<p>If you apply ED to Duke, do you receive your financial aid package with your acceptance packet (assuming you get accepted of course)?</p>
<p>Also, does anybody know if you can talk to a financial aid officer during a campus tour/info session?</p>
<p>For those accepted ED to duke, you will get an estimated award letter with the acceptance letter. Keep in mind that it is “estimated” because the information that was entered on the CSS profile will need to be validated when FAFSA/tax returns/W-2’s are received and reviewed in the Spring. </p>
<p>I would imagine that it’s possible to schedule a meeting with a FA counselor during a campus visit - probably more likely if it’s not during their busy season when they are packaging students.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks dukedad. I was wondering because somewhere on Duke’s website it says financial aid packages don’t arrive until May, but that clears it up</p>
<p>I was down at duke the other day and they said if financial aid is a big issue, they wouldn’t recommend appling Ed. Although they usually give good aid packages (5k in loans and some work study) they say sometimes they are less than what students expected, so that creates a problem (while RD is not binding and let’s you compare fin aid/merit money). Also, thy give a huge average aid package (like 35kish) but apparently that’s over all 4 years. But if money isn’t a huge problem for you (you dint need that much fin aid) you should be alright I’m guessing.</p>
<p>^ That is exactly right. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that ED heavily favors those for whom cost of attendance is not a concern and who don’t need to compare FA from different schools before making a decision. This is the reason that a few years back many top schools like Harvard, UVA, etc discontinued their early decision programs. Sadly, as the commonapp is now accepted everywhere and students take advantage of that by applying to an increasing number of schools, many universities are taking steps to reinstate these programs as yield protection measures or ways to lock in talented applicants to the detriment of the financially disadvantaged students.</p>
<p>My son is being recruited by a D3 and asked to apply ED. Great, except for the fact that FA is an issue.</p>
<p>Is there an ‘out’ if the package is not good enough or does he do RD and wait?</p>
<p>I just cannot grasp that coaches are encouraging ED when they cannot assure FA.</p>
<p>As much as it seems unfair, if you need FA you really shouldnt apply ED (but definitely check out top schools that do EA). If you go EA to some and then RD to some, you fan compare merit and aid money, that’s really the route that you should go if you need some FA.</p>
<p>I’m not an athlete so I can’t say I’m very familiar with NCAA recruiting protocols, but it would seem to me that, absent a compelling reason (like your S really wanting to go to that school), if money might be an issue and the school’s athletic department won’t go to bat for you then that’s probably a reason to step back and reconsider making a commitment for ED. I’d say if your S has a few choices, then that’s leverage he can use, it would not be logical to just give that up.</p>