In the event one is accepted via ED, would they be able to wait to accept the offer until they receive word back from other colleges regarding financial aid? How soon should a decision be made whether to accept/reject their offer if financial aid is deemed borderline inadequate? I’m aware you can appeal the offer, but would you be able to let other admissions decisions come in with their respective aid packages, or would that go against the ED agreement?
@maby56 Most schools have an ED/SCEA/EA response deadline that is in early January. Also most of them send out their early decisions in December, so about a month before the response deadline. So say you applied to a few schools EA and a school ED, you will have heard from all of them before the response deadline of your ED school. So that gives you time to compare FA packages. Of course you can’t wait past the ED response deadline and apply to a bunch of places RD and then compare the FA packages they give you with your ED FA package.
No you cannot wait until you hear back from RD colleges before you reply to an ED school. And if you accept the ED offer you must withdraw all of your other applications. That is exactly why people who want/need to compare financial offers between schools should not apply ED.
If you decide you want the opportunity to compare financial offers from different schools then contact the ED school quickly and ask if you can switch your application to RD.
“people who want/need to compare financial offers between schools should not apply ED.”
This is my opinion also.