<p>I was planning on ED for Vanderbilt because I really want to go here. As in I really want to go here meaning I research as much as I can about this college and the worst thing is I'll really need financial aid. My family makes a little over $30,000 a year and I obviously can't afford an education such as Vanderbilt's with that. So I was wondering is there any way of applying for ED but being excused if you have no means of paying for Vanderbilt without the financial aid? Or is Vanderbilt really generous when it comes to financial aid? My stats are in the median/lower middle rank for Vanderbilt but I am a minority and first generation college student if that helps. Plus I have a lot of EC's on me.</p>
<p>I am in the exact same boat this year. I didn’t apply ED because I didn’t want to take the risk of not being able to afford it because I knew my family’s finances too well. And even though Vandy gives GREAT financial aid, your EFC has to be low for them to give you the great package. I’ve heard many a time that people have super high EFCs, EFCs that clearly are not the reality of what they can pay. My combined income is close to yours and my EFC was REALLY low. So I wouldn’t worry about Financial Aid. Apply ED. Don’t make the same mistake I made. And now I’m pulling my hair out waiting for the decision that I’m pretty sure would have been an admit if I would have applied ED (though this is not meant to sound arrogant at all, I am just comparing myself to the ED average stats).</p>
<p>So in my situation I would be able to get a great financial aid package since my EFC would be quite low even though I’m going to apply for ED?</p>
<p>yeah i just found out that if you really can’t pay for it you’re excused. i wish i knew that half a year ago</p>
<p>There are plenty of calculators on the web to get a fairly good estimate of what your EFC would be. That said, you should NOT apply ED if you have any thoughts of being excused. Too many people appear to be using this as a loop-hole and in the long run it really hurts those students from your high school in the future. Just not a cool thing to do at all.</p>
<p>Well my calculations came out at about 5,000 a year for EFC which if I can get a 30,000$ grant per year, I would need about 11,000$ per year in tuition/dorms/supplies which I could cover with a job or loans. Would ED still be a good choice? Plus I heard there was a scholarship for a full ride if I am really involved in community service, I have about 500 hours of community service right now and plan to increase it to about 800-1000 by the time I apply, would I have a good chance at this scholarship?</p>
<p>The Ingram Scholars who are selected for community service involvement are the kind of kids that receive recognition on local, state, and national levels. D had a suitemate who was an Ingram Scholar sophomore year and she was continually written up for her accomplishments and traveled outside the country as part of her service efforts. A young lady from out community has had significant work in AIDS prevention and took a gap year to continue that service before she enrolled at Harvard. She was a finalist for Ingram, but wasn’t selected. It’s a tough nut to crack.</p>
<p>Gensaiga, just so you know, If your EFC is 5000 vanderbilt will give you a grant for almost all of the rest of the costs (tuition, room and board, etc) and the remainder will be a couple thousand in work study, because they now meet 100% of need without loans. And I was in the same situation as you. I applied ED although it was really hard to get my parents to allow me to because they were scared about financial aid. I got in with great FA. It a little bit risky of a thing to do but if you really had to you could get out of it although it is not likely to come to this. And if it makes a difference between an admit and a wait list or rejection at your dream school it is 100% worth it.</p>
<p>Oh I guess that’s out of the question, the highest amount of recognition I got was being able to help create a podcast for an art museum and a historical project for a state history museum. Is there any way I can find a list of all the scholarships offered at Vanderbilt? I can’t find the list on the site.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh that relieves a lot of stress off my shoulders dsr7291 and thank you so much everyone! :D</p>