Before checking NPC, some people do not even know financial aid is a concern.
NPC is not reliable for a lot of people. You need to prepare for the No-aid scenario when you do ED.
@f2000sa I’ve seen your posts. You don’t have a business, and seem to have regular w2 jobs. Yes, you got no aid, when the NPC indicated that you would.
How much aid did the NPC indicate? And how much of that aid was grants (free money)? Was any of the shown aid “merit”?
Is there anything else that might have caused a problem? like 529’s for other children? large retirement contributions? Lots of home equity? Is it possible that the school checked the value of your home on Zillow or ??? and determined that you have more equity than what you thought?
@billcsho <<< Before checking NPC, some people do not even know financial aid is a concern.<<<
True…and that describes a person who is expecting aid. Anyone who expects aid has aid as a concern. They may wrongly assume that they’ll get more than they do, but simply expecting aid is a FA concern.
since when is 150k[pre-tax] a year family with a family of 4 or 5 upper middle class … ik plenty of parents making that and they are nowhere near upper middle class … if your from NY OR FLORIDA then thats literrally like barely middle-middle class especailly in soflo or nyc
A family making $150k is earning 3x the national median. They are not “barely” middle income. Plenty of families in NY survive on far less than $150k. Where do you imagine NYC fast food workers live? They’re not commuting from Jersey.
Sorry, but that amount is three times the annual family income in this country.
@yoyo27
Give it up. You’ll never convince some folks on here that in most of the tristate, $50k only pays your mortgage/taxes on a middle class house. Yes, you can live with a family on $50k here, but you’d have to live in a 1bedroom in a housing project with your family. If the rest of the country making $50kish had to live like NYC ppl making $50k, they would never make it!
This I know having lived in NYC all of my life; my parents probably never made 50k had a bunch of kids owned a 4 story brown stone which is now more than $2million.
I know that I made less than 50k living in NYC and have never lived in the projects ( also paid a mortgage on house that had gone way up in value).
Ok you are not going to live in TriBeCa on 50k today (lived there too when I made less than 50k) but I know that all of my siblings are homeowners with paid off mortgages when they were making way less than 150k
I also know plenty of other people living on 50k and not living in the projects or a one bedroom apt
But how long ago? I did too, but that was 25 years ago. (And I did manage to find a place in tribeca cheap. That apt would be about $4k a month now:(
Now, Even a simple 1BR out in Queens can be $1500/mo. But your point is taken, there are people who have the good fortune of finding a cheap place in a decent school district.
The OP doesn’t have $50,000 a year family income. The OP has $150,000-$200,000 income.
I don’t recall anyone saying you could live in a three bedroom co-op in midtown on a $50,000 a year income.
Yeesh. Ok, these conversations about “middle class” income ruin threads. Back to topic, and I’ll exit.
We don’t know what this family’s income is…all we know is that they’re full pay at this school. Once someone is full pay, that could mean that they earn $150k…or $300k…or more. We don’t know. The family may only earn $100k, but have $500k in stocks. We don’t know. All we know is the OP calls himself upper middle class…and who knows what they think that is.
I don’t know where the $50k discussion came from.
Either way, until the OP comes back with more info…
It is very simple for the GC to track ED. It is not brain surgery. GC knows who applied ED and who got accepted. Unless GC is notified by the ED school or get some sort of proof (from the student) that he/she is released from the ED agreement then there is no reason for the GC to send midyear or end of year transcript. ALL RDs are contingent upon on receiving school transcripts, especially the year end transcript.
There is no reason for GC to be involved with any student’s family finance. If it is a legitimate reason then the student would be released from the ED agreement (it could be different for each college), otherwise the agreement stands. It is up to the student’s family to get released from the agreement. By just simply notifying the school does not make the agreement null and void.
I think ED continues to have a lot of teeth, especially at many school districts where ED matters.
I would assume at most public schools, where GCs are really busy dealing with a lot of other issues, there wouldn’t be that many kids applying ED.
So, do high schools get a list of who is accepted where?
Once the student is released from the ED agreement due to finances, is the high school contacted again and told that?
I’m still not seeing any “bite”. A student is released due to affordability, which virtually anyone can claim. So, where’s the bite?
I know for fact my kids’ schools were notified of ED decisions, but not necessary of RDs. There is very low % of students who do not matriculate at their ED schools. Most GCs would assume accepted EDers would matriculate, unless they were told otherwise.
A student can be released due to affordability, and it is upon the student to get the release. If a student can’t afford Duke, he/she would most likely not able to afford any top 20 or schools that would meet full need. I disagree with “virtually anyone can claim un-affordability.” Most schools are not going to make anyone go to a school they do not want to go, but it doesn’t mean a school wouldn’t be upset with a student whose family is making 200k+ and claim they didn’t know they were not eligible for FA.
In my experience schools are notified of the decision of all students applying ED. Like The school that Oldfort kids attended , the process does not move forward until our school receives written confirmation that the student was released from ED. No transcripts are sent and no letters are uploaded
Since NYS public schools participate in the FaAFSA initiatives we do get the list of every student at our school has completed the FAFSA and/or NYSTap application directly from HESC (FAFSA completion is part of the school evaluation in NYC)
Oh sybbie, love your auto correct. 
My guess/speculation is that very very few students turn down an ED offer, even when the FA comes in low. Everyone is just too excited about the shiny acceptance from the top choice school. What the adcoms may really worried about is a student trying to lock in a more likely admit (say, a UPenn legacy who would really like to go to Princeton). The Common App may prevent this from happening, so it’s possibly a non-issue given that seemingly everything goes through them.
On the other hand, you can see here on CC that students are increasingly looking at ED as a standard application strategy. Increase the visibility of ED so that students from many more high schools submit ED applications, and maybe there will be an increase in the number of families rejecting an ED offer. Or maybe there will be a bunch of students getting burned in April, when their real FA awards come out and the ED school is suddenly unaffordable. At that point, ED colleges will either switch to SCEA, or they’ll somehow restructure ED. Maybe ED will be “need aware”. Maybe the applicant will have to submit a completed NPC or a statement that they understand they have not run the NPC and agree they can accept being full pay.
ED accepted students get their FA right away. They are allowed to keep their RD applications in place until they get their FA.
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release. If a student can't afford Duke, he/she would most likely not able to afford any top 20 or schools that would meet full need.
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this is simply not true. Top 20ish schools that meet need do NOT all have the same formulas. Duke doesn’t use Step-parent info. Some don’t use home-equity. Vandy doesn’t use NCP info. HYPS give SUPER aid…and Vandy’s formula is almost as generous as HYPS. UChicago is using a formula that is VERY favorable for some circumstances.