<p>i hope some experienced parents can help me understand this. my s wants to apply ED to cornell, yes we will need finaid. i have done the EFC profile to get an estimate based on last year's taxes. our figures remain fairly constant. we have no problem meeting the EFC that comes up, end even a bit more-- so my question is --why shouldn't s apply ED since cornell meets 100% of demonstrated fin need? it seems so many posters say DON'T apply anywhere ED if you are going to need finaid. any insight from your past experiences would be greatly appreciated THANKS!</p>
<p>Here's an old link for ref: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com...ead.php?t=74054%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com...ead.php?t=74054</a></p>
<p>oops.. i meant <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74054%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74054</a></p>
<p>The operative words are meeting your demonstrated need. A school can literally offer you a PLUS loan (where parents can borrow up to the entire cost of attendance ) and will still have "met" your demonstrated need.</p>
<p>Aid packages do vary from school to school. I know for my Daughter, she applied to 7 schools, we had the same income and FA paperwork (CSS profile and FAFSA) filed at each school. ALl were need blind, all met 100% of demonstrated need, the range between the "best" and the "worst" package (EFC, Loans, Student, Contribution, amount of work study) was about 10,000 and they were all similarly priced schools.</p>
<p>we had student contributions that ranged from $600 to 3000
packages that had no loans, to packages that had the full $2650 (unsubsidized stafford) and Full perkins loans ($4000)
An EFC difference of about $3000. Ultimately D choice was between williams and Dartmouth. we were able to negotiate the Dartmouth offer using the williams package and Dartmouth added $4000 in scholarhip/ grant aid to her package.</p>
<p>No matter what happens the school is always going to give self help aid. The school requires a student contribution of $1680 (if your student does not save this money from summer earnings, you can get increased work study or loans to fill the gap)</p>
<p>Cornell is a school with a reputation for not giving a lot of grant aid to families. Their packages come with 3 loans off the bat;</p>
<p>Perkins loan
Subsidized loans
University loans</p>
<p>You should definitely look at their FA scenarios. Even though they use the cost of attendance for the Land grant schools, if they are giving out this kind of aid ($7820 in loans for a family that has a total EFC of $2680- parent $1,000 and student $1680) and your family is possibly a little richer, imagine what your package could be.</p>
<p><a href="http://finaid.cornell.edu/Shared/FAQ.htm%5B/url%5D">http://finaid.cornell.edu/Shared/FAQ.htm</a></p>
<p>2005-06 Cost of attendance:</p>
<p><a href="http://finaid.cornell.edu/Shared/Costs.htm%5B/url%5D">http://finaid.cornell.edu/Shared/Costs.htm</a></p>
<p>.</p>
<p>thanks for your info, so do any of you think it really isn't smart to apply ED because no matter what we will need finaid?</p>
<p>I knew we needed aid, and D knew that Dartmouth was her first choice. I also knew that we could not commit to attending a school and would pretty much have to live and dies by the package (remember the school has no vested interest to negotiate with you because you have already committed to attending and withdrawing the rest of your applications). </p>
<p>Some schools will only let you out of your EC commitment to only attend your local university so you really are putting a lot on the line.</p>
<p>Can you be comfortable going blindly and pretty much accepting what ever is given (remember the school is really calling all of the financial aid shots, they determine your EFC, your demonstrated need and how they are going to meet that need)?</p>
<p>You do not want to know know where and how you stand financially at comprable schools.</p>
<p>If both can agree with both of these statements, then you should apply ED. </p>
<p>If there is a remote possiblity that you need to see what you are getting into and looking at a worse case scenario if the money is not correct then you should apply RD.</p>