ED or EA? In regards to merit money

Paying for College
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<p>Here is the issue: very few schools are going to tell you exactly how merit awards are given. Usually, they are given out by Admissions to those students the school most wants. It’s not just the gpa and test scores that are in the picture, but geographics, gender, major, special talents, diversity that the student brings, many other factors,and they change not only from school to school, but from minute to minute even in a given school. It’s often very much a holistic process, though there are schools that do have threshholds and some even guarantee awarsds for such academic threshholds So a lot of factors can come into play as to who gets the merit awards, from the Classics Dept Head breathing down the neck of the Admissions Director, the Head of the school musing that he would just love to see the school get that rowing championship, to pressure to build up the school orchestra. As always, there is less money there are where to give it out.</p>

<p>So some schools, some admissions directors will be pragmatic and use the money to try to build yield, as their jobs do depend on that yield and to get those students that he is under pressure to produce. Why spend it on those who are already 99% committed by an ED contract? </p>

<p>Now, on top of the money that Admissions gives out, there are times that funds become available departmentally, through financial aid, through alumni and other venues, to “buy” students that those departments want. So, if some ED kids fall into those categories, even schools with Admission being stingy with ED merit money, will have them get some funds. </p>

<p>So, it’s not a one size fits all process, and even within a school, there will be exceptions to the rule, so that most university personnel asked directly if ED kids are considered for merit money, can probably say “yes”. But will a school give out the data to let you see that the merit money is indeed distributed equitably? Most likely not.</p>

<p>I do remember many years ago, and I’m not 100% sure of the facts anymore, but it involved UMiami in FL and merit money. I believe, again, I’m not sure, but I think Admissisons there assured a friend of one of my sons that he would be considered equally for merit money which was not distributed until spring, and this young man had applied and was accepted ED. He did not get anything, but was assured he was equally considered , from what I remember, and the school said that ED candidates were not at a disadvantage for the money. </p>

<p>I’ve yet to see any data on the % ED students getting merit money from a school vs non ED students. How much the ED commitment comes into the picture, if at all, is something that is difficult to measure. Duke has some tremendous awards, some full ride for a small number of incoming freshmen. I’d love to see the ED vs RD breakdown there. And sometimes I don’t know if those merit award numbers don’t also include athletic scholarships which would then likely include a lot of ED students since many athletes commit through ED.</p>

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<p>^ Good answer. I found the OP’s question quite interesting and it occurred to me that some of the tell-all books by adcoms might touch on this question. I haven’t found that yet, but here are a couple of interesting links:</p>

<p>FinAid.org guy tells NYT “The Choice” readers that early decision means MORE merit aid: <a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/guidance-office-scholarships-5/[/url]”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/guidance-office-scholarships-5/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Vandy tells applicants ED has NO effect on receipt of a merit scholarship (but said scholarships are not awarded until spring so you’ll be accepting your spot without knowing): [Frequently</a> Asked Questions<em>|</em>Scholarships<em>|</em>Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/scholarships/faq.php]Frequently”>Frequently Asked Questions | Scholarships | Vanderbilt University)</p>

<p>St. Olaf says there is absolutely no difference in aid (seems to include merit aid) awarded to ED vs. RD applicants, and that most merit scholarships awarded will be known with the ED decision (ie., applicant could receive a later scholarship as well): [Frequently</a> Asked Questions](<a href=“http://wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/aid/frequently-asked-questions/]Frequently”>Frequently Asked Questions – Financial Aid)</p>

<p>This Kiplinger article (just skimmed it quickly, I have to run out) states that colleges assign students a score for merit aid similar to the admissions score (eg., 1-5). That seems to indicate that students admitted ED (eg., assigned the highest numeric score) will not be penalized in merit aid. <a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T042-C000-S002-cracking-the-financial-aid-code.html[/url]”>http://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T042-C000-S002-cracking-the-financial-aid-code.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Merit vs. need: just about every college in my quick google tour stated that need-based aid is awarded according to a formula and that ED/EA/RD has no effect. </p>

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<li>Good discussion.</li>
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<p>From the first link listed in the above post:</p>

