Hi all,
I have come across several posts advocating that parents who need merit aid should go ahead and apply ED anyway and then if the finances are not what they had hoped, they can simply withdraw the application. How workable this is really? Can a family just decide they don’t want to pay and withdraw without consequences? Will it depend on their EFC from Fafsa. Some of us are searching for merit because the EFC itself is not affordable.
It seems like there must be downsides to this but I would love to hear from people who actually know.
I think the answers are going to vary by school so general info will be unhelpful. If/when your dd has some schools she’s thinking about, would make most sense to research those specific schools for their system.
The downside is that if you apply ED and then decide against that school, you’ve used your ED and can’t apply to another school ED. You also may not have the financial decisions of any rolling or EA schools, so can’t compare.
But yes, a family can just decide an ED school is not affordable. No one will force you to go to that school.
Merit scholarships are often not decided until well after the ED deadline to commit. If you need merit to make it work financially, it’s usually best not to apply ED.
IF a student applies ED she MUST withdraw all other applications Immediately. The only exception is applications to state colleges.
when ED decisions come out she must promptly notify the ED college if she will not be attending.
Then and only then can she submit applications to other colleges
The problems are
1- then biggest problem is that MANY colleges have EARLY application deadlines for MERIT consideration- USC’s for instance is Dec 1 .She cant have applications to an ED college AND USC at the same time.
2-you can’t wait to see what other colleges may offer and compare them to the ED offer…
3-Some ED decisions come out AFTER applications deadlines for other colleges.
Most colleges DONT award merit $$ until they have reviewed ALL the applications, which could be months later.
I think is is a BAD idea to apply ED to ONE college whose NPC indicates it is UN-affordable, or will cost you more than you are willing to pay, especially if that application is based on the hope of receiving a merit scholarship .
And through the many years here in CC, I have never read that applying ED in the hope of snagging merit $, is worth it compared to all downsides.
ED should ONLY be used if you can afford to send her there.
@scholardad Must depend on the school, that wasn’t the case for my Son when he was accepted ED. We got the Merit and FA before the deadline to commit.
What about schools with a competitive merit award like Vanderbilt or Wash U? Are ED candidates not considered?
@menloparkmom
Do you mean if a student is accepted ED? It can’t be that you have to withdraw applications merely for applying ED. Especially since some schools have ED2 with deadlines in February.
I have heard of some students being offered merit aid along with an ED acceptance, but I don’t think it’s common. There isn’t a lot of incentive to offer merit aid when a student has firmly committed to a school. I think it depends on the school, and unfortunately, it’s very difficult at a lot of schools to figure out. They are not forthcoming in how many scholarships they offer, or when exactly they award them. Some colleges have quite detailed info about the scholarships they offer. I personally have never seen a school specifically say on its website that they award merit even for ED applicants, but I am guessing it does happen.
I suggest calling the FA office of a given school and maybe ask them how it works. Or call the admissions office. Usually merit awards are given from admissions and the FA offcie then comes into play when working out the rest of the FA package. Don’t quote me though.
I would check with each school, but it makes sense that if you apply ED, you aren’t likely to get as good a merit package. Merit money is given to entice top students who might choose another school. By applying ED, you’re already telling the school that they are your top choice. Thus, they have no incentive to offer you a dime, although as some have stated, there are schools that do.
My question isn’t really about whether you are likely to get merit. Some posts are suggesting that there is no harm in applying ED and then withdrawing if your package isn’t what you hope for. This feels dangerous to me, but I don’t really know enough to really know.
“It can’t be that you have to withdraw applications merely for applying ED.”
yes it can with other colleges .
ED rules state that a student CAN’T have othe binding applications in process IF they decide to apply ED! IF the student IS accepted then the ED college considers it a binding contract and requires ALL other applications be withdrawn. You cant dither around waiting to see the results from other colleges, regardless of if they were binding or not…
You have to look CAREFULLY at the ED rules for each ED college, but in general, she
CANT have an in process ED application AND binding applications to other private college at the same time-.
THAT is why applying ED reduces a students options.
"
“There isn’t a lot of incentive to offer merit aid when a student has firmly committed to a school”
exactly!
post edited for clarification/.
Some ED rules state that ^^, but others allow other applications, especially to public schools or schools that have big merit awards with early application deadlines for those awards.
“IF a student applies ED she MUST withdraw all other applications Immediately”
It may work that way at some schools (and it would be helpful if you’d post a link to which schools use this system) but that’s not how it works at all schools. UChicago for example, ED allows you to apply to other schools, but only if you are accepted via ED then you have to withdraw all other open applications. So you can have submitted as many other apps to other schools as you like before you’re accepted ED. Here’s a link to their web site describing this.
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/application/application-plans
There may be some schools which prohibit any applications once you apply ED, but I believe the far more common approach is that you can only apply to one ED school at a time and can apply elsewhere while awaiting the ED decision, though there may be limits in terms of single choice EA etc. The obligation to withdraw other applications is triggered by ED acceptance, not by ED application.
The generic ED agreement form says that if a family applies for financial aid, and the financial aid award does not make it possible for the student to attend, then the student can be released from the ED agreement. As I’ve said elsewhere, our experience with ED was that, we were not eligible for, and did not apply for, financial aid but had gotten merit aid “pre-read” and knew what was predicted in terms of merit award. If the actual merit award turned out to be substantially lower than predicted, we could not have afforded it, but also would not have an “out” based on affordability because we did not apply for financial aid. That was the source of some middle-of-the-night worries, but it all worked out, and kid actually got more merit than predicted.
I would suggest that, if a student has a strong ED preference and that school awards merit money, then have a frank talk with the Admissions office about the school’s practices with ED and merit. There are a lot of schools that don’t give merit at all, so for LACs, you are really looking at schools like Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Mac, Denison, St Olaf etc.
yes, but if the student IS accepted ED, then she HAS to withdraw ALL other applications, public or not, regardless of whether they are for merit or not.
Is called binding for a reason.
@gallentjill
the other piece regarding ED applications that you may NOT be aware of is the HS GC ALSO HAS to sign off on the ED application. So that means they wont send HS transcripts to other early binding schools for the ED student. And will only when the ED application is either rejected or withdrawn.
Schools whose GC’s have broken the rules have found future applications to be shunned by the Ed in following years.
And because HS’s are generally closed the last 2 weeks of Dec, it is harder to get late applications submitted by Jan 1.
“Some posts are suggesting that there is no harm in applying ED and then withdrawing if your package isn’t what you hope for.”
1- ED prevents students from applying to other private colleges that offer ED.
2 -it leaves a student little time to submit regular private college applications by Jan 1 deadlines.
“yes, but if the student IS accepted ED, then she HAS to withdraw ALL other applications”
Again, not true for all schools. The UChicago description is that you are offered ED admissions, then accept, then withdraw all other apps. If for some reason you do not accept, you are also not withdrawing those other applications.
There’s some confusion here. You can never apply to two binding ED’s. That has nothing to do with whether or not you are planning to withdraw because of finances.
You absolutely can have all other applications in play until the ED decision is settled. Certainly don’t wait to get the ED decision before sending out regular applications unless you really want to wait and hurry them.
" then accept"
that is NOT what U C’'s ED rules state.-
“This admissions plan is binding, meaning that if admitted, you commit to attending UChicago, withdrawing outstanding applications from any other school, and not applying to any additional colleges.”
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/application/application-plans