<p>I've held the position that ED is terrible and kids who need financial aid should not apply ED. I feel even more strongly about this having seen situations where it' truly been an issue.</p>
<p>The answer has been that applying ED at those school that guarantee to met full need and do not give out loans is the best thing a high need kid could do. Ummm. Yes, it COULD. But it certainly is not, and there are legions of problems with this statement.</p>
<p>For those who from families who have the income and assets where there is some leeway, a package that is less that expected can still be contemplated. Though there is this "take it or leave it aspect" with ED, since one is usually in a vacuum when looking at an ED package, negotiating it, is not easy to do. Also very few people understand a financial aid package. So, many will figure a package is going to be the best that a student is going to do, given that ED fin aid usually close to that in terms of what a school is going to offer. </p>
<p>Families that are PELL eligible or close to that line have financial challenges that are different from families with higher incomes and some financial padding. A thousand dollar difference can be like an abscess to some of them. It might as well be $10K. It's all well and good to talk about "we'll make it work", but making it work is a whole other story.</p>
<p>The federal government recognizes this,or seems to, and has placed some rules in the way federal aid works, that can help out such families. Most colleges have simply taken all of the federal aid available and incorporated them into their formulas, so that option simply disappears, not that many kids know about it.</p>
<p>As it stand right now, and I see an active case going on right now on CC where this is happening, most every single school that guarantees to meet full need does so using their own definition of need. MOST of the time, the far majority of times, that need is self defined. So those who are business owners, have a non custodial parent on or not on the scene, have some home equity, have half/step siblings with college money, have more than one going to college at the same time, just to mention some cases that I've seen, are going to have an institutional EFC higher than the FAFSA one. There is always merit aid as well.</p>
<p>You can get a release from ED if the package is not doable, but for amateurs, first times, that's really a fuzzy thing, though it doesn't sound like it. Maybe it's doable and since everyone is saying it' s the best you are going to do, the pressure is there to do it. And the argument is pretty strong, that it is the best. The problem is it is not, necessarily, and families end up taking out loans that they really can't afford when told their beautiful, much beloved child will be going to community college if they don't take the offer. </p>
<p>Here is the situation as I see it. PELL is set up to be money a student can get over and beyond what EFC dictates. You can't get subsidized Staffords, or Perkins or SEOG or work study, unless your EFC and aid/merit package supports it, but you CAN get PELL and you CAN get the non subsidized Stafford and you CAN work, in ADDITION to your college package as long as you are not getting more than COA. That can make a huge difference to a PELL eligible family that still has an EFC as those monies CAN GO TOWARDS the EFC rather than being in the package as part of financial aid. That can be to the $11K or more rank which is no chump change.</p>
<p>There is a situation on the board that is a tough one in that the family is PELL eligible, the kid applied ED at school, and it doesn't look to good as the institutional need is likely higher, most cetainly so than what the FAFSA EFC is. There are three in college for starters with a twin and an older sibling in the mix. FAFSA splits the parental EFC in half with two in college. Most institutional methodologies will use a 60% figure. Don't even know what it would do with three in college at the same time. If there is home equity or some other things in the mix, a school meeting full need can certainly come up with a package a very much short of the FAFSA EFC while meeting institutional definition of full need. </p>
<p>The other thing is that this kid is getting merit money which is confusing the whole picture as those awards are coming in before the ED2 deadline and the head is now spinning every which way. There is that fact that a student CAN get more than institutional need or even more that what EFC dictates if there is merit money involved. Institutional formulas says you gotta pay $10K out of a $50K cost so $40K is the best you are going to do. Well, no. You get a merit award of $40K or $60K, for that matter you can make out really really well, since with merit over COA you pocket the excess just like those with no need can do. You might even still be able to get PELL, not sure about that. But it you get a mere $40k, you can still take out the Staffords and the PELL and you can be sitting pretty. But until you see the slate of offers, you have no idea what is out there. You can also lose it all, a terrifying prospect to someone who is new to the college process, really to all of us, but for those whose families are PELL eligible, ti is really a travesty.</p>