Ok so here’s the deal everyone.
I was accepted to one of my rolling admissions schools with FA(Yay!). But the FA amount is $9,000 dollars over what my family can afford and $10,000ish dollars over our EFC. Theoretically we can make it work but that situation would not be ideal which leads me to my next question.
Would it be taken well if my parents asked for an extension to the contracts reply/deposit date from its current date(Feb 18) to March 15 in order to(with luck) have the ability to consider more FA packages that could be better?
If anybody with experience could chime in that would be so helpful!
Most of the boarding school decisions will be released on March 10. Then another month for the contracts/deposit.
Having a deposit due by Feb 18 sounds very cruel to me. I would def ask for an extension. Especially if you’re waiting on financial aid offers from other schools.
You can ask, but realize that Rolling Admissions schools are probably needing your answer in February, so they can determine if that money can be used for an M10 decision candidate. So the answer will likely be “no”.
Although having a Feb 18 deadline to commit may sound cruel…the school DID provide notice before M10. So…it goes both ways.
@metsfan5150 first of all congratulations!!!
I have wondered how rolling admissions work on the commitment side given the M10 construct of most schools.
I think you can approach this two different ways depending on your desired outcome.
If you really want is time to consider other schools, then I would ask for an extension because while you love their school, financially, you really need time to consider the implications, and it is wise financial stewardship for the entire family to consider other FA packages. (Make it about the family finances.)
If you actually really want to go to this school and are ready to pull out of other options if it works financially, then the approach might be to ask them to meet the 10k and you’ll sign right away. But otherwise, you need time to determine if/how you can find the missing gap.
My guess is that there is at least a decent chance they might meet the 10k if you ask for it and promise a commitment right away. And if they can’t, an extension might actually work for you both – you to see other options, and them to see how the rest of the FA pool shakes out.
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My kid won a full scholarship to the school they were currently attending ( 4 years fully paid). We asked if the deposit could be extended for 30 days until BS announcements came out. Nope. We ended up paying the deposit ( It was a significant sum as it was for books, fees and related expenses which were not included in the scholarship, the fee was all due up front since the scholarship covered everything else).
Some school have earlier acceptance dates/scholarship awards since they know some of their highly ranked kids will be trying to get into more highly ranked schools.
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I think @Happytimes2001 is right that there may be the hope to sift through the folks using them as a safety.
But there are two key differences here.
The difference between scholarship and FA award is significant. It speaks to a family considering financial hardship versus a family simply wanting to shop around for a better school offer (perceived or real).
And, full fees is different from an offer with a large gap. If @metsfan5150 school offered full fees (FA or scholarship), I would say it would indeed be perceived that family is just shopping for a better offer, and I could understand the school saying: nope – we are no one’s safety! Not the case here.
Still, they may well respond the same way @Happytimes2001 school did.
But, in my opinion, they should not, as this is not the same situation for those two important reasons.
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Thank you so much to everyone who responded!
@Calliemomofgirls I’m definitely going to go with the second option you outlined. That’s basically what I was thinking was the way to go for me but I wanted to get other’s advice. I would just be happy if they could come up with the extra 10k. My family would have no problem signing right away in that case.
Thanks again!!
Great News Everyone!
The contract extension is now irrelevant now because I was accepted to Kents Hill School with a FA package that meets my family’s entire need!
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Congratulations!!!
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Omg omg congratulations!!! 
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congratulations!!!
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I’m so happy for you! You’ve worked hard for this!!
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@metsfan5150 I am beyond thrilled for you!!! What a huge joy it has been to share part of your application journey! I’m so happy to hear your exciting news.
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Wow thanks everyone!
Yeah it’s been quite a journey and it feels very,very weird to be on the other side of things now. I’ve been successful this year beyond my wildest dreams-3 admits and counting. But now I don’t just have a ticket, I have the golden ticket.
My contract is due March 3rd. I could be receiving two more decisions in the meantime. I’m hopeful that I can at least get one more realistic option to consider but if not it’s fine. I‘ll be happy wherever I end up!
I’ll let you all know when I officially commit somewhere but in the meantime I’m going to get to work on writing thank you notes to all the people who’ve helped me on the road here!
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Just wonderful! All of it. Congratulations!!!
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