<p>I know that Duke is my first choice but I am having second thoughts about applying early. Most of my apprehension stems from how to pay for Duke. My parents haven't given me a clear number on how much they are willing to contribute. They have always said they would only pay in-state tuition but have since left it at "get in and we'll negotiate". I know my parents can pay the full price tag but most likely won't. I am starting to find outside scholarships to make up the difference but 30,000 is a lot of money to find. Also, there is a little chance they I may receive some aid from Duke because my brother is transferring from our state school to a private that is more than twice the cost.</p>
<p>Duke is a reach for me so by applying early, I have a slightly higher chance of being accepted.</p>
<p>This leads me to think that ED is not for you. </p>
<p>But here are some of my thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Outside scholarships will most likely not help unless you got exceed a certain threshold, which is the totality of the aid that Duke is going to give you. This is because outside scholarships are used to replace Duke Financial Aid *first<a href=“specifically%20in%20the%20general%20order%20of%20loans,%20work-study,%20grants,%20etc”>/i</a>. Only when all financial aid money has been replaced will your family contributions start to decrease with increasing scholarship money. </p></li>
<li><p>ED is basically a commitment to pay any cost (barring the impossible) to attend. By applying ED, you are basically giving Duke the authority to decide whether or not you can afford to attend and the maximum amount you can pay. If you decide to apply ED and the cost exceeds your parents expectations but is still within their abilities, then you won’t really have a choice to break your contract short of (most likely) not going to college next year. </p></li>
<li><p>Also, having a sibling in college will definitely increase your FA, however, you should check with the FA office to determine whether that increase is fixed per sibling or is dependent on the sibling’s tuition costs. It could be that Duke increases FA by a fixed percentage for every sibling in college regardless of the actual tuition burden of the parents. Or it could be that they actually look at tuition costs. </p></li>
<li><p>ED will increase your chances, especially if it’s a reach. However, in this case, I don’t think it’s a good idea, give the financial uncertainties. If you decide to apply RD you can also demonstrate interest by writing a letter to explain your commitment to Duke though it won’t be as effective as ED.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What you’ve said makes sense. I sat down with my parents and went through the financial aid calculator and it put my parent’s expected contribution at about 30,000. My question now is, would Duke make up the difference?</p>
<p>Sure. Assuming a standard FA package (meaning your parents’ income do not qualify you to be loan-free), you’d get about 2-4K of loans + about 1500-2000 of work-study and the rest will be a grant of some sort. Things might have changed since I was at Duke, but that was the kind of packages I got for the past four years.</p>