<p>“College admissions officers do not award less merit-based aid to early decision applicants because of the binding commitment. Nor do they give them more merit-based aid. They use the same financial aid policies for both the early and regular admissions pools.” --Mark Kantrowitz, FinAid.org</p>

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<p>The problem with all of the assurances is that merit aid is not given by formula most of the time but holistically. Admissions Officers have insisted and insisted that there are no advantages to applying EA or ED in many cases and that the favorable accept stats for early apps is just due to the higher caliber of the early crowd. When that was analyzed in depth, it was found that is was largely untruel.</p>

<p>Admissions foks are human just like all of us and subject to the same foibles and feelings. When you are trying to fill up a large space full of people, and your job depends on getting full house, you will be alot more generous when that room is empty and you know you gotta come up with thousands of commitments. Also, early on, things are still fresh. Gee, a state champion violinist, and all those AP test scores look really good, and yes, the Physics department is on your case, so lets get those Physics majors in there. But then, later on with the more selective schools, it becomes clear that unless the process in not flitered further, some truly great kids are not going to make the cut. Can’t turn back the accepts, so yes, later on, it gets more difficult to get accepted. That’s pretty clear when one looks at rolling acceptances. Penn State readily admits that the date of your applications is a major factor as to whether you are accepted or not. At the end of the process with just a few seats left, admissions will want to hold back and look at all the apps left to make sure they go to the best.</p>

<p>So it is with merit money. It may not be a conscious thing, but when an admisisons director gets phone calls from kids saying, “You’re my top choice, but need some $$s” and they are top choices on the Admissions list, it’s a factor, though they may say it isn’t. Looking at the kids who are already committed, and then looking at the crowd who still have to make the decision, what do you think these very human Admissions folks are going to do when dealing out the merit awards to get the kids they most want? It’s not as though it’s an easy process either. More deserving kids out there wanting, needing the money than there are funds. We negoitiated merit and got more. DIdn’t take a whole lot, and wouldn’t even call it negotiating. If he were an ED kid that did not have another school that was less expensive in the picture, that gave more merit, say, Would my son have gotten more money? I don’t think so. Every Fin aid office and admisions person will want to look at competing offers from schools that they regard rivals. YEs, it makes a difference when an Ivy or other highly selective school is a contender and a few more dollars can make a commitment. </p>

<p>I’ve yet to see stats on this. WOuld love to see the % of merit dollars going per ED accepted student vs RD accepted at given schools. That’s really the only way to tell.</p>

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<p>I think the negotiating aspect is a related but separate issue, as is whether to apply ED if you need to compare offers (ie., no).</p>

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<p>Yes. Me too.</p>

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<p>Comparing offers is one thing, getting merit money is another. It will make you fill a bit upset if your kid gets in ED and gets no merit money, and another kid you know with stats not up there with yours gets in and gets a nice piece of change. Then if the parent tells you that the kid called and said there was a competing school in the picture that gave some merit moeny, and then got an increase in the award, you might get a bit hot. You might call, and you may or may not get any merit money at that point in time. My son’s school did give more, but they wanted a fax sent over of the other school acceptance and awards, so to say that wasn’t part of the consideration doesn’t hold water.</p>

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<p>^ Which is anecdotal evidence - which is fine. So that’s one!</p>

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<p>One? Happens all of the time. Happens so often that schools like Cornell and CMU tell you right out in writing to send in competing offers. You got in ED? What competing offers do you have?</p>

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<p>It happens all the time that families get merit aid increased during the RD round? I won’t ask you to quantify “all the time” but that statement negates this entire discussion then doesn’t it? I’ll write that FinAid person and tell him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about…</p>

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<p>Look at the board around March and April when the offers are on the table. Everyone wants to know how to ask for more. Having better offers from like schools helps, Talk To Cornell and CMU specifically, and those directly involved will tell you thr policies are just formalizing the way it works.</p>

<p>I do not doubt for an instant that there are schools that may award merit awards blind as to whether the applicant has committed or not. But when info is out there, it’s difficult to say what effect it has. Colleges do not give out the stats on this which would give some clarity to this. None of us know for certain what the inner workings of this process is.</p>