<p>I am a current high school senior and am contemplating applying ED to Cornell. I love the school and everything about it, but I am concerned about the price. Since ED is binding, I was wondering if anyone knew if it is still binding even if the offered financial aid isn't enough to pay for the school? My situation is a little different than mosts and our FAFSA will say we can pay the full tuition where in reality we won't be able to. I just don't want to be restricted to only Cornell if I'd have to pay $55,000 a year.</p>
<p>You are allowed out of ED ONLY if you can’t afford it. But before that, you can appeal their offer. (I had a similar discussion with the FinAid office last year) But if you want a failrly accurate estimate of what Cornell would cost you, google “Cornell Net Price Calculator” fill out your info and go off that number. It was really close to the actual offer I got.</p>
<p>If you turn out to be a full pay student and you determined you couldn’t afford Cornell, even if you could be released from the ED commitment, you would be precluded from being admitted to other top tier schools. Another word, if you couldn’t afford Cornell then you couldn’t afford UPenn either. The only way you could get out of your ED commitment is due to financial. </p>
<p>In OP’s case, I don’t think you should apply ED to any school. You should apply to as many schools as possible to see which school would offer you most aid.</p>