<p>Forgive my ignorance, but can someone explain how ED vs.EA works regarding your financial aid package? If we apply ED at a school and are accepted, do they tell you how much $ you get or is that down the road? IF you get an award amopunt (scholarship) is that based on merit? If we don't submit FASFA until Dec. 1, how is that factored into the decision? </p>
<p>Also, a friend told me that if you get accepted through ED but you don't get the money you need, then you can withdrawl your application. So couldn't you do that with a bunch? Apply ED to schools, see who gives you the most $? </p>
<p>I'm sorry, this is a tad confusing- between ED, EA, merit $, finacial aid. etc!</p>
<p>ED is binding (i.e., you agree to withdraw all other applications), whereas EA and SCEA just gets you an answer early. I’m sure there are some people who have to withdraw their ED applications due to circumstances. But it’s considered bad form to apply ED and then reject an acceptance because “you didn’t give us enough financial aid.”</p>
You are only allowed to apply to one school ED. Once you accept you are supposed to withdraw all other applications. The problem is you will not know at that point what the financial aid offers from other schools might be - so you cannot compare.</p>
<p>For ED, I think it’s a little more complicated than just saying “that’s not enough money” to break the contract. It’s up to you to provide the evidence showing their financial aid isn’t sufficient. ED is really more for kids who can definately afford the college, even if they get no aid at all.</p>
<p>If the money is at all a concern for you, I’d recommend not applying ED, but EA or SCEA instead. That way, you still get to compare financial packages from different schools, but you also get the leg up of early admission.</p>
<p>If you apply ED, before you can send in your FAFSA, you complete something called the CSS Profile on collegeboard and send it to the schools you’re interested in. It asks for previous years tax forms and predictions for next year’s income etc, and then everything is validated again when you send in your FAFSA. So basically if you were accepted into your ED school, you receive the financial package before they receive your FAFSA.</p>
<p>But yeah if FA is one of your main concerns, don’t apply ED because the contract is very hard to break.</p>