some merit programs where you not only have a shot at a true full ride, but they will give you research and travel money, plus some other true goodies. Your teachers thinks that you have a good shot at some of these programs. This scenario is one of the better ones that you could have. Ok, so you are not sunk, you got into your first choice school with a decent package.</p>
<p>But then what if your understanding and definition of need and the school's does not jive and your package is just not acceptable. Yes, you can break the ED contract, but first you need to talk to FA and get your facts, proof together. All of this can take time if you have to mail the stuff, fax the stuff and get the director on the phone. There may be some haggling. If it does not work out, you get out. But now it is mid December, near the holidays, and the schools are all closing. Your name is on the ED accepted list that is circulated to colleges. That means you will be flushed from consideration if you do not let the colleges know that you have been released from ED for financial reasons. You may have to have your GC and the ED college help with this because this is the busiest time for admissions office and it will be very, very easy to be dropped from the list. Also, colleges and GCs take a dim view of breaking ED and you are not going to get lots of good vibes from all of this. And you may not even get a better deal from the other schools after you let your first choice deal go. What if you get lower numbers or more loans in the other schools, and that ED package was the best? </p>
<p>Or you may get your need met, but with more loans than you want. Again you have to quibble with FA and the adcoms, and maybe break the deal. </p>
<p>The thing is, you cannot compare your ED offer with what else you can get. You don't know if it is a good deal or a bad one. It is your only one and you have to let it go before you find out what the other deals are. That is why going ED when you need aid is not a good idea.</p>