<p>I hear so many opinions on this but I don't know if they are true or not. Some say that applying ED will make you lose your 'leverage' to negotiate Financial aid because the school knows that you are locked into your binding contract and can't run away from them if they don't pay. Do you believe that applying early decision necessarily hurts your ability to get quality financial aid at need based schools?</p>
<p>Generally, it's fiction. Most students will get exactly the same need-based financial aid from the school as if they had been accepted RD. And I believe that, on these boards, the ability to "negotiate" financial aid offers is overstated.</p>
<p>However, the problem is that the student loses the ability to compare financial aid offers between schools, and the differences among those packages can be substantial. The differences can be in amount, or in the mix of grant/loans/work study offered, or both.</p>
<p>Schools with a history of meeting students' financial need shouldn't worry, but if the school is not very generous, avoid ED like the plague!</p>
<p>Fiction: Usually you get the same amount as you would if you applied RD. I think this is for schools that are need based.</p>
<p>If finances are a concern, don't apply ED because you won't be able to compare financial aid offers. Colleges have been known to change their need-based financial aid offers if a similarly or higher ranked school gave a better financial aid package.</p>
<p>I think it hurts. If finances are a concern I don't think students should apply ED. Like Chedva said, you miss the opportunity to compare packages. In our case it made a huge difference.</p>
<p>And as NSM said, colleges can change their need-based offers. My son contacted two schools and asked if they would meet his best offers. (It was more diplomatically phrased.) One said they couldn't change their offer. The other immediately met the offers presented. The schools were all comparably ranked.</p>
<p>You don't know. You don't know because you cannot compare and you can't go by others' circumstances. I believe that colleges make the effort to be fair with ED student in terms of financial aid. However, I don't see why the would be generous in merit money, for example. Also, once you swallow and bite the bullet, you might find out when the RD packages come rolling in for fellow students that you got the short end of the stick. It may have been adequate, just enough to keep you from going through the gauntlet of withdrawing from ED, this is your first choice after all. But it can hurt if someone you know got a better deal RD and you know what their need figures are. And you don't have a leg to stand on in terms of negotiation.</p>
<p>I'd moderate what NSM said to say, don't do ED **if **you want to compare offers. If you're operating with a school whose FA is pretty transparent, meets full need, and is known to be even-handed, then you can pretty much figure out what you're getting through caculators--if you're okay with that number ,and it's really a first choice, then I'd say go with it if you want to. You do lose the chance to compare, but if you and your family are in agreement that that's the school you want, and the aid looks do-able, than comparing might be besides the point.</p>
<p>In addition, I would recommend getting an early read from the financial aid office. They will be able to give you a ball park figure as to what your EFC will be and probably how your FA package will shake out.</p>
<p>I am with 2blue, as my D's package from her first choice school was considerably less than the package she received from a direct competitior peer school, her #2 choice. We asked for a financial review and the #1 school met the FA package, which remained pretty consistent until she graduated.</p>
<p>Just for the other side of the coin, my son applied ED after I learned everything I could about how the aid policies at his school would view our financial circumstances. Since ED can boost admissions odds, if you understand how your family's finances are likely to be treated by a school's policies and that it will be manageable, then ED can provide a somewhat better chance at getting accepted and thus being on receiving end of that great aid in the first place.</p>
<p>As in Sybbie's case, a student might not have been accepted RD at either #1 or #2 school... and then it's a moot point which award would have been better.</p>
<p>There's a calculus to this whole thing, and only you can know your situation, and your child's, well enough to make that call. I think you'll hear strong arguments both ways, and it's up to you to decide. We opted for ED and have not looked back.</p>
<p>In my opinion, for the 20 or so schools with the deepest pockets and the wish to draw in more low and middle income students, there is no financial difference. There is a difference in admissions, for despite the claim of being need-blind, these schools prefer lower income students. I believe this firmly enough that my recent two applicants made sure that in the body of their applications they made clear that they were applying in part because of the strength of the schools' financial aid policies. No regrets with the results.
Below the top 20 or so, a different story indeed. They will likely know whether or not you applying for aid, if nothing else.
A warning sign to me is if fewer than 40% of students at the school are receiving need based financial aid. These schools not only have a lot of rich students, they are aiming to keep it that way.</p>